Puseletso Seema

Puseletso Seema (born 1949 in Johannesburg) is a musician and performer of the Famo musical tradition in Lesotho. She has been acclaimed as the Queen of Famo.^[1]

Life

Early life

Puseletso Seema was born in 1949 in a district of Johannesburg, South Africa. Her mother was a servant and she was brought up by her aunt who made her tend to their cattle. A self-trained singer, she began to compose her songs while minding the cows. Social convention looked down on women singers and she received no family support.

Forced marriage, life in Lesotho

Raped and forced to marry the assailant, she moved to Mahobong (in present-day Lesotho) where she had three children, two of whom died in infancy. When her husband died in 1970, she was kicked out by her in-laws and returned to New Claire. Facing renewed hostility from her natal family, she started working as a food and drinks vendor at the local mines and joined a criminal gang. During this period, she continued to write songs and performing with a troupe Tau ea Linare.^[2][3]

Touring musician

Puseletso Seema performed her music at the mines, and excelled at dance where she wielded a fighting stick.^[1] She specialised in the accordion, the main instrument of the Famo, and earned most of her livelihood from live performances in mining camps. She began to travel around the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, where bosses of camp gangs vied for her attention and often kidnapped her to perform for them.^[4] In 1980, Seema and her band recorded an album in Johannesburg. Her song in memory of a dead brother became a hit, and she gained entry into the otherwise male-dominated Famo scene.^[2]

Musical themes and living conditions

Puseletso Seema released at least 32 albums. Her songs were scripted from her life experiences, her marriages and their failure. Meanwhile, Famo itself has become a cause of criminal strife in Lesotho, with rival gangs gunning down performers, and the previously gentle lyrics becoming increasingly violent. Puseletso Seema was robbed several times of her possessions, including the traditional accordion that is emblematic of the music.^[1] She also has a long-standing quarrel with the musical industry who, she claimed, cheated her and her fellow performers out of their prize winnings and royalties. Her hit song Mofata Seliba inveighed against people who enriched themselves from her talent.^[2] In 2020, she wrote a song on the theme of Covid-19 sponsored by the Lesotho National Coronavirus Secretariat, but once again she said she wasn't paid for her work.^[5]

Puseletso Seema's performances tended to be live with minimal staging, featuring extended solos and themes. Performing on television, however, forced her and other Famo musicians to shorten their solos, and each song became more focussed on one theme, rather than the amalgamation of thoughts familiar from live productions.^[6]

In popular culture

Zakes Mda's novel Wayfarers' Hymns features Puseletso Seema.^[7]

References

1. Whewell, Tim (28 April 2022). "The deadly accordion wars of Lesotho". BBC News. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
2. Mugari, Shakeman (13 January 2017). "The 'crazy' story of Puseletso Seema". The Post. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
3. Coplan, David B. (2004). In the Time of Cannibals: The Word Music of South Africa's Basotho Migrants. University of Chicago. p. 196. ISBN 9780226115740.
4. Coplan, David B. (1992). "Fictions that Save: Migrants' Performance and Basotho National Culture". In Marcus, George E. (ed.). Rereading Cultural Anthropology. Duke University. pp. 284–285. ISBN 9780822312970.
5. "Puseletso Seema cries foul". The Reporter. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
6. Ansell, Gwen (2004). Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music, and Politics in South Africa. Bloomsbury. p. 203. ISBN 9780826416629.
7. McDiarmid, Lauren (10 October 2021). "The fascinating world of famo music". Roodepoort Record. Retrieved 28 April 2022.