Skip to main content

Music of !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, Africa

Various Artists
Music of !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, Africa

The !Kung (the ! is a click consonant made by clicking the tongue against the back of the roof of the mouth while making an O shape with the lips) are a San tribe that traditionally lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers in the Kalahari Desert in southern Africa. This album is a selection of field recordings made by John Phillipson of !Kung music for many different occasions. Included are solo instrumentals on a single-stringed bamboo fiddle and a type of thumb piano called a sitengena, along with a capella songs with clapping. Liner notes contain information on the !Kung and a brief account of Phillipson’s interactions with those who were recorded in this album.

*Content Advisory: The term “bushmen” in this album’s title and descriptive notes has negative connotations, such as the stereotyping of people deemed “primitive.” This stereotypical name for the San, the Indigenous people of Southern Africa, suggested their inferiority in relationship to the colonizers. The !Kung people are a distinct nation within an ethnolinguistic group often referred to as San, or Khoesan, whose ancestry can be traced to the first modern humans in Africa. Smithsonian Folkways does not condone the inherent racism of the above terms but has chosen to leave the album as published in its original state to serve as a historical document. However, we encourage the listener to learn more about how the !Kung prefer to be represented. Click here to learn more.
- Anna Kate Cannon, 2021–22 Dumbarton Oaks Fellow at SFR, Samantha Parton, SFR 2022 Intern, and Dr. Lee Watkins, Director of the International Library of African Music, contributed to this statement.
For our policy on controversial recordings, please see our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Track Listing

icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
101
!Kung musician playing mbira
01:43
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
102
!Kung musician playing mbira
01:18
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
103
!Kung musician playing mbira
00:48
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
104
!Kung musician playing mbira
00:45
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
105
Group of !Kung children
00:42
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
106
Group of !Kung children
00:35
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
107
Group of !Kung children
00:29
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
108
Group of !Kung children
00:37
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
109
Group of !Kung children
01:13
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
110
Group of !Kung children
01:24
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
111
Group of !Kung children
00:56
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
112
!Kung musician playing musical bow
01:11
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
113
!Kung musician playing musical bow
03:51
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
114
!Kung musicians playing mbira and musical bow
01:30
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
201
!Kung musicians playing mbira and musical bow
01:23
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
202
!Kung musician playing mbira
01:57
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
203
Group of !Kung children
00:40
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
204
Group of !Kung children
00:33
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
205
!Kung women and children
00:50
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
206
Two !Kung women
01:03
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
207
!Kung women and girls
01:42
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
208
Group of !Kung women and male singer
01:57
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
209
!Kung men and boys
01:36
icon-circle-play svg-new-pause-button
210
!Kung men and boys
03:55