In the United States we have ghost towns, buildings that once housed a bustling community, now abandoned. Sometimes the buildings are maintained for tourists and historians. As the San Bushmen are forced away from their traditional lifestyle and into a more western one, someone has thought to maintain these traditional dwellings. They’re empty inside – nothing to see. Tourists take pictures and then spend the night in quarters that have plumbing and electricity.
Our evening’s entertainment came from a group of San Bushman who presented songs and dances from the old days. They dressed in traditional clothing. The women sat around the campfire and sang; the men danced around them and joined in the singing. The men wore rattles tied around their legs from the knee to the ankle with a leather thong. The rattles shook in perfect rhythm to the women’s singing.
(It was night, so my camera captured less than the eye could see, but the sound is good.)
I was conflicted with the idea of the Bushmen “selling” their traditional culture to make money from people like me, people who tried to be respectful but couldn’t really understand it and who would be gone tomorrow. The women sitting on the ground were a little cold – it was night, and they kept wrapping their blankets close – and there were small children to keep an eye on while they were singing. (One little guy, just old enough to walk, was trying to dance with the men.) On the other hand, they were choosing to do this to earn money. It was theater. The audience paid, was entertained, and applauded.
It’s hard to let both of those ideas stand there without choosing between them, but ultimately that’s what I have to do: both are present, the bad and the good. As long as the performance remains a choice for them, I can deal with it.
This video runs 3:10. In the past this dance was performed before the men went hunting. The video opens with the end of an explanation in English. During the video other photographers take flash photos, and you can see the dancers more clearly. It’s easier to see detail if you open up to full screen view.