Chapter 2: Proverbs in music: A closer look at Pleasure Peta’s manyalo songs

Recently, social media has played a pivotal role in promoting indigenous language songs, thereby exposing a younger audience to indigenous knowledge. Consequently, many scholars have chosen to investigate the incorporation of indigenous languages in pop culture. The use of proverbs in Sepedi music lyrics remains a prevalent and, at times, controversial subject. This chapter examines how the purpose and essence of proverbs are embodied in Sepedi manyalo songs. Using a qualitative text–context analysis approach within an interpretative paradigm and guided by the contextual theory of meaning, this study analysed data from the lyrics of five Sepedi songs composed and performed by Pleasure Ramadimetja Peta. Over the years, Pleasure has become the embodiment of Sepedi manyalo songs, and their music has been taken as a reflection of the Bapedi community. As an agent of cultural reflection and transmission, Pleasure’s music is a subject of study in gender studies and sociolinguistics. The analysis in this chapter revealed that there is much to be learnt from sung proverbs regarding language use, customs, beliefs and norms. Through the use of proverbs, Pleasure transmits Sepedi’s indigenous wisdom, spiritual heritage, culture, morality, collective experience, and general well-being to society. The employment of proverbs in her music indicates that oral literature, just like in the olden days of folklore, is central to contemporary Bapedi culture.