Musical instruments in Zambia: iron bell

Musical instruments in Zambia: iron bell. A large single iron bell, called lusonsolo¹The oldest external source for Chibale is Hoffman (1929: 177) in the section about the death rituals of chief Chibale (Mwape Mondwa) in 1925., which only plays on important occasions connected to chieftainship. For instance, when carrying the remains of the chief to the distant grave or on the morning of the Ipupo lya fikankomba.
The lusonsolo of the previous chiefs are kept in the mpata, the shrine for the deceased chiefs. Each new chief has a new lusonsolo made.

At the entrance of the rotting hut, people of the Mbushi clan played lusonsolo and ciwaya continuously. During the daytime, the lusonsolo should make even a stranger aware that the chief has died, without asking. And, in the evening, ciwaya were played to accompany cinsengwe. Then, when the people grew tired, the Ciwila mediums took over.
Munsele Lupoti ∵ personal communication, 1987 (About the funeral period of chief Mwape Mondwa in 1925).

Iron bells in the Lala region

Musical instruments in Zambia: iron bell. Within the Lala region, the lusonsolo is connected with chieftainship.

Congo part of the region

For the Congo part of the Lala region, Lambo reports²Lambo (1941b: 68). Original in French, translated by Jan IJzermans.: “[The chief of Shinkaola] also possesses a bell called lusonsolo. The lusonsolo consists of two bells attached to the same stem, of different lengths and said to be of different sex. The larger bell is the female one, the smaller one the male. The bells do not have a clapper; sound is produced by beating with an iron rod. When being played, the female bell must be on the right, since the wife has the privilege of lying on the right side in the conjugal bed.”

Southern part of the region

Musical instruments in Zambia: iron bell. For the Ambo (southern) part of the Lala region, Stefaniszyn reports³Stefaniszyn (1964b:60, 69 and 154):
“The bells were stopped with leaves when going to battle. They were struck only after a victory, at rain sacrifices, at the chief’s funeral, and probably also at the chief’s installation. The possession of lusonsolo was a prerogative of chiefly rank. The sons of a chief were allowed to own one.”
“After the death of the chief, the funeral friends announced ‘the mourning of the land’. People had to come to wail at the capital. They were told to bring foodstuffs such as flour, goats and fowls. Boys and girls had to come to dance. The war drum, mandu [presumably: mangu], was sounded, the chiefly double bell, lusonsolo, was rung, the gourd drums [presumably: ilimba] were beaten. There seems to have been a degree of licence.”
“The war bell, or double bell, lusonsolo, was a flat bell, really two bells joined at the taps. It was clapperless, some eight inches long and three inches by one and a half at the bottom. The bells were forged each from two concave pieces of thick iron sheet. One bell of the pair was thicker than the other, thus producing a different sound.”

Iron bell: double or single

Musical instruments in Zambia: iron bell. Sources about neighbouring areas describe the lusonsolo as a double bell; the Chibale single bell appears to be an exception.

Chief Chibale commented on this:
Originally, the masonsolo came to Chibale through the Chikunda, while the locally made lusonsolo are single.
Teneshi Njipika Mukosha ∵ personal communication, 1985.

Lusonsolo is a singular word, while masonsolo is plural, meaning single and double bell respectively. The Chikunda were traders who mediated between the Portuguese on the lower Zambezi and chiefdoms in a large area, including Chibale in the 19th century.