#07 Herero dances and music

Herero Dances and Music

…OMUHIVA, EHIYO and OTJONGO

The sevens episode is about Oruvandjei that’s how the local people call their village, which is located about 50km south of Opuwo. Opuwo is with about 6000 people the only city – ok let’s call it a Namiban city – in the northern Kunene region. 500 Herero live in Oruvandjei. You are unlikely to find it on an ordinary map, like many other villages.
Mr. Karutavi Salomon Hartley is the head man of this villages – it took me some time to figure this out, I mean his actual name and the names of his grandfathers as well, who were all head mans of this village. The father of Mr Karutavi Salomon Hartley was Victor Hartley and his father was Wilhelm Hartely, who created the water place in Oruvandjei. And he was the son of George Hartley, who initially came to this place.
Dances – and the typical music which goes along with them, are an important part of Herero culture – well, they all like to dance in Africa:) not just the Herero . In this episode I would like to show you three dances (i) OMUHIVA, which is – let’s call it dominated – by the men, (ii) EHIYO, a women’s dance, and (iii) OTJONGO, which is more practiced by the Himba. I have one episode which focuses on OTJONGO. The real OTJONGO is a bit “wilder” than the OTJONGO shown here.
In Oruvandjei also some Himba live. Himba are related with the Herero and they speak the same language. So Himba is an Herero dialect. I talk more about Himba in the other episodes.