Interpretation of music in Zambia: wisdom and heart
Interpretation of music in Zambia: wisdom and heart. A contrast often used in Chibale is between mano and mutima, wisdom and heart. There is a strong connection between these two central, interrelated concepts and music contexts and experiences.
Definition of wisdom (mano) and heart (mutima)
A variety of meanings are associated with mutima and mano, including the physical (heart – brain), the social (selfishness – sociality), and the spiritual (intuition – wisdom).
Proverb 195
Mutima e muntu wine
The heart is the human self
Human beings alone are not complete. Stripped of spirits, they are not socially oriented, and need amano (wisdom) to take others into account. For a fuller explanation, see proverb 195 in the book Mu Zambia Amano Mambulwa.
Proverb 188
Iciiba mutima, iminwe taibapo
The thief is the heart, not the fingers
Try to understand what lies behind a certain action.
The heart in a person decides what to do. The desire for something after having seen it, prompts the heart to seek ways to act. What follows is the desire to obtain that item through theft. Now you can see: the hand picks that item, but the decision was made by the heart. For a fuller explanation, see proverb 188 in the book Mu Zambia Amano Mambulwa.
Proverb 275
Amano mambulwa
Wisdom is acquired
Each person’s wisdom is the product and heritage of many. We share ideas and knowledge with those we know. No one is born with knowledge; we come to find it here on earth.
When we don’t know how to approach an issue, we must ask so that those with the know-how can guide us. At school, we learn knowledge that we can pass on to those in need.
To be knowledgeable and not use this knowledge means there is no justification for having acquired it. When you use it for others, you are likely to be praised by your friends, and at the same time, they learn from you. For more information, see proverb 275 in the book Mu Zambia Amano Mambulwa.
See also Proverb 233.
Two exegetes on wisdom and heart
Mutima is influenced by intrinsic badness (ciwa) and wisdom (mano). Mutima is directed towards the person him/herself, while mano is directed to other persons. Here, you can compare it with work that is for the person him/herself or work that is also for others, such as honey gathering, hunting, bridge building, or healing. The possession spirits do the latter, the works of wisdom (milimo ya mano). This is one of the most powerful issues in life.
BanaNshimbi ∵ personal communication, 1987.
Mano is a way of thinking from which others can benefit and which gives them a path to follow. You know the young man who drowned in the Lukusashi River [trying to bring home a heavy load of game over a swollen river all by himself]; he followed his mutima, not listening to the stories of previous disasters in like circumstances which mano brought forward.
An ideal person (muntu wa cine) would be completely guided by mano. This, however, is not possible because mutima is the person himself.
All these stories about Kalulu (the hare). Kalulu is the one always following the mutima, and he gets away with it… I will tell you a story about Kalulu and Lion in which you can see that bad spirits (cibanda) are in Kalulu while Lion is pure. You see, Kalulu tries to persuade Lion to do something dangerous just for his [Kalulu’s] own needs. It is clearly a fight between mutima and mano. That’s why we bring a hare into the village without the head.
Mika Mwape Chungwa ∵ personal communication, 1986.
Wisdom and heart and the way music is experienced
Interpretation of music in Zambia: wisdom and heart. Mutima comprises the feelings induced by emotions and certain other physical circumstances. In some cases, such as with pain, this is unmediated. “Pain goes straight to the heart.”
Fear, anger, love, aversion, illness, jealousy, pain, sorrow, and grief are all put in the mutima. There are situations that are ‘too mutima’ but there are none that are ‘too mano‘. Singing, playing instruments, and dancing relate to mutima, while watching dancing, and watching and listening to the drums and the singing relate to mano. So, you see that these aspects come together at a ritual.
Alube Mika ∵ personal communication, 2004.
This also leads people to say that singing while pounding is bringing mano and maka (energy/strength) together.
Interpretation of music in Zambia: wisdom and heart. We see that the mano-mutima contrast is not expressed in music itself, but in the experience of music and in its contexts. Among other things, these contexts are opportunities to bring the two together.
The more general idea of understanding ritual as the meeting or temporary reconciliation of contrasts finds form here in the temporary bringing together of the inevitable human self with the wisdom of social orientation.