@gregboyds Don't forget that Afrikaans was seen as the language of the oppressors and not all South Africans are fluent in Afrikaans..... but great song!
@gregboyds YES YOURE SO RIGHT ! i was born in south africa and live in the netherlands right now. I can speak both languages and it lookes almost the same! (:
Omg I love her! What a shame that I only learned about her 3 years after her death. Her incredible lack of judgement or condescension when discussing topics she would be completely justified in judging is amazing. This is the kind of person who can change the world.
While I was in South Africa last year, My friends tried to teach me the words and I had a hard time with some of them. I find it an amazing language and something I might be interested in pursuing if I move back there to stay.
This .. along with "Pata Pata" are 2 of the earliest songs I remember as a child... she was not only a great artist.. but a musical and cultural ambassador... in a turbulent time of cultural intolerance.. R.I.P. .....
Powerful and beautiful words, brought me to tears. Languages are sacred, mother tongues must be treasured, they're the first sounds we hear from our mothers.
Hey Rayner JM. Like you, I am the son of exiles from the days of apartheid...and very proud of it. I grew up listening to Miriam Makeba , Lemmy Special Mabaso and their contemporaries.
This is no noise, this is poetry of the soul. To discuss linguistics is to miss the point.
She was and is Mama Africa, and she will be missed always.
I can tell you are not here for the music. I realize colleges want us to be proud of our accumulated College knowledge. However flaunting your egos and demonstrating your lack of people skills, hardly constitutes as intelligence. I cannot think of one culture, other than our own, that would behave in such poor taste. This topic belongs in a private chat or college.
I can tell you are not here for the music. I realize colleges want us to be proud of our accumulated College knowledge. However flaunting your egos and demonstrating your lack of people skills, hardly constitutes as intelligence. I cannot think of one culture, other than our own, that would behave in such poor taste. This topic belongs in a private chat or college.
As a South African, I can definitely. positively, undoubtly assure you that you all have no $#%%$^%$ idea what you are talking about... hahahah.... funny world, everybody wants to analise.
I'm not sure what you're cursing and laughing about. I am doing a search to find all that I can about the "Grand Mother" Click languages - So one of the things I came across was "The Click Song". - My question to you is, "Why are you so smug" ?
Just so you know, Kiswahili grammar is not, in fact, 100% Bantu. There are verb conjugations, many noun plurals, and number usage that is very clearly and purely Arabic grammar.
@micsmi18 yes, I am oversimplifying to PROVE a point, that Kiswahili is not a MIXED language. NO language says still, but NO languages "MIX" to create a new language, that is actually impossible, languages unbeknownst to many ignorant people on the internet are not like mating animal in which each one gives an equal gene to create a new person, that actually cannot happen unless its deliberately by language expert.
@micsmi18 but actually my friend i want you to show me where there is any Arabic verb or grammer conjugation in Kiswahili, and if you can possible show me such a thing, which I doubt it will literally be less then 5 %, of course after 19, the rest of the numbers in Kiswahili were taken from Arabic, because they did not exist in Bantu languages, and a MINORITY of the overall nouns in Kiswahili are of Arabic origin, but like I said earlier, this is in the minority,
@micsmi18 Kiswahili has as much Arabic as Persian has Arabic, less Arabic then Japanese has Chinese, less Arabic then English has Latin and French, Less Arabic then Russian has Greek and Latin, Less Arabic then Urdu has Persian and Arabic, French has a lot of Gallic languages from indigenous of France, and its verb conjuction would look completely foreign to its Latin origin, but we don't call it or non of this other languages which are more influenced by other languages "mixed" that the point
@mavinga guess what arabic actually has as much bantu words in it.I am serious about this then I a linguistic professor proved this.even the english language borrowed african words such as phony, jive etc..none of those words existed prior to slavery and colonialism.they also imported a few african names.the only difference is when they import something they OWN it and end up claiming it as well.they need to be challenged.
@micsmi18 Africans are use to listening to what ever Europeans tell them about themselves to the point that they belief an African language can actual be "created" from the mixing of some primitive African proto-Bantu languages and Arabic to create Kiswahili, when Kiswahili as a language simply by another name is a natural development of an African language spoken on the coast of East Africa, the way all other languages in human societies development, not by so called MIXING, I think I am done
Amharic and Tigrinya are Semitic languages, related to Arabic and Hebrew. But then again, they are also African languages because Ethiopia and Eritrea are certainly part of Africa. They just are not Bantu languages.
@Toniehoek You know these terms African, Asiatic, and Semitic are terms and classifications imposed upon a complex world by the simplistic world view of European colonial powers. The reality is that the languages of Ethiopia are far older than either Arabic or Hebrew. The Hebrews had no clear culture or language until they left Egypt. Arabia was a colony of Ethiopia and Arabs are an Axumite people.
The term Semitic is a hold-over of the racial concepts of the Jews and extremely problematic.
Most languages by the horn of Africa including the two you mentioned are about half African and half Asiatic. It is a blend of Semitic language and languages from the Kingdom of Kush.
can we as European enjoy from this wonderful music, i certainly take my part and listen to it... it so beautiful and by listen to this music we respect the african culture and that's all is to do about it....
