The Click Song

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"Qongqothwane," also known as "The Click Song" by Anglophones, is a traditional song of the Xhosa people of South Africa. [1] [2] Click consonants from the Xhosa language are characteristic of the song as an extended vocal technique. [3] [4] [5] The Xhosa title translates to "knocking beetle," which is a name for various species of darkling beetles colloquially known as "tok tokkie" due to their method of attracting mates [2] that include distinctive knocking sounds from tapping on the ground. [6] In Xhosa oral tradition, these beetles guide lost children to home. The song compares a knocking beetle and an igqirha, which is a traditional South African healer or diviner who can preside over marriage rites, vows, and incantations. [2] Due to this, the song is sung at weddings [1] to bring good fortune in guiding couples to new lives. [2]

Contents

History

The song was written, originally performed, and popularized across Africa by The Manhattan Brothers. They later found South African singer Miriam Makeba.[ citation needed ] Having Xhosa as her native language, [1] she sang with them throughout the 1940s.[ citation needed ] Due to Miriam's interpretations of Xhosan melodic syncopations that counterpointed a calypso bassline, the song gained popularity with White American demographics that were already familiar with calypso. [2] In her discography, the song appears in several versions, with the titles including both "Qongqothwane" and "The Click Song."[ citation needed ]

Lyrics

Xhosa[ citation needed ]
Igqirha lendlela nguqongqothwane
Sel' eqabel' egqith' apha nguqongqothwane
Phonetic transcription[ citation needed ]
[í.ᶢǃi̤.xa.lé.ⁿd̥ɮe̤.la.nɡ̊ǘ.ᵏǃʼó.ᵑǃo̤.tʰʷa.ne]
[se.le.ᵏǃʼa.ɓe.le.ᶢǃï.tʰa.pʰa.nɡ̊ǘ.ᵏǃʼó.ᵑǃo̤.tʰʷa.ne]
English translation[ citation needed ]
A diviner of the roadways is the knock-knock beetle,
Already it climbs up and passes by here, it's the knock-knock beetle.

Other versions

References

  1. 1 2 3 Makeba, Miriam (6 July 2023) [Performed 1963]. Miriam Makeba - Qongqothwane The Click Song Live, 1963 (Video). Musicalidade. Retrieved 14 July 2025– via YouTube. The next song we're going to sing is a Xhosa wedding song. It comes from South Africa. Xhosa is my native language, and it's a wedding song back home where I come from. It's called, by the English-speaking people, 'The Click Song,' because they cannot say ['nguqongqothwane'].{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Carter-Ényì, Quintina; Carter-Ényì, Aaron (29 April 2019) [Originally published January 2019]. "Decolonizing the Mind Through Song: From Makeba to the Afropolitan present". Performance Research. 24 (1). United Kingdom: 60–61. doi:10.1080/13528165.2019.1593737. ISSN   1352-8165 . Retrieved 15 July 2025.
  3. ↑ Quintanilla, Maria Alejandra (May 2025). "An Exploration of Extended Vocal Techniques and Their Application in Improvised Music". scholarship.miami.edu. Coral Gables, Florida: University of Miami. pp. 12, 23. Retrieved 20 July 2025.
  4. 1 2 B, Julien (9 June 2022). "[La Reprise du Jeudi] Pilani Bubu – Qongqothwane (the Click Song)". L'écran du son (in French). Retrieved 18 July 2025.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. 1 2 Bester, Martin (19 September 2024). "SA shocked after discovering Cher's cover of iconic 'Click Song'". Jacaranda FM (who publishes work from Breakfast with Martin Bester). Retrieved 20 July 2025.
  6. ↑ Kamiński, Marcin J.; Gearner, Olivia M.; Raś, Marcin; Hunsinger, Elliot T.; Smith, Amelia L.; Mas-Peinado, Paloma; Girón, Jennifer C.; Bilska, Aleksandra G.; Strümpher, Werner P.; Wirth, Christopher C.; Kanda, Kojun; Swichtenberg, Kali; Iwan, Dariusz; Smith, Aaron D. (December 2022) [First published 4 July 2022]. "Female terminalia morphology and cladistic relations among Tok-Tok beetles (Tenebrionidae: Sepidiini)". Cladistics. 38 (6): 623. doi:10.1111/cla.12510. ISSN   1096-0031 . Retrieved 15 July 2025.
  7. ↑ "Hugh Masekela - Trumpet Africaine", Click Song, retrieved 15 July 2025
  8. ↑ "Jimmy Come Lately - Four Jacks and a Jill", The Click Song a.k.a. Qongqothwane, South Africa: RCA Victor, 1966, retrieved 18 July 2025
  9. ↑ "Timothy And Other Hits - Four Jacks and a Jill", The Click Song a.k.a. Qongqothwane, RCA Victor, 1967, retrieved 18 July 2025
  10. ↑ "The Cool Crooners - Isatilo", Click Song (Qongqothwane) (published 11 July 2006), 2006, retrieved 15 July 2025
  11. ↑ "Tasché wins The Voice South Africa!". DStv. 7 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
  12. ↑ Khulu, Ntombi (10 July 2023). "Rising Star | Siki Jo-An on making her mark – 'Somebody has to keep the African music alive'". News24. Retrieved 14 July 2025.
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