Evaluation of music in Zambia: judgements about performers

Figure I: Phrase cloud of judgements about singers.¹Surveys 1985/86 and 2004 taken together.

Evaluation of music in Zambia: judgements about performers. What do people in Chibale care for most in music and dance?

In this article, we will discuss the judgements about performers of music and dance in the 1980s and 2000s. That is, the reasons for the preferences for performers presented in the article on musical preferences. We start with the judgements given in the 1980s, then follow those of the 2000s. And, we conclude with a comparison of the two.

Groups of judgements about performers in the 1980s

Evaluation of music in Zambia: judgements about performers. We will first discuss the reasons to prefer the various performers in the 1980s. Then we will compare these reasons.

In Lists 13, we see that there are also many reasons for preferring a performer.
When we place the reasons in the same six groups that are discerned in the article about the evaluation of songs: Properness, Excellence, Effect, Feeling, Structural features and Changeable features, we see that most of the reasons are about Properness, Changeable features and Excellence.

Table E: Judgement groups in the evaluation of performers, Survey 1985/86.

Singers

Evaluation of music in Zambia: judgements about performers. Singing is the field with the most performers. Proper skills, therefore, are more like minimum requirements of the specialism in which a certain singer can excel: Properness and Excellence together form around 70% of the reasons given to prefer a singer. The level demanded for the fya kusala skills for singing, like bringing meaningful texts (m7), starting well (m12), making a song sound better (m13) and singing well while dancing (m14), is only reached by a few.

Dancers

In reality, dancers are by far the most frequently evaluated performers (with drummers in the second place). More than other performers, dancers are judged on the way they fill in their performance: fya kusala (Changeable features). Less preconceived ideas exist as to the properness of the dance movements and behaviour, the eyes are focused on the way the waist is used, and to a lesser extent the legs and the head.

Figure L: Phrase cloud of judgements about dancers.²Surveys 1985/86 and 2004 taken together.

Bringers of (‘new’) songs

Evaluation of music in Zambia: judgements about performers. Bringing songs is a specialism with three sides. The minimum requirements are that one has a good voice, the ability to start well and teach a song in a short time to the audience/chorus and the ability to make a song easy.
Making a song easy can be done in three ways: following a musango that is already known; using strategies, like Chalebaila, to make a difficult song well-known and therefore ‘easy’; and making a difficult song easier by the way you perform it. The latter is also a skill for singers.³m2 in List 13d. The third group of judgements is that the texts brought, already existing or new, are effective, that is full of meaning, understood by many (another meaning of ‘easy’) or appropriate for the occasion. The newness of the texts is not mentioned in the reasons in List 13f; the one that comes closest is the ability to bring (many) different songs within a short period (b8).

Drummers

Evaluation of music in Zambia: judgements about performers. All drummers are favoured for more or less the same reasons.⁴There is little variation in the relative spread of the judgement groups over the various (types of) drummers. This is consistent with the rather clear picture shared by many as to what is expected of a good drummer. This in turn implies that fya kusala freedom (Changeable features) for a drummer is limited. And that ‘to be better than another’ means ‘to do the things that are required in the superlative’. Louder, more energetic, with more knowledge and more control. Some freedom can be found in good tactics (o10), variation (o14) and behaviour while playing (o15), only 6% of the mentioned drummers’ skills.

Conclusion

Evaluation of music in Zambia: judgements about performers in the 1980s. Drummers are preferred most for the Properness of their playing and its Effect. Dancers for the Changeable features, Properness and Excellence. Singers for Properness, Excellence and Changeable features. And bringers of (‘new’) songs for Properness and Changeable features, and for the Structural features of the songs they bring.

This seems to indicate that performers are first of all judged on the level of proper performance. On that basis, they are judged by the way they deal with the degrees of freedom that exist for their kind of performance. A less precise, frequently used judgement type is the one referring to excellence as it may have one of these two meanings or both at the same time: she performs at the highest level of all or he makes perfect use of the degrees of freedom that exist.

Evaluating performers: comparing the 2000s with the 1980s

Evaluation of music in Zambia: judgements about performers. In this section, we focus on the judgements about singers and dancers⁵In 2004, only the preferences and reasons were asked for singers and dancers; in 1985/86, for drummers, bringers of (new) songs, singers and dancers. in the 1980s and the 2000s. The reasons given for preferring singers and dancers can be found in Lists 13.
Again, we will focus on the six groups of judgements that were treated above and in the other articles in judgements.

Table N: Judgement groups when preferring a dancer and a singer in 1985/86 and 2004.

It is remarkable how the rates of occurrence of the judgement groups differ between 1985/86 and 2004. This is an expression of some big changes in the way performers are evaluated.

Judgements about singers

Evaluation of music in Zambia: judgements about performers. The main changes are that in the 2000s judgements referring to Changeable features of the performance have all but disappeared and that there are much more judgements referring to Properness and far less referring to Excellence. Moreover, there are more judgements referring to Effect.
For Effect and Changeable features, the same holds as mentioned with Judgements about songs. The increase in Properness judgements and the decrease in Excellence and Changeable judgements are an expression of the decrease in the extent to which singing is a vehicle for competition and excellence.

Judgements about dancers

Evaluation of music in Zambia: judgements about performers. The main changes are that in the 2000s judgements referring to Changeable features of the performance have all but disappeared and that there are much more judgements referring to Excellence and far less referring to Properness. Moreover, there are more judgements referring to Effect.
For Effect and Changeable features, the same holds as mentioned with Judgements about songs. For the rest, we see here a contrary movement as with the reasons to prefer a singer: dancers have become the example of competitive performers while preferring them is far less linked to the way they handle the changeable features. In other words, the judgements about dancers have become more superficial.

Read further: Evaluation of music in Zambia: conclusion.