Gatherings with music: repertoire

In the family circle all kinds of songs can be sung, typical are story songs, lullabies and christian hymns. Stories are told. Or the family listens to the radio or watches a DVD together.

Work songs can be sung for all kinds of activities but most often during cutting trees, pounding and grinding.

Small gatherings of men take place in the nsaka, a half open shelter. The repertoire was large but the use of music at these meetings has become rare.

In many children’s games music is used and quite some games also involve dancing.

In the evening women and girls of a farm or neighbouring farms may sit together and sing songs, play games and sometimes dance. The Pa kwisha repertoire is large and varied.

The Cisungu was an important rite of passage for girls in former days. And it has recently become important again. Based on the old practice, a new variant of the Cisungu has been introduced in the 2000s. It is still a rite of passage, with the safe-guarding of the position of women and of the reproduction of culture as its most important aspects.

In most cases the 1980s marriage ceremony was a small ceremony, the festive part of which resembled a normal, small beer party. Since the 2000s, it can be a large festivity involving many people.

The Cila is a gathering in the evening where the young people from a certain (small) area get together to play and dance the social dances fashionable at that time. This type of gathering ‘has existed always’. Whenever a new dance, dance movement, song or song text has just become popular, the weather and lack of light (no moon) are the only things to stop a Cila from being held.

Most beer parties consist of a feast, starting in the morning, at the farm of the organiser. The beer can be for sale or it is handed round by the owner. The history of the beer party shows it has been a continuously changing occasion. Especially from the 1960s to the 1980s, it was a podium for the introduction and assimilation of social innovations. For the 1970s and 1980s only, five different forms can be discerned.

The old beer party evolved from the rituals and feasts at which beer was shared, especially those connected to hunting. The music was cinsengwe music of the famous cinsengwe ing’omba for the adults and the social dance music of that period for the youngsters. It was an important venue for sharing news and hearing about developments in other places.

The Sandauni is the commercial beer party that replaced the old Beer party in the 1970s and 1980s. Originally a gramophone-supported feast, it became a venue for live, paid kalindula music.

The 1980s saw the coming of beers at which the beer was taken away by the ‘visitor’ and the 1990s saw the coming of bars and tarvens. Like the Sandauni, both were rejected by many as typical signs of the times but nevertheless they obtained a place in the range of gatherings in Chibale.

The manifestations of the local cults often are not very conspicuous and can be part of a daily or seasonal routine of a person or a family. But they also have large-scale rituals and feasts that are their most visible manifestations.

The Bwalwa bwa nkombo (Beer of the gourd shrine) is a small-scale ritual at the erection of a gourd shrine. It is mostly requested by an ancestral spirit (mupashi) in a dream or through small and family misfortune.

Description of the diagnostic and healing session done by a spirit-possessed shing’anga held after sunset. At this type of Kubuka music plays an important role.

In former days, rituals of rejoicing were important in order to stay in a state of good fortune. These rituals have gradually disappeared and some of them turned into Beers. We will discuss all the rituals of rejoicing still practised or remembered in Chibale.

Mourning and mourning rituals are very important in Chibale. We will discuss the funeral rituals and the connected rituals, sometimes long times after those. Also the ritual for all the deceased chiefs Chibale together, the Ipupo lya fikankomba, will be discussed.

There are many small rituals for problem-solving like those around illness and personal and family problems. Larger rituals of problem-solving are rare. Large problem-solving is most often done through rituals of mourning.

The meetings of the christian cults last about two hours and consist of readings, preaching and singing. The groups within most congregations each have a choir. Songs are sung by the choir with the other members singing along.

The Kabwelamushi is a yearly festival organised by chief Chibale celebrating his installation as a chief. It connects chieftainship with cultural heritage and identity.