Tchoe Jazz track 5 TSERa_RA_track05 A discourse-based documentation of San varieties in the Western Sandveld Region (Central district, Botswana)

Ranamane Abaye performs a song from a repertoire he calls "Bushman Jazz" or "Tchoe Jazz". This song is called tsam kuun, which means "letʼs go". This is a melancholic song that symbolises social dynamics between San hunter-gatherers and other ethnic groups. It is sung from the perspective of a Tchoe man who bemoans that the more powerful ethnic groups blame him for all that goes wrong because he is a San man. So he says to his wife "letʼs go" - letʼs go and hear what they are blaming us for this time. This bundle includes the video and audio recording of the song, which has a provisional English translation. In a second recording, Ranamane and Scobie talk about the song and its meaning in Setswana, followed by a translation into English by Scobie. In this session Ranamane Abaye is recorded singing his self-composed music whilst playing guitar. After the song is finished, Ranamane discusses the song with Scobie Noel - a long time acquaintance of Ranamane and director of the Khama III Memorial Museum - in the gardens of which the session is taking place. The session is recorded by Lee Pratchett. Ranamane is also the main informant for the southeastermost variety of Tshwa - known locally as Tchoe, Tcoa or Tcibitcoa. Director of the Khama Memorial Museum in Serowe, Central District, Botswana. Assisted Rainer Vossen during his research with the San in the 1990s.