Musical instruments in Zambia: drums

Musical instruments in Zambia: drums. Conical drums are played in sets of three in Chibale. The set is used at larger feasts and rituals. Only on special occasions, like mourning, one drum is played. In the kalindula ensemble, we find one to three drums: conical drums, a bass drum (bita) and sometimes a small drum (kaoma). In church music, drums were not originally used. Later on, one or two small drums were played and, more recently, two conical drums though not in all congregations. Together with the rattles, the drums are the most frequently played musical instruments in Chibale. There are also some historical drums that are still known but not played.

Contents

The conical drums

Comparable drums in other regions
Playing position
Re-inforcement of the patterns of the two smaller drums
Preventing the drums from being blocked

Ways of playing the drums

Relationships between the three drums, and their relation to singing and dancing
Phases in masterdrum playing

Small drums

Historical drums

The friction drum
The chiefly drum
The gourd drum
The mbeni drum

The conical drums

Musical instruments in Zambia: drums. An important musical ensemble in Chibale is the set of three similar single-headed, open, slightly conical drums. It consists of an iyikulu, big one: the larger, low master drum, a cibitiku: the middle drum/the starter and a kace, small one: the smaller, high drum.

The average heights of the iyikulu, cibitiku and kace are 92, 82 and 66 centimetres respectively. Average diameters of the skins: 29, 27 and 27 and of the feet 18, 17 and 17 centimetres. The wood is insase (Albizia), mulombe or cisangwa. Drumheads are the skins of several types of antelope. Some 30 small wooden pegs fix the skin to the wooden case. The drum maker needs some special tools not found on every farm. Therefore, only few specialists make drums.⁴See Jones & Kombe (1952: 40-49) for a description of the making of a drum. Cullen Pope (1940: 259-262) states that only three clans (not mentioned by her) can make drums. If this were the case in the 1920s, it was no longer the case in the 1980s and no-one remembered this.

Pope Cullen⁵Pope Cullen (1940: 260). who visited Chibale at the end of the 1920s mentions the kabitiko, the tumba and the mwimbi. Other old sources⁶See the section: Comparable drums in other regions. also use more names and describe more drum types for the areas around Chibale. The possibility cannot be ruled out that a larger drum tradition than that of the 1980s was disrupted in the period 1940-1970. One can also suppose that only dances accompanied by the current drum set survived. Or, that the drumming or other accompaniment for other genres changed into accompaniment by the current drum set. For older drums still remembered, see the last part of this article.

Before playing, the player holds the drum skin in a fire (kanga). And before and during playing he applies a paste (masemo) to the skin made of pounded mbono fruits, mixed with black cooking remains (cifibo). Apart from tuning (semeka) the drum, the masemo makes the skin sticky. Drummers find this beneficial to their playing.
The tonal quality of the iyikulu is the most critical, then that of the cibitiku. In case only cibitiku and kace are available, the cibitiku is tuned down to become iyikulu by throwing water in it (bombola) and then heating the skin. In the same way the kace is turned into a cibitiku. And the kace pattern is played on any container available. See also the end of Elaboration H below.

Comparable drums in other regions

The drums are very similar to the kayanda drum mentioned for the Ila, Lamba and Kaonde regions.⁷Smith & Dale (1920, ii: 267, with picture), Scheyven (1937) and Bantje (1978: 11, 12 with picture) respectively One of them or all of them were possibly also called Mwimbi or Mumbi in the 1920s and 1930s⁸Compare Pope Cullen (1940: 262) and Lambo (1945: 331, 332), and see also Ragoen (1938: np).. Blacking mentions the ng’oma ikhulu as the master drum in the Nsenga region⁹Blacking (1962: 7)..

The name cibitiku frequently occurs in literature about central Zambia and southern Congo. As a Nsenga drum, the name being an onomatopoeia for the sound it makes: BI-ti-ku, BI-ti-ku¹⁰Jones (1949: 297).. As a drum that hunters’ associations in the Sanga region used for their rituals (“leurs danses cabalistiques”).¹¹The kibitiko mentioned by Roland (1934: np) and Boone (1951: 60).. And it is mentioned for the Lamba region as the name for a dance related to spirit possession and healers (shing’anga).¹²Doke (1931: 361) and Mensah (1971: 14).

