Death of moropa, the rhythm maker, but the beat goes on

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Friday February 13, 2009 00:00

 

Selectors or DJs have literally taken over the role that  used to belong to moropa players, who do not feature anywhere in the newly commercialised borankana music.

A traditional  dance troupe  would usually have as many as five or more moropa players, forming an enclosure; sweating, holding the drums between their thighs, and beating them rhythmically, with bare hands, as dancers do their majestic moves in the circle, to the delight of spectators.  Others would sing, clapping hands to accompany the moropa rhythm.

A traditional dance item without the moropa was unheard of. This practice is still maintained in competitions where various schools annually do battle with the moropa forming the core of the rhythm. At commercial level though, moropa players do not feature at all as the traditional instrument is not used.

Instead traditional music singers lay their songs on  modern tunes with some going pop,  reggae, soul or even jazz. The times belong to music producers and programmers who are praised for coming up with  beautiful tracks, beats or tunes.

 Dancers no longer strut their stuff on stage to the beats of  the traditional drums, meropa (plural), but rather dance to the rhythm of the CD recording, as the DJ selects the track on the CD singer mimes, and  dancers start shinning.

That traditional music, borankana in particular, has of late achieved amazing commercial status here and beyond is not in doubt.

It is undoubtedly the most selling  music genre at the moment, attracting following in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, with some artists selling well even in Mozambique.

Traditional music expert Judith Sefhako  the founder of traditional music troupe Ditholwana, observes that live bands, and selectors have relegated the moropa. ' It has been replaced by instrumentals.

In turn you do lose something, because at times  the modern instrumentals cannot retain the value and flavour of the original songs, especially that most of the songs commercial musicians make are copied from folk music legends, she commented.

'As a result of the commercialisation of the genre several instruments are dying out, because people now dance to instrumentals. If you consider the rhythm that objects like matlhoa add to  a song, it is different from the types of rhythm provided by reggae, pop, or jazz instrumentals that musicians use' Sefhako says.

Sefhako is of the view that modern instrumentals cannot adequately replace the moropa, rhythm.

' Instead of  your feet dancing to the beats of the drums, the dance moves now must adapt to the  guitar, or keyboard, which cannot reproduce the traditional beats of the moropa, she argues.

However traditional music icon, Maxy,  real name  Olebile Sedumedi, opines that the drum was bound to die out along the way due to the dynamism of the music industry. Maxy says if the musicians do not react to changes of the times then they remain stagnant and become a bore.

Maxy says flexibility of instrumentals has allowed many artists to do the same song in so many ways. ' If we all played the traditional drum, the songs would probably sound the same, and people would find it difficult to tell whose song they are listening to.'

Maxy says she used to carry the moropa especially in the early days of her career. But the moropa was not in anyway used in the song. ' I would beat the drum, just before the selector played a track, and do acapella', Maxy tells  Mmegi Arts & Culture.

Maxy says although she does not use the traditional drum in her albums, she at least uses live hands claps in her recordings, to enhance computer beats.

' I also dance with matlhoa during recording, and those beats would then be enhanced by  studio effects, she commented.

Maxy  is one of those borankana  icons who rely on selectors to press play, before she and her dancers get on stage, strut their stuff, or sing along with the audio recording being played for her and the dancers.

Super groups like Culture Spears, for instance, have bought a top of the range electric drums, which also has guitars and keyboards.  They use the set during their high profile events where their live band presentation sounds more like jazz. 

Another local group, Machesa, also use live band presentation.

However, it remains to be seen whether the modern instrumentals have had any negative impact on the borankana song. But one thing is certain, the likes of Culture Spears, Maxy, Ditiro Leero, Deben Natale, Matsieng, and Machesa, to name but a few, have released their recordings without the drum, with great success.