ǃXóõ, Nǀuu, ǂHoan ,Juǀhõa, Korana, Gǀui, Sandawe, Hadza, Dahalo, Yeyi ,Damin ... are languages using clicks as well. Xhosa is fascinating for sure but is not the only language with these phonemes.
VERY interesting! I've heard in several documentaries that only Khoisan languages have these clicks, but it seems that isn't true. The folks who make documentaries need to be aware of that.
In checking out the names you list, I that most of them are in Africa, and most have some connection to Khoisan. But a few do not, and one at least is from Australia?
I think there must be a wealth of information about the early spread of languages here. For instance: an Africa/Australia link?
I don't know enough about it to say with any conviction that there is or is not a link. I know that in the United States, children who speak nothing but English make some of these sounds, just for fun. I can think of no reason that people in Australia couldn't have re-invented them for a language which hadn't had it before.
People leave Africa and go into Asia, losing the clicks on the way, and then move to Australia. Ten thousand years later, they re-invent clicks locally.
I believe the phenomenon of sounds that are not in a language appearing or reappearing is rare. I've never heard of children's words entering a language. I suppose a sort of phonetic genesis is plausible, although far fetched, but it would be much less of a leap to infer that the clicks never left the languages, and perhaps that a people migrated from one continent to the next. It might be interesting to check for genetic relationships between Damin and any of the click languages of Africa.
that is not true, as some of the comments said at the bottom, some of the aboriginal from Australia who left Africa first, have retain some clicks...and even more relevant, the Khoisan is the click language in which the Xhosa, a Bantu language (like Swahili) received its click sound. Its a pretty simple history, the Bantu who came to South Africa took Xhosa women as wifes, but the women having to speak what we now know as Xhosa brought the click sounds from there Khoisan language same with Zulu
I hate it when Europeans want to teach us our culture!!!! Swahili is a mixture of Arabic and different east african tribal languages. the original Arabic language is Western Sudan and Ethiopian african tribes
Yes I am African, 100 percent mind, body, and spirit, if you are African you should study African languages so you are not repeating the things you are saying, Kiswahili is a Bantu African language with a minority (30%) or Arab words in it...if we took an African who spoke this language in 10000 AD the Arabs came to the coast and we brought him to 2010 AD, he would be able to speak to another Kiswahili speaker...looking at your site I think you are Bantu, you should know this..
Brother, you must understand that language is based on GRAMMAR AND STRUCTURE, so its impossible for a language to be mixed, Kiswahili grammer and structure is 100 percent BANTU, from its noun class to conjugation, verbs to sentence order...that is why that even though English has 70 % Latin and French words..it would be ridiculous to call it a mixed language (Kiswahili only has like 20 % Arab words. Do we say Iranian/Persian is a mixed language, it has around the same amount of Arab words...
@mavinga spread the words.I swear people crack me up with that mixed language thing.most european languages also have indigenous african words and even indian words in them.I can name many .I wonder if people also label indo european languages as mixed because of a 10% influence from other languages.
@mavinga "even though English has 70 % Latin and French words"
That's why my father, whose mother tongue is the Low German dialect of Frisia and who has never learned a "foreign" language but Standard German, understands English ... :D
@Bonedalas I too learned english through german.what german dialect does your dad speak though.German itself has a lot of greco-roman influences.My safe bet is 30% there isn't a language on earth that doesn't have micro-inputs of foreign languages.
If you speak any of the cousin Bantu language, Kikongo, or Kiluba or know someone from Tanzania who speaks Kigogo from Tanzania, a sister language of Kiswahili (in fact half the languages of Tanzania are its sister languages) many , you would see that the GRAMMAR, STRUCTURE, and for the Tanzania 100 percent AFRICAN languages, almost all the vocabulary is the same...
no... the khoi-san language also uses clicks, and the japanese dont use "th" because it's not in kanji, hiragana, OR katakana, and that's only those who learn english later in their life, a japanese toddler learning english would have no problem in later life saying "thank-you"
omg!!! wen i was 12 or 13 sumwere in der i used to be in a dance class..nd dis is one of the songs we used to dance to nd also pata pata...we had 3 instructors 2 guys nd a lady, dont rembr da ladys name but the guys name was paul nd egburt...funny name nd yes we made fun of it but e was nice,,dere was odda songs dat i cant rembr but if i ere it i tink i will,,this was in jamaica at the rollington town primary school nd yes it was fun...rest in peace miriam
Mama Africa... What a beautiful person she was, and such an inspiration.
I remember the day she died like it was yesterday. I wa staying at my gran's house and had my final exams that day. I watched the news about her death instead of revising.
I am african, a white african, and I love this music.. it gives me goose bumps and reminds me of just where I come from.. it will always remind me of where I am from... just like TKZee, TRO, and so many more....... it is beautiful... all of it.. and represents a beautiful country!
Dracopol, by looking down on others, you only lower yourself. If that is what makes your day, be my guest, but please do not any longer bother us with your vision on the African music. You are allowed to say what you think, but there are different ways of telling what you say in your brute statement, not even built on good reasoning. Please, stop offending others, at the end of the day, you are the one that will end up in trouble for it..
