The ethnomusicology of the Basotho /

In this brief ethnomusicological monograph, Moitse explores the musical culture of the south Sotho living in the southern African kingdom of Lesotho. The theoretical perspective, i.e., a reassessment of the functionalist axiom about the integral relationship of music and culture, seems a bit antiquated at this time. To demonstrate the pervasive importance of music in Basotho life, the author chose to focus on the cultural context of music performance. Musical life is examined with respect to divination, initiation, and birth, but readers are not told why these are selected. Not enough general ethnography is presented to adequately judge the significance of these rituals and the music making. The descriptions themselves are interesting, but the song texts are not always fully translated. In the end, the decision to forgo any musical transcription or analysis will leave most readers without any real sense of what Basotho music is. As a result, this effort falls short of either providing an adequate ethnography of the musical experience or conveying the breadth and depth of Basotho musical life. The appendix on instrumentation is useful.