专辑简介

CHISIMO means riddle in Luvale (or Chiluvale) language, one of Bantu-speaking languages found in some regions of Zimbabwe, Zambia and Angola, and significantly, this is one of the languages used by members of Mokoomba in their music. On the same idea (in the song), Morena Leraba, a shepherd musician and collaborator hailing from the mountains of Lesotho, chants a riddle from his region (in Sesotho/Southern Sesotho) “lipoli/dipodi tsa Makeleketla li/di fula li/di bothile”, introducing and teaching his new friends from Zimbabwe. This musical marriage then becomes a journey of affirming and discovering similarities/connections within our Bantu-speaking languages.

In an ever-changing global culture, where colonialism (in Africa and other regions) somehow shaped many of our institutions, it is rather crucial to safeguard and preserve our indigenous languages, especially when the idea of decolonization is presented. Therefore, riddles, poems and oral-tradition in general, have played a major role in shaping and preserving our languages. Oral-tradition, in most African societies, was indeed a library where grandmothers were brilliant story-tellers and shepherds would enhance their observation through riddles and other games.