Man, you are so close minded haha, it makes me laugh. The whole comparison you give....such a waste of time while you could just enjoy music in general wether primitive or complex. The real joy goes beyond your childish search or whatever you are trying to say. Wake up buddy! It's about something else....
a useless discussion Dracopol during a simple song like this. If you really wanna know African complexity study the polyrythmic approach of the master drummers in Afrika, study African mysticism, folklore. The proof is very easy to find. Read what Western anthropologist have found in the various african tradition's. It's not hidden at all, it's very obvious. I have a feeling it's not really about this huh, or is it? What are you really trying to say?
It's always refreshing to see how the Blacks have progressed from primitive music. When we met them they were still on the pentatonic scale i.e. only 5 notes in the octave. If they started in the key of C they only had C, D, E, G and A, that was it. Yet in this song I hear overlaid on the primitive constructs a Western-style bridge, a relative second chord, and the notes F and F#. Good.
I'm sad to read that you consider traditional African music as "primitive" and apparantly Western as advanced. African music is not primitive, it's just different and often even too complex for us Westerners to understand.
Oh? In what possible way is it too complex to understand? You should support your blithering with actual facts about the things "Western man was not meant to know". I say it IS primitive, I gave reasons based on how African music was when we found it, and how they improved since, and I say Cultural Relativism is a dead duck. There IS a hierarchy of civilization vs. barbarians, made evident when higher civilization was the victim of 9/11. Fortunately the Africans are just making music here.
Don't mind that Dracopol person. He seems to be on multiple videos of Miriam making the same comments. He's obviously one of those small, scared individuals who masquerades as an intellectual while trying to spread a message of cultural and racial superiority.
He should stop polluting sites like youtube with his garbage. It's strange that his kind is never satisfied with sites like stormfront that are designed just for them.
Then prove me wrong, don't do stupid things like talking about me in the Third Person when I'm still in the room. What's the matter, are you retarded? I say music of the African sub-species is primitive, and I explain why. You can't contradict it, that's why you hear monotonous pentatonic conventions with a modern flourish of totally new notes they never had in their musical scale before.
Show me where I'm wrong in saying it, then! Our modern White, Western society accepts only evidence-based discourse, and we are not forced to believe some crazy loopy Political Correctness thing just because it is championed by kings, strong-men or mad-men. Give me the proof. Where IS this complexity you hinted at, that White man the inventor and coordinator of 120-person symphony orchestras was not meant to know? This is the second time I'm asking you and you are coming up blank.
If you think you're superior good for you. Just make sure your own primitivity doesn't become too obvious in your talking. There IS a cultural difference. In Africa, music has a different role and purpose than in the West. Also, instruments can completely imitate the people's language and communicate. Fortunately, some artists have simplified their complex rhythms and added some Western styles, so that even narrow-minded Western individuals can learn to appreciate African music.
Could you please be more specific in your proof? See, we are not on the African Internet, where jive talk, rank-outs and put-downs are respected. We in the developed countries respect only actual proof. I rip through this primitive jungle bush you're giving me but I still don't see the "complexity" in the African music you are talking about.
Dracopol, you are not here to discuss African music. You just want to demonstrate your miserable hate. I won't give you another chance to do so. Bye bye
I regret not knowing more about her before.Until last night, with the obituary in the New York Times' site,she was one of the best memories of my childhood:the PataPata and a toy sold to dance with it(a plastic ball in the extreme of a plastic cord around one ankle like a surfboard is tied to a surfer)You had to make it turn around your ankle while jumping with the other foot.Very funny and made you do a lot of exercise.Maybe I should give it a try again after... 40 years!
WTF!!! I can't pronounce this, allthough I believe dat Conuly was right, because foreigners also would have problems with the words krv, čvrst and Crni Vrh (I am from former Yugoslavia)
I think she did do her thing and her legacy shall live on forever. the passion she had while singing was great. u don't see that often nowadays. rest in peace my dear.
!Xobile haahhahahaha
Freethinker12341 1 month ago
thumbs up if your linguistic course brought you here :D
werschdel 2 months ago 2
That was an special woman beyond her time. Thank you Miriam wherever you are for the light you shined over our souls.
gustavoriezu 3 months ago
rip mama
Blackhoundrise 3 months ago
ther ewill never be any woman like meriam makeba
naom1e2011 3 months ago
ther will never be any woman like meriam makeba
naom1e2011 3 months ago
wow
izabela9522 4 months ago
@gregboyds Don't forget that Afrikaans was seen as the language of the oppressors and not all South Africans are fluent in Afrikaans..... but great song!
gillkenn 5 months ago
@gregboyds YES YOURE SO RIGHT ! i was born in south africa and live in the netherlands right now. I can speak both languages and it lookes almost the same! (:
Dreetje121 5 months ago
African Beatbox
GrandeRudy 6 months ago
23 peoples are offended by the noise she is making while singing
dickwans 6 months ago
this language is amazing and how they make these clicks without even a hesitate in a sentence is just some thing i find amazing
JonniJafnhar 6 months ago
@JonniJafnhar yep xhosa is my mother tongue too.. but im multi-lingual.. i speak 6 languages fluently including xhosa, zulu, english, dutch etc ;)
thethebigbang 6 months ago
This really should be a contender for best song ever!
JonMerriott 6 months ago
This is a fantastic song! Such a great language that Xhosa. :-)
OrvokkiJupiter 7 months ago
Wonderful!
Baelmyrrdn 7 months ago
Omg I love her! What a shame that I only learned about her 3 years after her death. Her incredible lack of judgement or condescension when discussing topics she would be completely justified in judging is amazing. This is the kind of person who can change the world.
katiekawaii 7 months ago
i sang this in choir, and it freaked my teacher out.
