I know this is stupid of me, but I love saying the word Xhosa. The way you get to click your tongue off the top of your mouth on the ‘X’, and the kick I get when I manage to slip it into a sentence without pausing to reorganize my mouth.

The Xhosa people are actually called the amaXhosa and they speak isiXhosa, a Bantu language. They’re one of the major ethnic groups in South Africa and comprise a large part of the ANC – South Africa’s ruling coalition party. Nelson Mandela is a Xhosa.

They’ve been pushed around for years, first to the West by the Zulus and then East by the Boers. Eventually the British/Boer colonial governments forced them to take-up lands in present-day Eastern Cape where most of them still live.

No longer oppressed, the rich Xhosa culture is flourishing. Aside from a beautiful language the amaXhosa have a long tradition of dancing and music. One group that captures this tradition particularly well is Amampondo.

Although they’re now touring the world and signed to MELT, Amampondo is still based in their hometown of Langa, a township outside of Cape Town, South Africa. They mix all kinds of traditional Xhosa musical and dance styles with some modern rhythms and instruments to come up with a pretty unique sound. They’re most famous for their marimba music and you’ll see why on today’s two tracks off their 2000 album Vuyani.

ps- I hope it’s pretty obvious why I picked today’s first song.

Amampondo – State of Emergency
Amampondo – 915