Sello Galane, a master of Pedi art,is best known for reviving free kiba (the indigenous dance music of the Bapedi also known as dinaka).
Galane has been dubbed the father of free kiba, which used to be a rural-only sound but has now adopted a migrating style. Although he is hardly alone in developing the sound, he is certainly central to its creation, both through his own imaginative efforts and through the free kiba concept he is assembling with musicians who are contributing substantially to the form.
The men are an ensemble, each with an aluminium-ended blowpipe of differing pitches, producing a descending melody with rich harmonies. The women sing lebowa (Pedi traditional dance music for women only) and dancers wear a more modern form of traditional garb.
Galane’s free kiba adapts the traditional kiba sound to the modern form. He has brought melody from Mali, Senegal and Nigeria in drumming and uses African drums, such as the sekgokolo (the father, or the main drum), the matikwane (two small drums, or son and daughter, that echo the dance), and the dintlhwantlhwadi (the mother drum that conveys morals and values in the family).
Galane’s second album, Free Kiba in Concert, was released this month and proves he is still the only musician to take an interest in the revival of the dying culture of kiba in South Africa, particularly among the Pedi- and Venda-speaking people.
Free Kiba in Concert was recorded live at the Market Theatre in December and I was part of the audience.
The spotlight picked Galane out on stage with one of the dintlhwantlhwadi drums fastened to his waist. The audience yelled “Sello! Sello!” and he glowed with life, bursting with enthusiasm like a volcano.
Galane’s music brought much gladness to the audience. Songs such as Fegolla sa borala, Digalala and Ikhaya entered our musical language forever. When you listen closely, you find Galane is also a poet. His speaking voice is gentle and breathy, tinged with the clean Pedi accent of Pietersburg.
The guitar on the album is the fingering of man-of-the-moment Selaelo Selota, of Painted Faces fame. The impressive percussion is by Galane himself.
On the first album Galane used little girls to relate stories of the Pedi. This time he has brought in grandmothers to add another element of kiba, the lebowa. For his third album, he says, he will involve men or boys to emphasise that kiba is free for everyone.
Free Kiba in Concert is getting airplay on Thobela FM and is also listed on that station’s Africa Top 20 show.
Galane graduated with a BA from the University of the North in 1986. In 1987 he completed a university education diploma and in 1993 he did the African Theatre Workshop course at Ethnomusicology College in Zimbabwe. In 1994 he finished a BA honours in theatre and literary theory at the University of the North.
From 1996 to 1999 Galane worked on an MA on kiba at the University of Cape Town. To his surprise, it was converted to a PhD, which he says perhaps was due to his good work.
Galane is the owner of Kgapana African Theatre in Pietersburg. Its greatest achievement since it was formed in 1996 was when Galane organised the Thirty-Five Years of Malombo national tour and researched the biography of Phillip Tabane.
After Galane submitted Tabane’s profile to the University of Venda, Tabane was honoured with a PhD in 1998.
This fascinating percussionist fulfils a number of social responsibilities. He is a member of the National Technical Task Team for the Curriculum Development at FET (Further Education and Training). Early this year the Minister of Education, Kader Asmal, called on Galane, with other academics, to review Curriculum 2005.
Galane is also head and facilitator of the Folklife programme of South Africa, a branch of the United States organisation Folklife, which studies culture and traditions, and is a representative of the South African Theatre Initiative that coordinates community theatre for education and development in 12 countries.
Hopefully free kiba may influence younger generations who try to Americanise their acts without realising the cultural roots of their indigenous art form.