RockDaFauxHawk 8 months ago
My grandparents met her when they lived in South Africa many many years ago. She seems (seemed :/ ) like one awesome individual.. Such a song ^_^
73musicmusic 8 months ago
Reminds me of Russell Peters saying "My name is !xobile"
EngPheniks 8 months ago 2
Baddd sista !!!
mumbleora 9 months ago
While I was in South Africa last year, My friends tried to teach me the words and I had a hard time with some of them. I find it an amazing language and something I might be interested in pursuing if I move back there to stay.
Gem7403 10 months ago
Lala kahle Gogo Miriam siyohlala sikukhumbula!
SindisiweC 11 months ago
21+ people are mad that they can't produce clicks.
@dominikana: You don't learn to "speak" click, you learn to pronounce clicks. Xhosa is not the only language which has clicks.
PrinceRoserade 11 months ago 5
RIP Mama Africa
vaniidude 1 year ago
I remember singing this song in a show in grade 1 back when I lived in South Aftrica. Man...now I'm nostalgic AND homesick.
PotterAnimeDork 1 year ago 13
i wanna learn to speak click
dominikana2o11 1 year ago
UXOLO, MIRIAM! She was the greatest. Her death in Italy was a great shock. She was truly MAMA AFRICA!
Vitesse1971 1 year ago
Comment removed
ohijustlovethisstuff 1 year ago 2
I wanna learn how to do that : )
Tgarland84 1 year ago
<3 !
JohannLau 1 year ago
now i'm gonna say "MOM! make me some scrambled iqandas !!" she's gonna be like "some WHATs ?? O_o" XD
ca280491 1 year ago 4
@ca280491 plural=amaqanda
blahblah9030 1 year ago
@blahblah9030 as long as there's a click in the word ! :D
ca280491 1 year ago
Thanx for posting this video, mama afrika we miss you
JuanPabloVofki 1 year ago
my tongue is retarded. i can't do that
thedeadgirlXVIII 1 year ago 67
@thedeadgirlXVIII Yes you can, it just takes practice.
LittleBoiFen 10 months ago
This .. along with "Pata Pata" are 2 of the earliest songs I remember as a child... she was not only a great artist.. but a musical and cultural ambassador... in a turbulent time of cultural intolerance.. R.I.P. .....
megavega4 1 year ago
Her charm, her talent and her humility make her a star. Those who write their bigotted comments say more about themselves than about Makeba.
pattpooh 1 year ago 4
Comment removed
n0thingness 1 year ago
It's my language!
Powerful and beautiful words, brought me to tears. Languages are sacred, mother tongues must be treasured, they're the first sounds we hear from our mothers.
n0thingness 1 year ago
Comment removed
n0thingness 1 year ago
What a charming woman!
mc4661 1 year ago 3
god damm nigers with theur
BurningBallSacks 1 year ago
I'm african american but I must learn this beautiful language. I'm trying to learn so that I can teach others here
WorldWatcher9 1 year ago
@WorldWatcher9 How are you learning it?
tempo3rd 1 year ago
Thank you, Rayner JM, for uploading this version of the Click Song.
I enjoy the song and especially her explaning her language.
Wonderful !
Littlewhitelephant 1 year ago 2
Who cares about linguistics, she is awesome and so is her music
Jayh035 1 year ago
beautiful! i love it i love it i love it! brings tears to my eyes, i miss my motha africa so much! take me hoooome!!!!!!
shumba18 1 year ago
Hey Rayner JM. Like you, I am the son of exiles from the days of apartheid...and very proud of it. I grew up listening to Miriam Makeba , Lemmy Special Mabaso and their contemporaries.
This is no noise, this is poetry of the soul. To discuss linguistics is to miss the point.
She was and is Mama Africa, and she will be missed always.
Thank you for this.
neilandfi 1 year ago
I love this song.... She is so fortunate to know this language. I think it is called Hadansa???? anyone know?
aquadee91 1 year ago
@aquadee91 its called kosa with the click in the middle :)
mrmatteocom 1 year ago
@aquadee91 Xhosa
Amandaloof 1 year ago
@aquadee91 She's singing in Xhosa
manteatersa 8 months ago
i love this song
jlo3502 1 year ago
Linda Miriam!....linda....
Lys1944 1 year ago
that sounds so cool!
mizindia 1 year ago
What a beautiful, comical, and interesting person she must have been.
BUJeff10 1 year ago 4
NIGGER TALK
xXxDEATHCORExXx1503 1 year ago
I can tell you are not here for the music. I realize colleges want us to be proud of our accumulated College knowledge. However flaunting your egos and demonstrating your lack of people skills, hardly constitutes as intelligence. I cannot think of one culture, other than our own, that would behave in such poor taste. This topic belongs in a private chat or college.
Acrylicfem 1 year ago
I can tell you are not here for the music. I realize colleges want us to be proud of our accumulated College knowledge. However flaunting your egos and demonstrating your lack of people skills, hardly constitutes as intelligence. I cannot think of one culture, other than our own, that would behave in such poor taste. This topic belongs in a private chat or college.
