Interpretation of music in Zambia: variation 5

Interpretation of music in Zambia: variation, example 5. This article is about the interpretation of a healing song. According to the bringer of the song, it is about the way an illness has developed and develops in a particular patient.

Song 163

The fragment of the healing song Song 163, from 0:40 to 1:18, used in Survey 1987.
Chiselwa, a Mwami spirit possessing the shing’anga Sheki Mbomba brings it at a Kubuka and also plays the musebe. The chorus consists of the wife of Mbomba, Njustini, Basil Chisonta and the author, Luanshya, 1986.

Text of Song 163 ∵ There is illness

Kuli amalwele bakayobela balile bona ku mutima
Kuli amalwele bakayobela balile
Kuli amalwele bwaca balokulila ba Mbomba
Kuli amalwele bwaca balokulila

The illness is still there though the kayebela have gone from the heart
The illness is still there though the kayebela have gone
There is still illness, Mbomba has been crying all night
There is still illness, he has been crying all night

Interpretation by exegetes

We recorded the bringing of this song and its actual interpretation at a Kubuka in Luanshya, from 19h30 to 20h10 on 26 May 1986. The Kubuka took place in the house of the shing’anga Mbomba, a Mwami healer and possession cult leader originating from Chibale who lived and worked in Luanshya. The room was completely dark. Eight persons were present. An unconscious patient and her husband (who had brought her to the shing’anga’s house the previous day), and another patient. Mbomba lying on a bed possessed by his principal spirit Chiselwa and Mbomba’s wife. Njustini: a young man from Chibale who drummed for Mbomba and occasionally helped during Kubuka. Basil Chisonta and the author.
Chiselwa speaks in a mixture of Lenje, Lala and Bemba. In some cases his helper Njustini translates his words into Lala/Bemba. Chiselwa speaks and sings slowly in a low voice, while the husband of the patient, even though he is a policeman of higher rank, speaks softly and timidly. Listen to the whole passage in Music example 81.

Music example 81

Below follows a transcription of this passage in the Kubuka at Mbomba’s on 26 May 1986.

But that was only a song being sung

[Chiselwa has just finished the discussion of the case of the other patient with a song]
Chiselwa: [Gives a short whistle.] Now what is the name of the sick one?
Husband: She is the mother of Mwelwa.
Chiselwa: What is your view on her condition?
Njustini: He wants to know what your view is on her condition.
Husband: There seems to be some improvement.
Chiselwa: Some improvement?
Husband: Yes.
Chiselwa: Have her parents visited her already?
Husband: Here?
Chiselwa: Yes. Haven’t they come here?
Husband: Her parents live somewhere in a village. They went back.
Chiselwa: So you are her only “relative” in town.
Husband: Only her grandfather remained.

[A song (Song 164) is started]

Chiselwa: When my mother was still here, there was no suffering
I had a good time near the fire, Sakanya, there was no crying
The good time is gone today
Chorus: When there is failing, they just leave the one they slept with
Because it was only loving the wife’s body, I cry mawe oyiye¹These lines are sung eight times. In Chiselwa’s solo ‘ba Mbomba’ later replaces the word ‘mother’ and the name ‘Maluba’, another major Mwami spirit, replaces ‘Sakanya’ a few times.

Chiselwa: That is how it is. What is your view?
Njustini: He says: that is how it is and what is your view? Is she improving?
Husband: Yes.

[A song (Song 163, see above) is started]

Chiselwa: Kuli amalwele bakayobela balile bona ku mutima
Chorus: Kuli amalwele bakayobela balile
Chiselwa: Kuli amalwele bwaca balokulila ba Mbomba
Chorus: Kuli amalwele bwaca balokulila

Chiselwa: There is still illness though the kayebela have gone from the heart
Chorus: There is still illness though the kayebela have gone
Chiselwa: There is still illness, Mbomba has been crying all night
Chorus: There is still illness, he has been crying all night²The first two lines are sung four times, then the second pair follows six times while the song is finished by singing the first two lines twice. The word ‘amalwashi’ (Lenje for illness) replaces ‘amalwele’ a few times and ‘bona ba Mbomba’ replaces ‘ba Mbomba’ a few times in the solo-line.
[Kayobela are creatures used by witches to steal food, to cause illness or to kill; it is a Lenje word, the Lala word being kayebela.]

Chiselwa: That is how it is. This patient of yours, as I’ve said it, I end here – has to use medicine to be all right again. To be all right, do you understand?
Husband: Yes, sir.
Chiselwa: Let us then hear if you have any question to ask about this patient of yours. Hm. Hm.
Husband: No, because I understand that the kayebela have left and that there is an illness in the heart.

[Follows suppressed laughter by Njustini and Basil Chisonta]

The actual interpretation of the song

Njustini: But that was only a song being sung.
Chiselwa: No! No! It is the truth!
Husband: So it is true?
Chiselwa: Surely. It is exactly like you have said it. The kayebela have left but in the heart illness has remained.
Husband: But they are laughing.
Chiselwa: It is the complete truth you have told. The kayebela have told us they have left but in the heart is where an illness has remained. But we are going to work on that soon.
Husband: Yes, sir.
Chiselwa: All illness will leave the heart, you understand?
Husband: I understand.
Chiselwa: So you really tried your best to understand our opinion as it is in the song. What was our intention to bring this song? We saw that the kayebela were stubborn and that her spirits (myela) were remaining in her heart. When those kayebela would leave, a curable illness would remain in the heart. That is how it is.

