Dinaka has roots stretching back generations, a dance and music tradition where men blew the kudu horns to announce milestones and great events, victories in battle, deaths, feasts, the birth of a child, celebrations or significant community gatherings.
With the passage of time, dinaka practitioners now find the time to show off their craft during weddings, parties and during the holiday season when migrants return home to be with friends and family and celebrate life.
As part of my ongoing journey to document this significant part of African culture and customs, I discovered a profound connection between traditional dance and the spiritual essence behind it. I found myself in the land of the crocodile-worshipping people, Bahlaloga in Moletjie just west of the Limpopo capital Polokwane.
There I explored the ancestral roots of Bahlaloga, who are part of the Basotho ba Leboa people, and the captivating tales of the Kiba dance. This dance, rooted in traditional history and customs, resonates deeply. In a quest to preserve cultural stories, I took on this fulfilling journey connecting to the rich heritage of our ancestral land.
It is more than the fascination of the feet stomping the ground and the beautiful sounds from the tin whistle; it is a feeling that propels their motion. This is from my ongoing body of work.
Scholar and researcher Dr David Maahlamela who conducted an extensive study of kiba, noted that “kiba poetry is the richest poetic form in the Sepedi/Sesotho sa Leboa with its creative and artistic merit exceeding all other genres.”
- About Leon Sadiki – Leon is an independent photojournalist and a photography trainer, currently working with the Wits Centre for Journalism as a Mentor in Photography to its postgraduate journalism students. He has a decorated history of working in different newsrooms as a photojournalist and picture editor. He is co-author of We Are Going to Kill Each Other Today – The Marikana Story (Tafelberg, 2013) and Broke and Broken – The Shameful Legacy of Gold Mining in South Africa (Jacana Books, Blackbird, 2016). He is also the creator of the “Man in the Green Blanket“, Mgcineni Noki’s Marikana photograph.
- Contact: leonsadiki@gmail.com