Acrylicfem 1 year ago
As a South African, I can definitely. positively, undoubtly assure you that you all have no $#%%$^%$ idea what you are talking about... hahahah.... funny world, everybody wants to analise.
karien1970 1 year ago
@karien1970
I'm not sure what you're cursing and laughing about. I am doing a search to find all that I can about the "Grand Mother" Click languages - So one of the things I came across was "The Click Song". - My question to you is, "Why are you so smug" ?
migalitoloveless 1 year ago
@mavinga
Just so you know, Kiswahili grammar is not, in fact, 100% Bantu. There are verb conjugations, many noun plurals, and number usage that is very clearly and purely Arabic grammar.
micsmi18 1 year ago
@micsmi18 yes, I am oversimplifying to PROVE a point, that Kiswahili is not a MIXED language. NO language says still, but NO languages "MIX" to create a new language, that is actually impossible, languages unbeknownst to many ignorant people on the internet are not like mating animal in which each one gives an equal gene to create a new person, that actually cannot happen unless its deliberately by language expert.
mavinga 1 year ago
@micsmi18 but actually my friend i want you to show me where there is any Arabic verb or grammer conjugation in Kiswahili, and if you can possible show me such a thing, which I doubt it will literally be less then 5 %, of course after 19, the rest of the numbers in Kiswahili were taken from Arabic, because they did not exist in Bantu languages, and a MINORITY of the overall nouns in Kiswahili are of Arabic origin, but like I said earlier, this is in the minority,
mavinga 1 year ago
@micsmi18 Kiswahili has as much Arabic as Persian has Arabic, less Arabic then Japanese has Chinese, less Arabic then English has Latin and French, Less Arabic then Russian has Greek and Latin, Less Arabic then Urdu has Persian and Arabic, French has a lot of Gallic languages from indigenous of France, and its verb conjuction would look completely foreign to its Latin origin, but we don't call it or non of this other languages which are more influenced by other languages "mixed" that the point
mavinga 1 year ago
@mavinga guess what arabic actually has as much bantu words in it.I am serious about this then I a linguistic professor proved this.even the english language borrowed african words such as phony, jive etc..none of those words existed prior to slavery and colonialism.they also imported a few african names.the only difference is when they import something they OWN it and end up claiming it as well.they need to be challenged.
cannoir 1 year ago
@micsmi18 Africans are use to listening to what ever Europeans tell them about themselves to the point that they belief an African language can actual be "created" from the mixing of some primitive African proto-Bantu languages and Arabic to create Kiswahili, when Kiswahili as a language simply by another name is a natural development of an African language spoken on the coast of East Africa, the way all other languages in human societies development, not by so called MIXING, I think I am done
mavinga 1 year ago
click click
gustavo2009133 1 year ago
rip sweet sistah..your music will live onn
jazzynote 2 years ago
I have a question:
Are Amharic or Tigrinya considered to be African languages?
NatKingCole46 2 years ago
of course, who would argue otherwise?
mike7743 2 years ago 3
Afro-asiatic languages like arabic.
Suttanca 2 years ago 2
@Suttanca
example please
raamsis 1 year ago
Amharic and Tigrinya are Semitic languages, related to Arabic and Hebrew. But then again, they are also African languages because Ethiopia and Eritrea are certainly part of Africa. They just are not Bantu languages.
Toniehoek 1 year ago
@Toniehoek You know these terms African, Asiatic, and Semitic are terms and classifications imposed upon a complex world by the simplistic world view of European colonial powers. The reality is that the languages of Ethiopia are far older than either Arabic or Hebrew. The Hebrews had no clear culture or language until they left Egypt. Arabia was a colony of Ethiopia and Arabs are an Axumite people.
The term Semitic is a hold-over of the racial concepts of the Jews and extremely problematic.
iArsalan 1 year ago
Most languages by the horn of Africa including the two you mentioned are about half African and half Asiatic. It is a blend of Semitic language and languages from the Kingdom of Kush.
gertzs 1 year ago
can we as European enjoy from this wonderful music, i certainly take my part and listen to it... it so beautiful and by listen to this music we respect the african culture and that's all is to do about it....
22andic22 2 years ago
a sense of humour in hardship is all the more bighting as she knew ta thanks!
elizabel77 2 years ago
click song
whitePhoinexx 2 years ago
Wow! it's hard to make the different stresses in the clicks if u're new to it. like Q is more emphasized than X.
cocolahtay 2 years ago
Mioni (2001) quotes her works in his manual of phonetics and I found them absolutely brilliant and interesting
PaladinDemoncard 2 years ago 3
The only language in the world that contains these clicks.
Arabic had four sounds which, to English-speakers, all sound like "D". I can't tell them apart.
Japanese doesn't use the "th" sound, and I've heard more than one Japanese person say "sank you!"
But these clicks are found NO WHERE else. It is truly fascinating.
SailorBarsoom 2 years ago
ǃXóõ, Nǀuu, ǂHoan ,Juǀhõa, Korana, Gǀui, Sandawe, Hadza, Dahalo, Yeyi ,Damin ... are languages using clicks as well. Xhosa is fascinating for sure but is not the only language with these phonemes.
jcviet 2 years ago 2
VERY interesting! I've heard in several documentaries that only Khoisan languages have these clicks, but it seems that isn't true. The folks who make documentaries need to be aware of that.
