Amampondo

Amampondo was established in the suburb of Langa on the outskirts of Cape Town. The ten members of the group aim to preserve their culture in its integrity. Faced with the westernization of culture, and consequently also of music, the group decided to carry out research into the autochthonous rhythms and instruments by travelling right across the continent. Some instruments have been retrieved from Nigeria, others from the Ivory Coast, Uganda, Zimbabwe and from the Transkei region. In this way the Amampondo group has built up a neotraditional music, by employing rhythms, songs and dances from a number of ethnic groups in South Africa: the Xhosas, Zulus, Shangaans, Sothos. The instruments played include horns, flageolets, mbira (twang lamellophone) as well as drums of varying sizes and origins.