Playing position

There is a noticeable difference in drum playing position at Ipupo and Cibombe compared to that at beer parties or in kalindula bands. At Ipupo and Cibombe, the drummers have to follow the dancers, mostly the starter of the song being played. By means of a rope the drummer carries the drum around his left hip. The rope passes through a hole in the foot and a wooden eye near the top of the drum shell. The drummer stands slightly bent forwards to ensure the drum hangs aslant along the right hip. In the article A theory about music, the acoustic-cosmological reason for this playing position is discussed. At a beer party, the drummer sits on the drum, the drum rests on a stool or another drum, or it is held by a boy.

Re-inforcement of the patterns of the two smaller drums

Two instruments can make the cibitiku and kace more audible: the ciwaya (shaken idiophone) and the mukonkonto (sticks beaten on the side of the master drum). This is also called ‘to follow’ (konka). Sometimes a fourth drum doubles the cibitiku or the kace “to add more hotness to the ritual”. Rarely, the cibitiku and the kace are both doubled, but this puts pressure on the iyikulu player.

Preventing the drums from being blocked

During Ipupo and Cibombe, but also sometimes during old beer parties, a helper of the owner of the feast or ritual throws mealie meal on the skin and foot as well as on the drummers’ heads to prevent the drums from being blocked. When a drum is blocked, nobody is able to produce an acceptable sound from it. Blocking is caused by bwanga (witchcraft medicine) used by competing drummers or by people who want to disturb the session. The competition between drummers is considerable.

Ways of playing the drums

In three-part music, kace is the salt. But it is only salt if the other two play. It is heard above the other two.
Mika Mwape Chungwa ∵ personal communication, 1986.

The cibitiku looks at the song [the singing] and follows it. It straightens (-olola) the song. Then the kace follows the cibitiku. And then the iyikulu completes the whole. After that, the iyikulu will follow the dancing. It does not follow the song. So, you will see that when there’s no dancing the iyikulu will be less varied unless the player knows how to imagine that a certain person is dancing and follows him/her.
Alube Mika ∵ personal communication, 1987.

Using Figure G below, we first examine the three drums’ patterns and functions, then discuss how they relate to singing and dancing.

Elaboration H:
Relationships between the three drums, and their relation to singing and dancing

Figure G: Relationships between drumming, singing and dancing.

The figure shows singing, drumming and dancing from top to bottom. And from the left to the right, the moment when singing and drumming begin. Dancing follows later.

The relations between singing, drumming and dancing are discussed in terms of which part follows (konka) the other. The cibitiku follows (and straightens) the song, the kace and later the iyikulu follow the cibitiku. The nsangwa follows the cibitiku and the masamba follows the iyikulu.

The cibitiku pattern (musango wa cibitiku) is fixed, orally notated as pacibitiku – pacibitiku – pacibitiku (‘on the cibitiku’). The cibitiku’s role in the ensemble is co-ordinative. So much so that some jokingly call it the ‘master’ drum.
The kace has one or two patterns depending on the knowledge and skill of the player, while some also know how to play a kupikulula (light kupika) version, listen to Music Example 66. The kace is not followed by anything. Its role in the ensemble is called asashila. This term refers to the adding of peanut butter to relish.¹³This image is also used in the song Elo yalila by Serenje Kalindula on their LP Elo Yalila (1988): Sashila chibwabwa munani, sashila. It exhorts band members and the audience to add to the music. The relish becomes nicer but the addition is not essential.
When the master drum does kupika, the kace may play another pattern (Kace II) or a more complicated pattern (Kace kupikulula) but, because of the resultant complexity, the latter will only work when the dancer is known to like it or when the gathering is in full swing.

Master drumming

The master drummer, combela wa ngoma or sometimes sela wa ngoma, alternates between heavy and lighter playing. This is called kupika (weaving) and kusansa (sprinkling, broadcasting) respectively.¹⁴In a social context kusansa means: to be at ease with a friend, while kupika means: to talk seriously with him, to make sure he understands your message. Additionally, people note how much variation the master drummer uses. Apikule ngoma: he ‘improvises’, and asashila: he plays varied but no real ‘new’ things. Apikule is derived from kupika.

The iyikulu playing parallels the dancing. When the dancer starts and intermittently during the dancing, the master drummer plays rather regularly (kusansa) and the dancer follows the drumming. When the dancer starts a solo (teka) the master drummer follows that dancing while also influencing it (kupika). Kusansa and kupika never last long. They alternate in various degrees.

Music example 66

Oral notation of the kace I, II and kupikulula patterns by Alube Mika, 2007.