In checking out the names you list, I that most of them are in Africa, and most have some connection to Khoisan. But a few do not, and one at least is from Australia?
I think there must be a wealth of information about the early spread of languages here. For instance: an Africa/Australia link?
SailorBarsoom 2 years ago
You are right when you said taht most of the languages using clicks are located in the same area except for Damin which is in Australia.
I'm not an expert of this phenomenon but I doubt about a link between African and Australian Languages.
jcviet 2 years ago
I don't know enough about it to say with any conviction that there is or is not a link. I know that in the United States, children who speak nothing but English make some of these sounds, just for fun. I can think of no reason that people in Australia couldn't have re-invented them for a language which hadn't had it before.
People leave Africa and go into Asia, losing the clicks on the way, and then move to Australia. Ten thousand years later, they re-invent clicks locally.
It could happen.
SailorBarsoom 2 years ago
I believe the phenomenon of sounds that are not in a language appearing or reappearing is rare. I've never heard of children's words entering a language. I suppose a sort of phonetic genesis is plausible, although far fetched, but it would be much less of a leap to infer that the clicks never left the languages, and perhaps that a people migrated from one continent to the next. It might be interesting to check for genetic relationships between Damin and any of the click languages of Africa.
happyveggyman 2 years ago
dont forget Zulu
mavinga 2 years ago
that is not true, as some of the comments said at the bottom, some of the aboriginal from Australia who left Africa first, have retain some clicks...and even more relevant, the Khoisan is the click language in which the Xhosa, a Bantu language (like Swahili) received its click sound. Its a pretty simple history, the Bantu who came to South Africa took Xhosa women as wifes, but the women having to speak what we now know as Xhosa brought the click sounds from there Khoisan language same with Zulu
mavinga 2 years ago
Are you african wanna be European???
I hate it when Europeans want to teach us our culture!!!! Swahili is a mixture of Arabic and different east african tribal languages. the original Arabic language is Western Sudan and Ethiopian african tribes
rochillz 2 years ago 3
Yes I am African, 100 percent mind, body, and spirit, if you are African you should study African languages so you are not repeating the things you are saying, Kiswahili is a Bantu African language with a minority (30%) or Arab words in it...if we took an African who spoke this language in 10000 AD the Arabs came to the coast and we brought him to 2010 AD, he would be able to speak to another Kiswahili speaker...looking at your site I think you are Bantu, you should know this..
mavinga 2 years ago 6
Brother, you must understand that language is based on GRAMMAR AND STRUCTURE, so its impossible for a language to be mixed, Kiswahili grammer and structure is 100 percent BANTU, from its noun class to conjugation, verbs to sentence order...that is why that even though English has 70 % Latin and French words..it would be ridiculous to call it a mixed language (Kiswahili only has like 20 % Arab words. Do we say Iranian/Persian is a mixed language, it has around the same amount of Arab words...
mavinga 2 years ago 34
@mavinga spread the words.I swear people crack me up with that mixed language thing.most european languages also have indigenous african words and even indian words in them.I can name many .I wonder if people also label indo european languages as mixed because of a 10% influence from other languages.
anyway nQoQotwane !!!!
cannoir 1 year ago
@mavinga "even though English has 70 % Latin and French words"
That's why my father, whose mother tongue is the Low German dialect of Frisia and who has never learned a "foreign" language but Standard German, understands English ... :D
Bonedalas 1 year ago
@Bonedalas I too learned english through german.what german dialect does your dad speak though.German itself has a lot of greco-roman influences.My safe bet is 30% there isn't a language on earth that doesn't have micro-inputs of foreign languages.
cannoir 1 year ago
@mavinga Kiswahili is not 100 percent Bantu. It is partly Arabic!
Qyute 8 months ago
If you speak any of the cousin Bantu language, Kikongo, or Kiluba or know someone from Tanzania who speaks Kigogo from Tanzania, a sister language of Kiswahili (in fact half the languages of Tanzania are its sister languages) many , you would see that the GRAMMAR, STRUCTURE, and for the Tanzania 100 percent AFRICAN languages, almost all the vocabulary is the same...
mavinga 2 years ago 2
You're an idiot, b/c Arabic and Hebrew are probably at least 50% the same
jwgealt 2 years ago
no... the khoi-san language also uses clicks, and the japanese dont use "th" because it's not in kanji, hiragana, OR katakana, and that's only those who learn english later in their life, a japanese toddler learning english would have no problem in later life saying "thank-you"
jalsaenggin 2 years ago
RIP MIRIAM
TeeLadie 2 years ago
Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqothwane
Igqira lendlela nguqo ngqothwane
Sebeqabele gqi thapha bathi nguqo ngqothwane
Sebeqabele gqi thapha bathi nguqo ngqothwane
THANK YOU MAMA.
RIP.
belizeambushgal 2 years ago 2
God bless you Mama Africa, RIP
shnozwoman 2 years ago 3
I like that song a lot, as well as that language.
Easy to read it, but hard to speak. Nearly impossible for me to produce a click, when there's a leading vowl.
MrSanookMark 2 years ago
I could listen to this song all day. It's so amazing.
