Gatherings with music in Zambia: drummers and dancers

Gatherings with music in Zambia: drummers and dancers. At the rituals where the possessed perform (Cibombe and Ipupo), both dancers and drummers are situated between the mpanga and the village and between spirit and human being. Their attire also expresses a position between woman and man. According to de Boeck & Devisch¹De Boeck & Devisch (1994: 125). this might be related to their bridging function. “The vital life-flow itself is a boundless, all-embracing force that generates energy and life through its encompassing and bridging capacity. As such, it has a liminal and generative potential through which male and female body and self are outlined in their corporeal boundedness, and at the same time merged into one another”²See the article on Strength, notably the end..
The dancers combine several cishibilo³Every aspect can be connected to one or more things (matter, quality, state, action, process) that are cishibilo for that aspect. Cishibilo literally means a thing that makes something (else) known, so: sign, metaphor, image. For instance, the cuttings that hunters make on big trees are cishibilo for the surrounding area and the path to follow. A comparable term found with the Ndembu (NW-Zambia) is derived from the verb kujikijila, to blaze a trail (Turner 1961: 1). A symbol, Turner says, “is a ‘blaze’ or ‘landmark’, something that connects the unknown and the known”. (signs, symbols) for woman and man: skirts, headscarves, hunting-axe, and gun, while the drummers (men) wear a skirt and often also a headscarf.

Starting a song and starting to dance

Gatherings with music in Zambia: drummers and dancers. At the beginning of each song one dancer starts to walk around trying to teach a song to the chorus. A female helper of the dancer standing at the edge of the circle takes over the solo line while the people forming the circle take over the chorus line. Most possession songs consist of these two lines only, while the remaining possession songs consist of a short solo and chorus line followed by a longer solo and chorus line. When the song has been taken over well, the drums join in one by one.
When the starter of the song is satisfied about the total sound, she begins dancing to the music. The other dancers may dance or not, depending on whether the music fits their type of possession. Most of the attention of drummers and chorus, however, is focused on the one who starts the song: the ‘owner of the song’ (mwine wa lwimbo).

Connection and opposition

Gatherings with music in Zambia: drummers and dancers. The contact between dancers and drummers is a continuous game of attraction and rejection, of connection and opposition. During the dance the dancer can come up very close to the drummers to dance in front of them. And then dances back again. Or the drummers move towards or follow the dancer.

Gatherings with music in Zambia: drummers and dancers. The dancer and the master drummer often have intensive eye contact. They “concentrate like hunting dogs who are near their quarry”. Sparks flow when three or four dancers dance in a row opposite the row of drummers, when the drummers hunt a dancer who moves backward (ciwilewile) or when a dancer grips the sides of the head of the master drum (see Photo 71) shifting her weight to make her hips free for fast movements while she and the drummer look into the depths of each other’s eyes.

Who follows who?

Gatherings with music in Zambia: drummers and dancers. Dancers say that they follow the master drummer, the master drummer says he follows the dancer. As seen in the article on the drum, there are two types of master drumming: kusansa and kupika. During kusansa the dancer is free in her movements. During kupika the master drummer first entices the dancer to start her solo (teka). When she starts following, the second phase of kupika can start in which the drummer follows the dancing of the solo dancer. Dancer and drummer challenge each other (kucimfyanya) to see who will tire first. When drummer and dancer know each other, the drummer knows what preferences the dancer has. This knowledge and maka: the ability to play loudly and without tiring, are important qualities of a master drummer. When drummer and dancer do not know each other, the dancer indicates the type of playing she prefers by reacting eagerly or reluctantly.

Connection and opposition in other behaviour

Gatherings with music in Zambia: drummers and dancers. Connection and opposition also occur in other behaviour. The drummers are the first to receive beer and they get more than others. They may be praised or scorned in the dancers’ songs. The organiser may dismiss a drummer due to his incompetence. There may be disputes about the correctness of the patterns played. And about the fact that the melody brought by the dancer does not fit the patterns that belong to his possession type. A dancer may demonstrate the correct way of playing to a drummer. Or the drummers may start acting indifferent because they haven’t gotten enough beer yet.

The drummers are at the same time more devoted and less subordinate to the dancers than the others present. They represent the maximum possible for the village in contact with the mpanga.