Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context 6

Fighting with songs ∵ Songs 51 to 64

The 51st song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6.

Text of the 51st song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi‘s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele.Kale nabalile ukuingainga bamayo kwa Chibale mama
Nemulanda bamayo kwa Chibale banaNshimbi

It’s long ago that I began looking here and there for my mother in Chibale, mama
I, the poor one, for my mother in Chibale: banaNshimbi

A reconciling song for banaNshimbi, the classificatory mother (MoSi) of Shemu where he feels at home.

The drummers refuse to play because they think their share of the beer is too small.

The 52nd song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. 

Text of the 52nd song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele.Iyo mutende bangobele
Iyo lele nangula fyalula ifyo bamushilile banaNgosa

Greetings to you, performers of the fine music
Iyo lele, even though banaNgosa is the only one left to give you good medicines

BanaNgosa is Shemu’s deceased mother, whose spirit is possessing him.

This is Kansenkele’s victory song. The text is ironical because the good things Kansenkele can bring are expressed here in Mwami terminology: good medicines.

The 53rd song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. 

Text of the 53rd song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele.Iyo baletuseka ukonda banamwela ndelumba ba Meli mama
Iyo lele ndelumba ba Meli kutali baya

Even though there are people who laugh about our thinness, wives of the spirits, I’m praising Meli, mama
Iyo lele, I’m praising Meli who is not among us anymore

Now there is time to praise the spirits, in this case Meli, in a mournful way.

The 54th song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. 

Text of the 54th song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele.We mwaice ubushiku bwaca nomba
BanaChibuye ingoma ya balumbwana
Ati shololilo ingoma ya balumbwana
Nomba tukoya/ Nomba tuleya/ Likonona musana

You young one, the night turns into dawn now
BanaChibuye, it is now the session for those who are young-at-heart
Believe it! It is a session of the young-at-heart
[The old/weak say: ] “We are leaving”/ “We are leaving”/ “It destroys your back”

This is another victory song but at the same time it is an important Ipupo song.
‘Night turns into dawn’ is a theme of the Cililo. This period starts around 2 o’clock in the morning, the dark hours before dawn when one still hopes that the deceased will rise and one fears that the breaking of the new day will ‘prove’ that the deceased is really dead. That new day will also be the burial day. Often the mourning is at its heaviest just after dawn. When using these terms at Ipupo one can refer to this Cililo theme but one can also refer to the end of the Ipupo, and therefore the end of the long mourning period, at the break of the new day. This song in fact marks the end of the heating period and at another Ipupo this might have been the last song by a medium. After it the normal people would dance icila.

The 55th song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. 

Text of the 55th song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele.Mayo we nemunenu cilinkonawile Maloba
Fyenke fi ba Pepa mama
Mama lelo fyenke fi ba Pepa efi bafwaya

Mother, me, your friend, it has raptured me, Maloba
It is true, isn’t it, Pepa, mama
Mama, now today isn’t it true, Pepa, that’s how the spirits want it

Cilinkonawile literally means ‘it has spoilt me’ but here, and more often when possessed refer to their own physical or mental state, just the opposite is meant. See, for instance, the 64th and 95th songs of this Ipupo.

Another victory song.

During this song, Chalebaila enters the circle again. It seems Kansenkele has been crying victory too soon.

The 56th song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. 

Text of the 56th song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Bayambo song brought by Chalebaila. It is the same song as the 44th song.
Mangoma twalema kufwaya mumayamba
Chalebaila tetinshanemo lyambwelela

Drums, we are tired of trying to find game in the deep mpanga
Chalebaila, I can’t dance, the ishamo has come back

Following the same method as Kamimbya, Chalebaila comes with his most successful song of the evening.

The 57th song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. Only twenty seconds after Chalebaila has started Kansenkele takes over with a new song.

Music example 29

Kansenkele interrupts Chalebaila’s song by starting a new one.

Text of the 57th song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele.Tamumfwa ifi yalila ya fibanda
Uko bekala ba Shemu mawe / Uko bekala bama banaChibuye
Owe lelo uko bekala ba Shemu ningoma imba

Don’t you hear how the spirits’ music sound
Where Shemu stays, mawe / Where mother banaChibuye stays
Owe, now today where Shemu stays that’s where the ritual sings

Kansenkele rudily interrupts Chalebaila and cheers: where Kansenkele is invited ‘the ritual sings’.

The 58th song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. Chalebaila has waited until Kansenkele’s song has finished and tries it again with the same Bayambo song as the 44th and the 56th.

There is some drumming but poor singing.

The 59th song

Text of the 59th song of at the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele.Boi we, eci mputawila masamba Maloba /banaChibuye
Fyenke fi ba Eni mama
Owe lelo fyenke fi ba Eni efyalenga

You, friend, this is why my masamba get torn, Maloba/banaChibuye
Surely, Eni, mama
Owe, now today, surely, Eni, it’s these rituals that cause this

The Boi we here is the second wife of Shemu, Eni, who is among the audience/chorus and will have been the one repairing his masamba.