[The first two lines of the song are sung once more]

Chiselwa: That is the issue, sir, rest assured. Do not worry. Surely the kayebela have left and in the heart a curable illness has remained.

[With these words the discussion of the case of the unconscious patient is rounded off]

Interpretations by other exegetes

Outside this actual context two shing’anga gave the following interpretations.

It means something remains in the heart causing trouble. The shing’anga’s spirits bring this song when it looks like the illness has gone but it turns out something has remained. So she has to look for other medicine. It could also mean that some of the possessing spirits left, in that case the remaining spirits bring this song. ‘Bakayobela’ then means ‘fellow possessing spirits’.
BanaNshimbi ∵ personal communication, 1987.

The kayobela that brought the illness to the heart have left because the shing’anga’s spirits have killed them. The patient is now better.
Salati Mukoti ∵ personal communication, 1986.

We see that the exegetes give three interpretations.
A. The kayobela have left but in the heart a curable illness has remained. (Chiselwa and banaNshimbi, first interpretation)
B. The kayobela that brought the illness to the heart have left/been killed; the patient is healed. (Salati Mukoti)
C. The remaining spirits bring this song because some of the possessing spirits left. In this case, bakayobela means ‘fellow possessing spirits’. (BanaNshimbi, second interpretation)

The main difference between A and B is that in B the patient is already healed while in A attention goes to the illness that, be it smaller than the original one, has remained. C differs considerably from A and B in that it interprets the song to be a song summoning certain spirits.

Interpretation by the general public

In Survey 1987, participants expressed their views on the message of this song right after hearing it. Most participants focused on what they considered the main subject of the song, a broad interpretation of the song text, see below. A specific question about the song’s text prompted further interpretation (Lists 35).

90% of the people understand that the song is about illness, the other 10% connect it with death or with witchcraft while only 5 persons say not to understand the song. However clear the main subject may have been, many different answers are given to the more specific question. What does ‘Kuli amalwele bakayobela balile’ mean?

List 35: What does ‘Kuli amalwele bakayobela balile’ mean?

Note that bakayobela can be understood as the plural of kayobela³Rendered in the list with ‘the kayebela’, from the Lala for bakayobela. and as ‘Mr(s) Kayobela’, that is with ‘Kayobela’ as a name.

Interpretation of music in Zambia: variation, example 5.

Quite a few (28%) do not understand the sentence while the others come up with a wide range of interpretations.
The translation of this song given above is based on the interpretation of the text given by the spirit Chiselwa, possessing Mbomba, that brought the song. The grammatical construction used in the first two lines, however, is not unambiguous.
Kayobela could be the name of a healer or another person involved. It is likely that most of the 24 persons (16%)⁴An interpretation of ba Kayobela as a person can be found in the following answers given 24 times in total: 4T4, 4T10, 4T15, 4T17, 4T18, 4T27, 4T29, 4T32 and 4T35. thinking this is the case do not know what kayobela are.
Many (43%) presume that bakayobela is the collective name of the shing’anga’s spirits.⁵An interpretation of bakayobela as the shing’anga’s spirits can be found in the following answers given 63 times in total: 4T2, 4T3, 4T5, 4T6, 4T7, 4T9, 4T12, 4T13, 4T14, 4T19, 4T22, 4T23 and 4T25.
Some answers are more an interpretation of the situation – the recognisable Kubuka context – than of the text. The song is seen by 19%⁶Answers 4T2, 4T5, 4T14,4T19, 4T22, 4T25 and 4T33 as a general appeal to the spirits not being specifically applicable to the situation, more or less parallel to the understanding that the ones who laughed had of the song. Or, some people understand it as a mourning song (4T15), presumably because of the line ‘About the illness Mbomba has been crying all night’ and the heaviness of the performance.
In a few answers (5%) the involvement of witches is brought to the fore.⁷Eight persons brought the text of Song 163 in relation with witchcraft; answers: 4T8, 4T21, 4T24 and 4T28.

Conclusion

28% of the people interviewed do not know what the first line of the song means.
There are a number of interpretations of the song. The majority of the answers look into the meaning and role of the bakayobela, having two main orientations. They are the spirits possessing the shing’anga or it concerns (the name of) a person. Some hear a general appeal to the spirits for help, a few hear a funeral song. For a small number of people the song is about witchcraft.

How many answers of the general public are consistent, or at least not inconsistent, with the three exegetes’ interpretations?
Nearly 20% of the ones interviewed give answers not inconsistent with C⁸The answers 4T2, 4T5, 4T9, 4T14 and 4T16., though mostly implying a broader idea of summoning the spirits, while one person (in 4T33) gives an interpretation more or less the same as C. 4% give answers⁹4T11 and 4T20. not inconsistent with A and B while one answer (4T31) matches with the first parts of A and B.
This means that one of the 146 people interviewed gives an interpretation consistent with that of Chiselwa. Six give an interpretation not inconsistent with it.

Continue to the conclusion of this series of articles about variation in song text interpretation.