LordessDrakezul 2 years ago 3
w00000000t
MrTaco905 2 years ago
omg!!! wen i was 12 or 13 sumwere in der i used to be in a dance class..nd dis is one of the songs we used to dance to nd also pata pata...we had 3 instructors 2 guys nd a lady, dont rembr da ladys name but the guys name was paul nd egburt...funny name nd yes we made fun of it but e was nice,,dere was odda songs dat i cant rembr but if i ere it i tink i will,,this was in jamaica at the rollington town primary school nd yes it was fun...rest in peace miriam
wildflwr1 2 years ago
lala uphumule mama africa.
khasiangel 2 years ago
A beautiful people!
billeybop 2 years ago 2
wow thats has to be one of the coolest languages i ever heard
pacmoose 2 years ago 4
Frickin 2:07 lads!!
CharlieBongable 2 years ago
YEEEEAH!
CJGAdamson 2 years ago
I love her!!
orkmc 2 years ago 3
her whole name was
Zenzile Makeba Qgwashu Nguvama Yiketheli Nxgowa Bantana Balomzi Xa Ufun Ubajabulisa Ubaphekeli Mbiza Yotshwala Sithi Xa Saku Qgiba Ukutja Sithathe Izitsha Sizi Khabe Singama Lawu Singama Qgwashu Singama Nqamla Nqgithi
cbnthc 2 years ago
...how?? just her name?? that's awesome!
zunimano 2 years ago
Mama Africa... What a beautiful person she was, and such an inspiration.
I remember the day she died like it was yesterday. I wa staying at my gran's house and had my final exams that day. I watched the news about her death instead of revising.
Hedniskhjaertad 2 years ago 3
What a sweet person, sweet language, sweet song...
Still missing Mama Africa.
Micheliu71 2 years ago 4
what a lovely language..soo unique.I want to learn it
bignasxl 2 years ago
she was just such a beautiful person.
creativegem1 2 years ago
mmm ...hey i just wandered up on this and it sounds real good
miamivicepastels83 2 years ago
I have loved this song since I was little, even though I would break my uqhoqhoqho trying to speak Xhosa!
CinnAlla 2 years ago 4
..................................
ksalvodon123 2 years ago
I am african, a white african, and I love this music.. it gives me goose bumps and reminds me of just where I come from.. it will always remind me of where I am from... just like TKZee, TRO, and so many more....... it is beautiful... all of it.. and represents a beautiful country!
TheTaz1983 2 years ago 4
Dracopol, by looking down on others, you only lower yourself. If that is what makes your day, be my guest, but please do not any longer bother us with your vision on the African music. You are allowed to say what you think, but there are different ways of telling what you say in your brute statement, not even built on good reasoning. Please, stop offending others, at the end of the day, you are the one that will end up in trouble for it..
Citarael 2 years ago 2
fantastic language and music!
yuunbelievable 2 years ago
Man, you are so close minded haha, it makes me laugh. The whole comparison you give....such a waste of time while you could just enjoy music in general wether primitive or complex. The real joy goes beyond your childish search or whatever you are trying to say. Wake up buddy! It's about something else....
greetz :)
kofianonym 2 years ago 2
a useless discussion Dracopol during a simple song like this. If you really wanna know African complexity study the polyrythmic approach of the master drummers in Afrika, study African mysticism, folklore. The proof is very easy to find. Read what Western anthropologist have found in the various african tradition's. It's not hidden at all, it's very obvious. I have a feeling it's not really about this huh, or is it? What are you really trying to say?
kofianonym 2 years ago
It's always refreshing to see how the Blacks have progressed from primitive music. When we met them they were still on the pentatonic scale i.e. only 5 notes in the octave. If they started in the key of C they only had C, D, E, G and A, that was it. Yet in this song I hear overlaid on the primitive constructs a Western-style bridge, a relative second chord, and the notes F and F#. Good.
Dracopol 2 years ago
I'm sad to read that you consider traditional African music as "primitive" and apparantly Western as advanced. African music is not primitive, it's just different and often even too complex for us Westerners to understand.
pmscollect 2 years ago 2
Oh? In what possible way is it too complex to understand? You should support your blithering with actual facts about the things "Western man was not meant to know". I say it IS primitive, I gave reasons based on how African music was when we found it, and how they improved since, and I say Cultural Relativism is a dead duck. There IS a hierarchy of civilization vs. barbarians, made evident when higher civilization was the victim of 9/11. Fortunately the Africans are just making music here.
Dracopol 2 years ago
Higher civilization? "Though claiming to be wise, they became fools..."
pmscollect 2 years ago 9
Don't mind that Dracopol person. He seems to be on multiple videos of Miriam making the same comments. He's obviously one of those small, scared individuals who masquerades as an intellectual while trying to spread a message of cultural and racial superiority.
He should stop polluting sites like youtube with his garbage. It's strange that his kind is never satisfied with sites like stormfront that are designed just for them.
blacknosugarnocream 2 years ago 4
Then prove me wrong, don't do stupid things like talking about me in the Third Person when I'm still in the room. What's the matter, are you retarded? I say music of the African sub-species is primitive, and I explain why. You can't contradict it, that's why you hear monotonous pentatonic conventions with a modern flourish of totally new notes they never had in their musical scale before.
Dracopol 2 years ago
Show me where I'm wrong in saying it, then! Our modern White, Western society accepts only evidence-based discourse, and we are not forced to believe some crazy loopy Political Correctness thing just because it is championed by kings, strong-men or mad-men. Give me the proof. Where IS this complexity you hinted at, that White man the inventor and coordinator of 120-person symphony orchestras was not meant to know? This is the second time I'm asking you and you are coming up blank.