This is another example of self-praise. Getting your masamba torn because of forceful dancing is a positive sign of rapture. It also expresses that the ritual is hot.

The 60th song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. The starting of the next song gets more attention than usual from Kansenkele and his first wife. They walk around to make sure enough people start singing a song that they presumably do not understand at that moment. Kansenkele needs them to sing well for the plan that he announces in the text and that is so out of the ordinary that no-one will have guessed it. 

Text of the 60th song of at the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele.Iyo bushiku bwaca nomba kuya Maloba/ banaChibuye
Katumake ba Pepa ba mayo
Nemulandu katumake ba Pepa nomba tuleya

No, night turns into dawn, now it is [time for] going, Maloba/ banaChibuye
Let’s settle over there, Pepa, mother
I, the poor one, let’s settle over there, Pepa, now let’s go

When the singing is good and the drums have begun, Kansenkele breaks away from the circle leaving Chalebaila with a part of the audience/chorus. He does this by doing ciwilewile, a type of ecstatic backward dancing in which the dancer is pursued by the master-drummer, or all drummers, and bumps into the audience/chorus. The audience/chorus will then move away giving room to the dancer who only goes over the edge of the circle to return to it again. In this case, however, Kansenkele does not return but keeps on dancing backwards to another spot some 15 metres from the circle ‘to settle over there’. As soon as it is clear – after some two metres outside the circle – that he will not return, the larger part of the audience/chorus follows him while they keep on singing to keep him in the ciwilewile state. It is not clear whether Pepa and the other two drummers were aware of this when they started pursuing Kansenkele.

The 61st song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. As soon as the crowded because smaller dance circle at the new place has taken shape, Kansenkele switches to a new text while the singing, drumming and dancing are in full gear, an unusual move though less rare than moving to another place.

Text of the 61st song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele in the new dance circle.Boi we balinjebele bama banaChibuye
Fyanjebele ba Shemu mayo
Owe lelo fyanjebele ba Shemu nomba tukoya/ kutali baba

You, friend, my mother banaChibuye has informed me
What was told to me, Shemu, mother
Owe, now today, what was told to me, Shemu, was: now let’s go/ to be far from here

The ‘Boi we’ is Pepa who has been tricked into this by following Kansenkele’s ciwilewile that turned out to be a move to another place. It tries to put him at ease: banaNshimbi knew of this.

The 62nd song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. Presumably because of the hotness of the situation a woman in normal dress tries to start a song but Kansenkele immediately starts the 62nd song.

Text of the 62nd song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele in the new dance circle.Yo, we shitima ilya pa menshi wabona Ceya
Likominta abakwa Muchinka babona mayo

No, you, the steamboat that you saw, Ceya
It carries only those from Muchinka, as all can see now, mother

With this song Kansenkele seems to say: finally there is time to do ing’omba work. It is a song in the ing’omba tradition of giving political criticism, compare Song 32. The complaint is that the Tanzania-Zambia Railway built by the Chinese doesn’t pass through Chibale, and so has no stopping places there. Though the TaZaRa passes through four chiefdoms, Muchinka is mentioned here because in Chibale it is considered a contender for the paramount chieftainship of the Lala region. The subject of Kansenkele’s next song seems to suggest that his criticism is not only directed to the national or district government but also to chief Chibale.

The 63rd song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. Kansenkele not only left Chalebaila at the place of the old dance circle but he also took the drums and the drummers. It has taken Chalebaila and his people some time to organise things but now they are ready. Chalebaila starts a song at the place of the old circle. 

Song 63 at the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Bayambo song brought by Chalebaila at the place of the old dance circle. [Unrecorded]

The kernel of the chorus consists of the ‘fan chorus’ of Kamimbya. The song lasts quite long.

The 64th song

Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, part 6. 

Text of the 64th song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi’s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele in the new dance circle.Mukamposeshe ba Teneshi mailo
NaMuluba mulwele mama
Shololilo naMuluba mulwele mulwele pimpa

Go and greet chief Teneshi from me tomorrow [and tell him:]
The wife of Muluba is ill, mother
Believe it! The wife of Muluba is ill, stubbornly ill

The wife of Muluba, a Ciwila spirit, is Shemu Mambwe himself.

A song of self-praise. Like in the 39th and 55th song, with illness, or spoiling, the opposite is meant: ‘Go and tell chief Chibale that Shemu stubbornly made the ritual hot’.
The audience/chorus reacts with walya iwe: ‘hooray for you’ and sings enthusiastically.

Continue to the next article in this series: the description and the interpretation of the song texts of this Ipupo.