Bitter Melons

Raymond Hames Author

08/26/2017 Added

262 Plays

Description

San (Bushmen) foraging activities

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[00:00:09.365](speaking foreign language)
[00:00:10.888](hunting bow music)
[00:00:16.644](singing in foreign language)
[00:01:04.164](baby gurgling)
[00:01:40.656](wind whistling)
[00:01:47.230]Many of Ukxone's songs were
[00:01:48.985]about the environment he lived in.
[00:01:51.627]He sang about important plants and animals,
[00:01:54.335]and about the constant problem of finding water.
[00:01:58.014]During autumn and winter the only water
[00:01:59.990]in the central Kalahari desert is contained
[00:02:02.370]in roots, in the rumen of large antelopes,
[00:02:05.408]and in the most valued and abundant aquifer, tsamma melons.
[00:02:10.772]Ukxone composed several songs about tsamma melons
[00:02:13.820]and learned others from a Bakalahadi musician named Djoro.
[00:02:20.311]One of the tsamma melon songs Ukxone composed
[00:02:23.036]was called (speaking foreign language),
[00:02:24.892]In Praise of the Tsamma Melon.
[00:02:27.071](hunting bow music and humming)
[00:03:44.986]From Djoro, Ukxone learned a song called Melon Soup.
[00:03:49.084](hunting bow music and singing in foreign language)
[00:04:51.684]Hm, hm, hm?
[00:04:55.005](speaking foreign language)
[00:05:10.669](hunting bow music)
[00:05:21.357]Ukxone composed a song
[00:05:22.717]about a small, nocturnal antelope,
[00:05:25.037]called oon, the duiker, which men try to snare.
[00:05:40.897]Ukxone said the music imitated the duiker running.
[00:05:43.884]Striking the bow was like the sound
[00:05:45.639]of the duiker's feet on the ground.
[00:05:48.542]When Ukxone's chin was on the bow string
[00:05:50.654]the duiker was leaping.
[00:05:52.549](singing in foreign language)
[00:06:51.952]The snares are placed on the small paths
[00:06:53.639]the duiker uses every night.
[00:06:56.360]But sometimes the duiker gnaws
[00:06:57.684]through the grass cord and sets itself free.
[00:08:07.169]One of the songs Ukxone learned from Djoro
[00:08:09.573]was about ka, the small cucumbers with soft spikes
[00:08:13.182]that ripen late, and retain their water
[00:08:15.511]for a month or longer after the tsamma melons have dried.
[00:08:19.499](hunting bow music)
[00:08:31.166](singing in foreign language)
[00:08:38.881]Ukxone composed the song Bitter Melons,
[00:08:41.283]when Goy-kwe, one of the older women who lived with him,
[00:08:44.534]planted tsamma melons for the first time.
[00:08:48.133]Goy-kwe learned about planting from the Bakalahari,
[00:08:51.505]a Bantu people, who told her she must save seed,
[00:08:54.893]and plant new melons each year,
[00:08:57.455]because wild melons growing on cultivated land are bitter.
[00:10:04.662]Bitter Melons was probably Ukxone's favorite composition.
[00:10:21.713]Planting a melon land was an exceptional event
[00:10:24.868]among the people living at Nay-ha-oh.
[00:10:27.843]Their livelihood was gathering,
[00:10:29.700]an activity in which everybody participated, except Ukxone,
[00:10:33.484]who was too blind to see root vines in the grass.
[00:10:37.436]Nine people lived at Nay-ha-oh with Ukxone,
[00:10:40.274]his wife, almost as old as he, their son,
[00:10:44.738]two old women, two young boys,
[00:10:47.633]and Gai, with his wife and baby.
[00:10:51.160]His strength and endurance enabled Gai
[00:10:53.312]to provide for Ukxone,
[00:10:55.397]but he was under no obligation to do so,
[00:10:57.792]since the two men were not closely related.
[00:11:01.674]Gai was the fulcrum of the little band.
[00:11:05.467]Khoisan men who live in rich country
[00:11:07.864]with permanent herds of game are hunters
[00:11:10.628]and consider gathering beneath them.
[00:11:13.784]But in the central desert where Gwi people live
[00:11:16.262]the herds of game migrate and often fail
[00:11:18.531]to visit Nay-ha-oh for years at a time.
[00:11:21.989]Hunters are obliged to distribute the meat
[00:11:24.141]of the animals they kill so that all the people
[00:11:26.543]living together may share it.
[00:11:28.978]But women share the roots they gather
[00:11:30.970]only with their immediate families.
[00:11:34.569]At Nay-ha-oh the people augmented the food they gathered
[00:11:37.835]with a collection of small animals.
[00:11:54.292](squishing)
[00:11:57.573]In the dry months and during years of drought
[00:12:00.781]roots provide one of the two sources of water
[00:12:03.290]people can actually take in their mouths and drink.
[00:12:06.390]Unlike the soup of the tsamma melon, which must be eaten.
