On this site you will find a large number of articles about music and related dance, text and ritual in one region in South Central Africa. They describe and analyse the cultural phenomena in Chibale that are connected with music and try to shed light on the interrelatedness of these phenomena, also from an historical perspective.

The articles on this site have various purposes.

Some are descriptive and contain overviews of repertoires of musical instruments, songs and dances, texts, and feasts, ceremonies and rituals in Chibale, providing the opportunity to fulfil the promise made to people with whom I collaborated and others in Chibale to contribute to the description and historiography of Chibale culture. Attention also is given to the interconnectedness of the genres of songs and dances in Chibale.

Other articles are analytical and aim at a better understanding of how music is understood in Chibale. ‘Understanding’ is taken here in the sense it is used in ciLala, the language spoken in Chibale: kumfwa – hear, feel, understand.
Subjects are a music theory of older cults and possession cults music, developed in dialogue with a small number of local exegetes. The structural and performative features of music. The relations between physical, mental and musical qualities. Why is it a generally accepted statement in Chibale that song text is the most important aspect when interpreting music. And, lastly, the how and what of the evaluation of music in Chibale.

On top of that, a number of articles are included that help the reader to link more general, abstracter themes, such as the relation between music and religion, to the concrete situations and phenomena connected to that theme in one region in South Central Africa.