Songs and dances in Zambia: mwami

Songs and dances in Zambia: mwami. Mwami songs are about healing, illness or any other subject connected to staining (kukowesha). They are in the language of the area where the chief (the possessing spirit) lived, in many cases mixed with Lala. Mwami melodies contain more jumps than Ciwila and Kaluwe melodies and have a greater variety in the form of the melody.
The dancing is Lenje- or Lima-like, which, generalising, means that the dancer bends a little forward while bringing her arms forward, often leaning on a stick or on the edge of the master drum to create a posture that enables her to give full focus to the movements of the hips. The drumming tempo, and so the dancing tempo, is slightly slower than that of Ciwila and Kaluwe. Other aspects, like the behaviour of the dancer, her attire, the colours used, her language and songs, and the occasion, are also important in categorising the dance as Lenje-like.

Song 120

A Mwami (Bayambo) song sung by Chalebaila inside the house during a Cibombe in 1981. One can hear the outside music of the Cibombe in the background. The chorus is sung by the wives of Chalebaila and the rattles heard are Chalebaila’s nsangwa.

Text of Song 120 ∵ The guardian of the herds is calling

Lyali nkuleme mukulobola ba tupandi maa
Bankula molu kabashala nati wowo iyaya
Ne mulanda kambelenga
Mwishang’ombe alokwita waya
Tola kabula nkansholoka nkankatola
Mu cisakasaka ca mufungo

Ishamo dragged me into getting only those with thin legs
Those with fat legs were left, I say: wowo iyaya
Me the poor one, I am counting [the cattle in the herds]
The Guardian of the herds is calling waya
“Pick a leaf”, I turned back
Into the thick bush of mufungo trees

Songs and dances in Zambia: mwami. Most of this text is in ciLima. The spirits speak here: “We were very unlucky to possess this person with his thin legs”. Mwishang’ombe is the praise-name of the spirit(s) that make the hunters find game (or, more generally, make people succeed in difficult work). In Chibale, it is equated with Kaluwe. The spirits tell the singer to pick the mufungo tree leaves to use them as a medicine for a patient.

Song 121

A fragment of a cilaila version of a Mwami song sung paKwisha by Loina Chibale and women from Mukopa, 1981.

Text of Song 121 ∵ Sing in the Lenje language

Imbeni ciLenje ba Ndabaya bamune
Imbeni ciLenje pamo kalimba

Sing in the Lenje language, ba Ndabaya, friends
Sing in the Lenje language to the music

Songs and dances in Zambia: mwami. Most cult of affliction Mwami songs are rather straight-forward when compared to the songs of the Mwami shing’anga.
In general, it mentions the name of the possessing spirit and makes a reference to an aspect of Lenje culture.