Nigeria, April 2 -- Beyond luscious hills, neat fields of vegetables, and Lesotho's achingly beautiful landscape lies the story of a little-known 19th-century founder king who forged alliances to maintain peace but humbled each attacker.

The sound of Famo music based on the accordion is insistent. The music wafts from some yellow-striped taxis and shops dotting Maputsoe's CBD in Lesotho's Leribe district. Tau ea Mats'ekha, Famo genre's old apostles, blessed music lovers with Ha Peete now playing in some nearby car. Many of Tau's gems would make a stiff John shake it like a Helen or a Jacob. How low can power-hungry elders stoop? Strangely, Tau received negligible airplay in neighbouring South Africa.

Back there, music stations shun soun...