Chibale Zambia: the appreciation of music over time

Chibale Zambia: the appreciation of music over time. Over the last sixty years, the appreciation of local music in Chibale has fluctuated quite a bit.

Local music and the area

In this article, we take local music to be the music that the local people consider to be their own. This is not self-evident since many in Chibale believe that the area has much influence on the cultural repertoires. For instance: “Lala is not a language spoken by baLala [‘the’ Lala], it is the language of iLala”, the central area of the whole of Lala region (buLala). Some maintain that the area’s name was already iLala when the first people from Kola arrived. Hence when they stayed there, their name became: baLala. Or: “All music comes/derives from the mpanga“. Mpanga stands for the area not changed by human culture as well as for the spirit world associated with the area.

Local music in this narrow sense is not the music of the local people but the music of the area. The local people can take over musics from other areas. Over a longer period a part of that music will become local music in the narrow sense when people start being possessed by spirits for whom the music from elsewhere was the music of their time as human beings. We see that local music in the narrow sense will change much slower than the music of the local people. In areas exposed to many external influences, the pace of change can obscure the local music in the narrow sense. Hence, one of the main focuses of the possession cults was and is to give more room to the voices of the area.

Influences from outside of the area

A large external influence is formed by the christian cults which are constantly guided from outside, internationally and nationally (including national repertoires). Also, some genres of social dance music like mbeni and especially kalindula are considered to (have) come from outside.
Then there are the repertoires shared in a large area, the Kaonde-Lamba-Lenje-Lala area. Some consider the Lala items within these larger repertoires to be more important, while others make no such distinctions. A bone of contention here is the Mwami part of the repertoires of the possession cults and much of the repertoires of women.

Changes in religion

Chibale Zambia: the appreciation of music over time. During the Fetulo period, there was a coexistence of local cults and christian cults. With a tendency of the latter gradually taking more control. This led to a lower shared appreciation of local –in the sense of: from before the advent of christianity– music, dance, text and ritual and, for example, to the disappearance of girls’ initiation.
As times got tougher in the 1970s, people started leaving the christian cult group they belonged to and possession cult groups sprang up. Many attended the possession rituals and the appreciation for their music, dance, text and ritual based on the pre-christian local, central cults and culture, rose. However, there was a rather large group of christians, in particular the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who, at least publicly, denounced it. Among the others, there were some that could not appreciate the Lenje/Lima orientedness of the Mwami possession groups. They tended to go less to their rituals (Cibombe) and more to the Ipupo. At the latter the Ciwila mediums danced whose art –revived through the success of the Mwami possession groups– was regarded as ‘typically Lala’.
In the 1990s, the influence of possession groups waned and most people in Chibale turned to christianity. This time the influence of this on the appreciation of local culture was less negative than during the Fetulo period, due to the presence of countermovements, see below.¹See also the articles about christian songs and dances and about christian gatherings with music.

Changes in agriculture

Because of the changes in the agricultural system that started in the 1960s, people had less spare time. Per year there were fewer periods in which cultivation demanded little activity. And, during these periods many tried other ways to earn cash. Additionally, people worked more hours per day, which reduced their ‘spare time’. Most people went to bed within two hours after sunset and previously, the hours after sunset had been just for informal music gatherings. Except for places where farms clustered as they did in nkutu and in some other parts of Chibale, there were simply not enough people present for an informal music gathering either inside, in the nsaka (mainly men), or outside (mainly women and children).
The development in nkutu farming during the 1980s and 1990s led to some increase of small-scale gatherings and of the appreciation of the songs, texts, games and dances related to those.

Countermovements and self-awareness

Chibale Zambia: the appreciation of music over time. In the period from 1985 to 2005, several phenomena played a role in the coming up of a certain self-awareness.
a. Many people grew weary of the government-led agricultural system and nkutu farming was on the rise. To a certain extent, nkutu is a celebration of pre-national culture.
b. The appeal of town life waned and staying in Chibale to farm became the better alternative if you wanted to raise and support a family. This led to more appreciation of ‘what was ours’. The same waning also made secondary school educated children return to Chibale at a rather young age which, especially after the emergence of a local economy during the 1990s, led to a more reflective interest in ‘our own culture’ and an increased self-awareness. ‘What we have is not that bad’. This gave rise to considering certain cultural traits more from an identity and cultural heritage perspective.
c. The successful comeback of local cures during the height of the possession cult groups and the effectiveness and attraction of the rekindled girls’ initiation in the beginning of the 2000s led to an increase in the appreciation of the power of certain old teachings and a re-appreciation of certain music, dance and ritual.
d. The introduction of cultural heritage/identity festivals like the Kabwelamushi.

Portable media, electricity

Around 2006, the first portable DVD players with a built-in screen arrived in Chibale. The DVDs that were obtainable for people in Chibale contained music clips from Congo, see for instance Film 7. People looked at the staging, clothing and the dancing with amazement: that black people could make this. The dance movements, though skilful, were considered to be rather limited.
Some years later, in 2013, Chibale village and all places along the road from Chibale village to Great North Road, some 45 kilometres, were connected to the national electricity network. Along this road new activities arose and access was possible to more cultural material than ever before. The coming of smartphones and a transmission tower directed to the Chibale area also contributed to the latter.