Bushmen of the Kalahari

Khoisan folk music refers to the traditional musical practices of the San (Bushmen) and Khoikhoi (Nama and related communities) of southern Africa. It is characterized by cyclical song forms, interlocking vocal parts, dense handclap polyrhythms, and distinctive vocal techniques that include yodel-like register shifts and hocketing. Instruments are sparse and portable: musical bows (mouth-resonated bows such as the gora) and simple idiophones accompany songs, while stamping and clapping often provide the core rhythmic drive. Lyrics mix meaningful text with vocables and onomatopoeia, reflecting the close link between music, language (including click consonants), and environment. Music is integral to social life, healing trance-dances (n/um), storytelling, children’s games, and rites of passage. The sound is intimate yet powerful, emphasizing communal participation, entrainment, and trance states over harmonic development or large instrumental forces.