High Veld

Farewells are part of the journey, and they can be wonderful, and a little tearful, too.  The most beautiful departures are the musical ones and the University of Zululand Choir did not let me down.  The choir sang my arrangement of "The Parting Glass" and a very improvisational version of an old Girl Scout song called "Tumba - Ta - Tumba" that I taught the choir as we sang together for the past three weeks.

Here is a little video snapshot of the choir on the day they learned the song.  They added the choreography and enthusiasm after I simply sang them their parts.  


As I was walking out the door, they sang a song called "Suzan" by the vocal group THE SOIL.  The lyrics on the refrain translate they are singing so that I will remember them.


Suzan song by THE SOIL



I am now happily reunited with Dennis in the high veld of the Eastern Cape, foothills of the Drakensburg Mountains.  Just minutes from southern Lesotho border, we are planning some shopping at a border town tomorrow, mostly for 1 Basotho blanket and small souvenirs for friends.

 Also reunited with my dear Elene Cloete who has just finished her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology at the University of Kansas, we are heading up to the border today to greet some culture bearers and friends who participated in her dissertation fieldwork.  Yesterday, we greeted a culture bearer and friend of the Cloete family who showed me around the music of this region 7 years ago, named Vusi Marinoti.  It is an amazing blessing to see each other again, and catch up.  Vusi has recently secured a South African government grant for his musical ensemble to record and produce their own and other groups' music in Barkly East, the town nearest the Cloete farm, here in the high veld.