Gatherings with music in Zambia: Chibale

Gatherings with music in Chibale, Zambia. Zambia has a variety of musical gatherings. But what about that if you look at musical gatherings in one region of Zambia?¹We present the research for the articles about gatherings in Ways of working for description.
There are about 30 different types of gatherings at which music plays a role in Chibale. Over the years, new ones have been invented or adopted from elsewhere, while the old ones mostly disappear slowly. And when they have disappeared, they may be reintroduced later in an adapted form.

An overview of all gatherings with music

Gatherings with music in Chibale, Zambia. We describe the classification of musical gatherings in a separate article.
Musical instruments have one name (sometimes two or three) that does not change. In the case of musical  gatherings, there is variation of names. The names used in this article are the most common ones. Descriptive references like ‘where we satisfy the spirit’s request’ for Ipupo or Bwalwa bwa Nkombo are not rare. Therefore, it is not suitable to count all the names used to refer to the musical gatherings encountered.

Below we offer information about each gathering at which music played a role. Please click on the names in the overview below.

Small scale, no beer, no dance

These gatherings are held alone, in one household or between a few households.

Family circle and media

Work

Kupupa

Pa kwisha 1

Mu nsaka

Kubuka

Small scale, no beer, dance

These gatherings are held with small groups of women and children or of adolescents.

Children’s games

Pa kwisha 2

Cila

Instruction of the cisungu

Women’s meeting

Small scale, beer, no dance

Drinking at home

Small scale, beer, dance

Bwalwa bwa nkombo

Kufuta makasa

Imbile and a more general article about beer parties

Large scale, no beer, no dance

Christian cultus

Cililo 1, one of the large-scale gatherings connected to the older local cults

Cililo 3

School

Meetings and Shows

Large scale, no beer, dance

Cililo 2, one of the large-scale gatherings connected to the older local cults

Large scale, beer, no dance

Tarven and Bar

Large scale, beer, dance

Sandauni and a more general article about beer parties

Bwinga

Bwalwa and a more general article about beer parties

Cibombe, one of the large-scale gatherings connected to the older local cults and see also a comparison of three Cibombe

Coming out of the cisungu

Identity/Cultural heritage festival

Ipupo, one of the large-scale gatherings connected to the older local cults

Cilili, one of the large-scale gatherings connected to the older local cults

Other articles about gatherings with music

Gatherings with music in Zambia: Chibale. There is an article about the frequencies of visiting large-scale gatherings with music in the 1980s and the 2000s.

The article about the course of events and the spatial layout at the rituals where the possessed perform zooms in on the way that the layout and the course of rituals express factors of importance in the exchange relation between village (culture) and mpanga (nature). And lastly, look at the way that the interaction between drummers and dancers at these rituals dramatises this exchange relation.