[00:12:09.706](bow string music)
[00:12:46.322](humming)
[00:12:59.091]Although he was not obligated to share
[00:13:00.928]such a small animal with everyone,
[00:13:03.204]Gai prepared the tortoise in the public place
[00:13:05.892]in the center of the village and shared it
[00:13:08.260]as though it were a gemsbok.
[00:13:22.850]The other source of real water
[00:13:24.111]is in the rumen of large antelopes.
[00:13:26.777]And the rumen is as much of a delight as the meat
[00:13:28.777]of a gemsbok, when someone is fortunate enough to kill one.
[00:13:40.279]Perhaps it was on such an occasion
[00:13:41.710]that Ukxone composed the song he called People Are Laughing.
[00:14:07.935](birds chirping)
[00:14:58.245](people chattering)
[00:15:32.809](birds chirping)
[00:15:37.529](laughing)
[00:15:53.875](man laughing)
[00:15:56.710](speaking foreign language)
[00:16:00.944](man laughing)
[00:16:08.783](bow string music and humming)
[00:16:15.259](insects chirping)
[00:16:58.829](bow string music)
[00:17:07.371]Ukxone composed a number of songs about social life
[00:17:10.653]and the distances that separate groups of people.
[00:17:14.925]Gai saw the smoke of a grass fire at Okwa over the horizon
[00:17:18.963]and assumed his relatives had set it.
[00:17:22.073]He took Gwoy-kah-bay and traveled to visit them
[00:17:24.664]and bring them to Nay-ha-oh.
[00:17:28.821]One of Ukxone's songs was called Shouting,
[00:17:31.347]which he composed in bitterness at people
[00:17:33.277]who refused to shout and guide him when he was lost.
[00:17:52.543](wind whistling)
[00:18:35.035](hunting bow music and singing in foreign language)
[00:18:47.353]He composed a song called As Your Brother Comes.
[00:19:33.216]One song he called Sore Legs.
[00:20:05.415]Gai looked for his relatives while Gwoy-kah-bay hunted.
[00:20:21.262](hooves galloping)
[00:20:28.295](hunting bow music)
[00:20:32.332]Animals are attracted to the new grass
[00:20:34.085]that springs up after a fire.
[00:20:37.762]Goy-kwe play music and rhythmic games about animals.
[00:20:42.023]Unlike Ukxone's compositions, animal music is traditional.
[00:20:46.682]Some of the songs are played on the bow, like Giraffe.
[00:20:50.789](hunting bow music and singing in foreign language)
[00:21:21.498]Kudu.
[00:21:30.212](speaking foreign language)
[00:21:34.939]Porcupine is a game of attack and defense.
[00:21:59.153]There is a game with a little song
[00:22:01.425]about the way hyenas, always libidinous,
[00:22:04.277]make themselves small to creep among
[00:22:05.883]sleeping people and eat their skin clothes.
[00:22:08.923](singing in foreign language)
[00:22:30.794]And the Hyena Song.
[00:22:32.354](very fast hunting bow music)
[00:22:54.081]Gai found his relatives and invited
[00:22:55.988]all the Okwa people to Nay-ha-oh.
[00:22:59.604](bow music and humming)
[00:23:22.250]Among his songs about social life
[00:23:24.575]is one Ukxone called Agina Ah, Who Is That?
[00:23:29.699]Ukxone once fell in love and wanted to marry the woman.
[00:23:33.837]Her people would not allow him to take her away.
[00:23:37.117]He approached them again,
[00:23:38.429]and they thrashed him and took her back.
[00:23:41.397]Once more he came to her,
[00:23:42.915]and she looked up from among her people and said,
[00:23:45.498]"Agina ah," who is that?
[00:23:48.512](children chattering)
[00:24:09.625](grunting rhythmically)
[00:24:23.170]When many people assemble they play animal games.
[00:24:27.826]They dance the Ostrich Courting Dance.
[00:24:43.159](tongue trilling)
[00:24:45.038](grunting rhythmically)
[00:24:47.145](speaking foreign language)
[00:25:32.229](laughing)
[00:25:34.214](clapping and grunting rhythmically)
[00:27:07.482](shouting and laughing)
[00:28:24.022](speaking foreign language)
[00:28:50.286]The people from Okwa did not intend
[00:28:52.417]to stay long at Nay-ha-oh.
[00:28:55.758]Gai's relatives planned to go north about 50 miles.
[00:29:00.901]Gai and his wife were going with them.
[00:29:04.429]The three boys and the two old women
[00:29:06.387]said they would go with Gai.
[00:29:09.628]Ukxone and his wife could have accompanied Gai,
[00:29:12.537]although they were not directly related to him
[00:29:14.794]or to any of his people.
[00:29:17.319]But Ukxone said he and his wife were old and finished.
[00:29:20.655]He was blind and they would stay at Nay-ha-oh.
[00:29:24.592](hunting bow music and singing in foreign language)
[00:29:52.855](wind whistling)

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Bitter Melons

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