Gatherings with music in Zambia: the layout of rituals

Gatherings with music in Zambia: the layout of rituals. The first halves of the public part of the rituals at which the possessed perform (Cibombe and Ipupo) are similar in form.

At sunset, people gather at the farm of the organisers, where a large area has been kept free. Here the spectators, who will sing the chorus lines, form a circle. This circle is referred to as cimpetu: circle (Lenje word for circle), cishilwa: marked area, kapanga: small mpanga or kapanga ka mu mushi: small mpanga in the village. Other attendees sit around the fires that burn at some distance around the circle. For examples see Figure K.
The mediums are in one or more houses where they put on their attire and do kuseluka (to have the spirits come down). For this, they lie on a bed under a white blanket, possibly after smoking or drinking certain herbs.

Gatherings with music in Zambia: the layout of rituals. The mediums, now considered actually to be spirits, assemble in the house of the organiser. Here they sing songs and discuss issues of importance for the specific purpose of the ritual and its course.
Meanwhile the three drummers, and often a mukonkonto player, have lined up in the free space in the circle. Drums are used because they heat up the village.

Proverb 81

Ngoma likafya mushi
The drum heats up the village

Things that show that the village, a co-operation between people or a large group of people is alive are important.
Apart from the ritual meaning treated in the text above, the meaning can be: Drumming shows life in the village. A proverb of similar nature is:

Cikola mumbo likafya mushi
The one who coughs deliberately heats up the village.

Gatherings with music in Zambia: the layout of rituals. The majority of the 100 to 200 people forming the circle are girls and women. Practically all the men in the circle stand on the side nearest to the drummers who stand at the eastern side. They have their drums slanting backward in an eastern direction. The mediums line up inside of the circle at the western side facing the line of the drummers.

Gatherings with music in Zambia: the layout of rituals. One of the mediums starts a song. The solo line is taken over by a helper (kampenga) and the chorus line by the chorus/attendants. The taking over of the chorus line may take a short or a long period depending on a number of factors. If the taking over has been successful, the drummers join in and the starter of the song (the medium) starts dancing to the music. Some songs can last up to fifteen minutes, while others never catch on, so there is no drumming or dancing.
There is no pre-arranged order in the songs. Practice is to have the minor (less successful) mediums sing at the beginning. In the course of the first two, three hours, the more famous mediums gradually take over. This can result in one or two mediums bringing all songs starting from midnight until six or seven in the morning.

Gatherings with music in Zambia: the layout of rituals. After each song and dance the dancers and the drummers return to their starting positions in the west and the east. The complete public part of the ritual consists of a sequence of 80 to 120 songs, once or twice interrupted for actions specific to the ritual and for the distribution of beer. After the first or second interruption, the various rituals continue differently. The Cibombe ca kuposha and Cibombe ca kushinkile ngoma stop. The Cibombe ca kusekelela and Cibombe ca ntongo continue in similar way. And, the Cibombe ca cisungu and Cibombe ca kusubula continue but now with the initiate dancing along as an initiated cult group member respectively shing’anga. At the Ipupo, one or two well-known mediums can continue dancing or the normal people start dancing social dances (icila). The singing and dancing stop just after sunrise.

The spatial layout provides the room for the transitions that are sought in the ritual

Gatherings with music in Zambia: the layout of rituals. The spatial layout of the rituals links a number of aspects to the mpanga respectively the village. Mpanga, west, inside¹Note: ifya mu mpanga and ifya ku mushi: ‘things of in the mpanga’ and ‘things of from the village’. This mpanga perspective is the conventional one in normal speech., spirit, woman, dancer & darkness. And, village, east, outside, human, man, drummer & light. Between these aspects, contacts or transitions repeatedly take place during the course of the ritual, also in music. The contact between the dancers and the drummers at these rituals dramatises the contact between the mpanga and the village. More aspects are involved than mentioned here for the spatial layout, for example in the music at these rituals.