Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context conclusion
Fighting with songs ∵ conclusion
Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, conclusion.
As the owner of the Ipupo I can’t give much comment because it was my mother who asked for the Ipupo but there were no rains and there was good singing, so it was a success.
The adepts (abanamanga) only came to help by dancing until Kansenkele would come and by singing after that. Some of them, however, had a different interpretation of helping.
Kansenkele was invited by some of my relatives. Wouldn’t he have come, Kamimbya could have carried the evening. My relatives didn’t want Mwami dancing but Ciwila dancing. […]
Yes, I agree that this Ipupo presented the highest quality of music and dancing in the Lala region. High quality is directly related to the success, also for the relatives.
BanaNshimbi ∵ personal communication, 1987.
Conclusion
The song texts reflect and produce the progress of the ritual
Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, conclusion. To a considerable degree, the song texts at this ritual reflect and produce its progress. As a result, it is evident why people in Chibale valued song texts so highly in the 1980s.
The understandability of the song texts
At this and other Ipupo, the mediums bring most song texts for the first time. Attendees often find new texts easier to understand because they are more applied to the situation. Existing song texts need to be interpreted in light of their situational relevance.
The monopoly of Ciwila mediums on Ipupo music and ritual clearly is at stake in this Ipupo. And so is the way of dealing with text and musango. New texts on existing musango (Ciwila) versus existing texts on ever-changing musango (Mwami). People do appreciate Mwami songs. But, the extent to which they force the audience to interpretation –as well as their heaviness– is their weakness. Certainly men tend to reject this ‘typically feminine’ characteristic of Mwami music, but there are also many women who prefer easy songs (new song texts to a well-known musango) in public rituals.
Many of the texts are hard to understand when looked at by themselves. A rather large number of these are not understandable when one is not informed to a certain extent. And a few will have been understood only by those deeply involved in the personal lives of the protagonists and the possession milieu in Chibale.
Presentation of song texts without context, as done at various occasions on this site, will only be useful when they render (historical) facts or illustrate things. As exemplified by this Ipupo in which many of the song texts do neither, this is a heavy restriction on the song texts renderable.
The contents of the song texts
Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, conclusion. Let us look at the contents of the song texts of this Ipupo.
A. Good performance is necessary to heat the ritual. Therefore, many songs texts praise or criticise persons or actions: the ritual, the organisers, the kampenga or the chorus, the master-drummer or the drumming, and fellow dancers. And a number of songs contain explicit or implicit self-praise that becomes positive criticism once the audience/chorus takes over the song.
B. Other topics central to the Ipupo are the livening up of the organisers, mourning, sharing of mourning and relating good music and mourning.
C. Topics for large gatherings, not particularly the Ipupo, are explicit teaching (kufunda), historicising the event and references to witchcraft or other main concerns of the period.
These three types of topics are also typical for ing’omba. As are guiding the course of the ritual, political commentary and underlining the importance of ing’omba.
Song texts related to hunting and healing are typical for some other gatherings with music. The bringing of healing songs and the treatment of a patient form a big issue at this Ipupo. This leads to some critical texts listed already under praise and criticism, but also to four texts in favour of and seventeen against Mwami/Bayambo and a more than average number (also seventeen) of ‘ing’omba rule’ texts.
Some 30 song texts are explicitly about the issue at the heart of this particular Ipupo.
An important factor contributing to the hotness of this Ipupo is Kansenkele’s open fight with those who believe that an Ipupo can also be used for cults of affliction purposes.
Song texts as structural and performative
Interpretation of music in Zambia: texts in context, conclusion. From the perspective of the distinction between structural and performative aspects of rituals, this fight is a performative aspect. The changing character of the Ipupo was an important issue throughout the 1980s. But hotness could well be, and in many cases was, produced without much reference to it. The structural thing is that every ritual has certain themes that fuel streams of song texts and with that contribute to the purpose of the ritual and the well-being of the area.
For another look at the interpretation of music and song texts, go to the series of articles on the variation in song text interpretation by the general public in Chibale and by specialists.