Dracopol 2 years ago
If you think you're superior good for you. Just make sure your own primitivity doesn't become too obvious in your talking. There IS a cultural difference. In Africa, music has a different role and purpose than in the West. Also, instruments can completely imitate the people's language and communicate. Fortunately, some artists have simplified their complex rhythms and added some Western styles, so that even narrow-minded Western individuals can learn to appreciate African music.
pmscollect 2 years ago 2
Could you please be more specific in your proof? See, we are not on the African Internet, where jive talk, rank-outs and put-downs are respected. We in the developed countries respect only actual proof. I rip through this primitive jungle bush you're giving me but I still don't see the "complexity" in the African music you are talking about.
Dracopol 2 years ago
Dracopol, you are not here to discuss African music. You just want to demonstrate your miserable hate. I won't give you another chance to do so. Bye bye
pmscollect 2 years ago
this is unbelievable!
mbraskute 2 years ago
@ RaynerJM
Thanks for posting.
Brings back strong youth memories.
Feeling downcast, until MM unexpectedly sounded out of the radio, what joy, strength and hope she radiated!
cocochanelleke 2 years ago
2:08 the drummer is really catching his trips
teedees1712 2 years ago
RIP MAMA AFRICAA THANKU 4 POSTING
teedees1712 2 years ago
Wow! Fantastic!
BROWN1925 2 years ago 3
wow!! wonderful reminds me of when I was a child in Africa, long live her music and memory! rest in peace mama AFRICA!
tuagamala 2 years ago
btw, it's Qongqothwane
2speechless 2 years ago
Isn't she lovely??
Wonderwoman!
2speechless 2 years ago 2
I've been a fan of Madame Makeba since I was a teen. I did not hear of her passing. I am soooo heartbroken. :(
JudiG 2 years ago 2
When I try to make click I feel like the child in Mary Poppin's film trying to snap his fingers... :-) Grande!!!
glugluinuit 2 years ago
I was looking for information on the Xhosa language. Your video was both informative and beautiful! Thank you!
ZueFay 2 years ago 3
lovely!!!!!
Mibaasd 2 years ago 3
what a beautiful, graceful lady! And such an amazing smile!
pinkdelta 2 years ago 7
Igqirha lendlela nguqongqothwane. Gone are those days. Lala kahle Mama Afrika
mafikisa 2 years ago
she's just amazing!
ddamissy 2 years ago 2
i think i'm in love with this woman and her language.
sanjam 2 years ago 2
i am too!
eeeee5eeeee 2 years ago
me too!!!!!!!!
babacool81 2 years ago
I have a CD with this song... of 1961... forever good, cute, young. 5 stars
Marlene55M 3 years ago
wow....soooooooooo cute
faithlh08 3 years ago
What a beautiful song in a beautiful language...May Xhosa never be lost!
blackj1988 3 years ago 7
Baie dankie ms makeba, not the same without you...
Klunen 3 years ago
I regret not knowing more about her before.Until last night, with the obituary in the New York Times' site,she was one of the best memories of my childhood:the PataPata and a toy sold to dance with it(a plastic ball in the extreme of a plastic cord around one ankle like a surfboard is tied to a surfer)You had to make it turn around your ankle while jumping with the other foot.Very funny and made you do a lot of exercise.Maybe I should give it a try again after... 40 years!
CanaryCaia 3 years ago
LOL- That was really COOL. "its not a noise its my language" FABULOUS!
PowersFarmII 3 years ago 7
Very interesting song! I love the fact that she explained what the song means! WOW!!
_
PhoenicianGoddess 3 years ago 2
great . great great.
R.I.P MARIAM MAKEBA.
buffblaze 3 years ago 2
She certainly has a gift for disarming and reassuring the fearful
crock703 3 years ago 2
AMAZING!
ReddzVoice 3 years ago
Colonisers of my country - i pay no respect
Timechanging 3 years ago
Are you sure, that you know what you are talking about, dimwit?
19Sherlock70 3 years ago
I'm sorry I was actually trying to answer Timechanging...turns out I'm not really smart either...
19Sherlock70 3 years ago
explain?
altyd15 3 years ago
She's an amazing entertainer.
RIP
guoblok 3 years ago 4
btw Miriam Makeba R.I.P.
DanitoMusic 3 years ago
WTF!!! I can't pronounce this, allthough I believe dat Conuly was right, because foreigners also would have problems with the words krv, čvrst and Crni Vrh (I am from former Yugoslavia)
DanitoMusic 3 years ago
what a lovely performance!may she rest in peace.condolences to her friends & family.
selloutasaurus 3 years ago 5
Rip
tawfikakkad 3 years ago
I think she did do her thing and her legacy shall live on forever. the passion she had while singing was great. u don't see that often nowadays. rest in peace my dear.
zebeday 3 years ago
Se ha ido, solo sus pies de la tierra, pero queda en el corazón y la mente de cada uno de los que la hemos escuchado...
Seguramente cada vez que escuchen ese click song, hará eco en sus mentes y la recordaran. Y es la mejor forma de mantenerla VIVA...
Que grande que es esta Mama Africa...Bendiciones!!
farfallaori 3 years ago 3