Music of Lesotho

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Lesotho is a Southern African nation surrounded entirely by South Africa. The largest ethnic group is the Basotho. Traditional musical instruments include lekolulo, a kind of flute played by herding boys, setolo-tolo, resembling an extended Jews Harp played by men using their mouth, and the women's stringed thomo. Vocal choirs are also extremely popular in Lesotho, as are various sub-Saharan AfroPop styles, jazz, kwaito, and reggae.While a section of the population generally enjoys South African music such as the Kwaitogenre in particular, sesotho music(with the accordion as the dominant instrument)has tremendous following. The music recording industry is nascent,a lot of the artists end up signing with South African companies - which in itself undermines growth prospects.

The national anthem of Lesotho is "Lesotho Fatse La Bontata Rona". Written by French missionaries, it appears in the popular computer game "Sims 2: University" as the theme from a videogame console.

The Morija Arts & Cultural Festival is a prominent Sotho music festival.

Southern African music

Angola | Botswana | Comoros | Lesotho | Madagascar | Malawi | Mauritius
Mozambique | Namibia | RĂ©union | Swaziland | South Africa | Zambia | Zimbabwe