Various Artists - Taa! Our Language May Be Dying, but Our Voices Remain (Botswana) (2023) [Hi-Res]

Mesmerizing field recordings from Botswana. Producer/recordist/Grammy winner Ian Brennan ventured to an end-of-the-road location to document songs sung in Taa, a rich language on the verge of extinction. This captivating music is created by solo and layered voices, handclaps, found percussion and thumb piano. Shamanic, ghostly ballads from the farthest reaches of Southern Africa. Volume #11 of our acclaimed Hidden Musics series. The Taa language in Botswana possesses 112 sounds, the most of any language in the world. In contrast, English has approximately 44 sounds, Italian 32. But there are only around 2,500 Taa speakers remaining and the language is “dying.” The songs on this album are mostly mantras— prayers that repeat the same words or phrases over and over again. The song titles tell entire stories by themselves, and with the Taa language’s heavy use of click consonants, the sounds carry the meaning as much as the words. The name of the Taa language itself translates to “human being,” making its threat of extinction all the more poignant— the language living in the people, not on the page. The explanation of lyrics often took longer than the songs themselves— difficult to translate, complex thoughts encapsulated in a single word.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Gonxlae - Trance Induction Song (3:49)
1.02 - Xhashe - I Am Lost (The Spirits Guide Me Home) (2:12)
1.03 - Xhashe - Chase the Evil Spirits Away (0:52)
1.04 - Qoba - Protection from the Bees (0:57)
1.05 - Keba - The Bushmen Are Starving (We've Been Made Poor by the Rich) (0:27)
1.06 - Ntebogang - We Must Give Thanks (2:08)
1.07 - Gonxlae - The Spirit Travels at Night (3:06)
1.08 - Txao - We Have Been Abandoned by the World (0:47)
1.09 - Dottore - Kudu (Tortoise) Dance (0:24)
1.10 - Tsaa - Prayer for Food (Miracle Manifestation) (4:40)
1.11 - Ntebogang - Our Ancestors Show the Way (1:11)
1.12 - Xhashe - Calling Our Loved Ones Back from the Dead (2:57)
1.13 - Kagiso - My Culture Is the Most Beautiful (0:42)
1.14 - Qasa - We Are the People of Love (2:25)
1.15 - Ntebogang - This Is the Land Where I Come From (0:24)
1.16 - Duxwa - Preparation to Heal (4:00)