Phases in master

Iyikulu playing consists of variations on one pattern for each type of dance with subpatterns for insertion. There can be little kupika and much kusansa. Or approximately as much kusansa as kupika which is called kupika pepi pepi, nearby or straight kupika. Furthermore, the kupika itself can be quite regular, known as kupikulula. Or it can be very heavy, called kupikula or kupika kutali kutali, far or spread kupika. See the article about other musical concepts for comparable uses of the musical terms nearby, far, straight and spread.
Listen to the music examples for the various forms of alternation of kusansa and kupika, and the heaviness of the kupika. The iyikulu kupika is always relatively short, alternated with less or more kusansa. Therefore, it is better to talk about a kupika phase: relatively much kupika, and a kusansa phase: much kusansa with some kupika. Both phases are related to phases in the dancing of the solo dancer at rituals and feasts.
If there is no singing while the drumming continues, then the master drum will kupika and the kace will alternate patterns, including the more complicated pattern.
When the singing has stopped, for one reason or the other, and is to be resumed the starter will follow the cibitiku.

drum playing

Iyikulu playing consists of variations of one pattern for each type of dance with a number of subpatterns for insertion. There can be little kupika and much kusansa. Or approximately as much kusansa as kupika which is called kupika pepi pepi, nearby or straight kupika. Furthermore, the kupika itself can be quite regular, called kupikulula. Or it can be very heavy, called kupikula or kupika kutali kutali, far or spread kupika. See the article about other musical concepts for comparable uses of the musical terms nearby, far, straight and spread.
Listen to the music examples for the various forms of alternation of kusansa and kupika and of heaviness of the kupika. The kupika of the iyikulu is always of a relatively short duration, alternated with less or more kusansa. Therefore, it is better to talk about a kupika phase: relatively much kupika, and a kusansa phase: much kusansa with some kupika. Both phases are related to phases in the dancing of the solo dancer at rituals and feasts.
When there is no singing while the drumming continues, the master drum will kupika and the kace will alternate patterns including the more complicated pattern.
When the singing has stopped, for one reason or the other, and is to be resumed the starter will follow the cibitiku.

Music example 67

Against the playing of the cibitiku and kace drums, we hear an episode of much kusansa and little kupika of the master drum, played by Pepa Bulaya, 1987.

Music example 68

Against the playing of the cibitiku and kace drums, we hear an episode of as much kusansa as kupika, be it heavy kupika, of the master drum, played by Pepa Bulaya, 1987.

Music example 69

Against the playing of the cibitiku and kace drums, we hear an episode of kusansa and varied kupikulula of the master drum, played by Pepa Bulaya, 1987.

Music example 70

Against the playing of the cibitiku and kace drums, we hear an episode of little kusansa and much kupikula of the master drum, played by Pepa Bulaya, 1987.

Kaoma

Musical instruments: drums. The kaoma are short, single-sided or double-sided drums with 10 to 20 centimetre heights and diameters.
In the 1980s, the kaoma was introduced in some kalindula bands.
For christian music, drums were originally not used. In the 1970s they, except for the Jehovah’s Witnesses, started using one or two small drums (kaoma). Rather than polyrhythmic, the playing was modest and only occurred on and between beats.

From the 1990s, some congregations started using two conical drums (not the iyikulu).
This process looks somewhat like the chibalisation of kalindula music but there are two differences.

1. The playing of the conical drums is akin to that of the kaoma and therefore different from that in other Chibale music.

2. The changes do not have a local impetus but are the result of decisions made by the national or international central organisation of the congregations. They want to make the music more ‘adapted to the local population’.

Historical drums

Musical instruments in Zambia: drums. There are four drum types that are still remembered by some but are not played anymore.

The friction drum

A few people could remember the use of a friction drum, cimwimwi ca ku kaole, but little was known about it. See the article on the different ‘roarers‘ found in Chibale.

The chiefly drum

The mangu was a big two-headed drum connected with chieftainship.¹⁵The oldest external source for Chibale is Hoffman (1929: 175). The player played with two sticks on both sides. The two skins were just as large: heating one of them led to a tone difference. The drum was only played in times of danger: raiders, war, lions.
A large drum of the same name connected to chieftainship is described for a rather large area east, north and northwest of Chibale. For the Lamba region: Mangu, a large drum struck not with the hand, but with imishimpo [sticks], and used in time of war or on the death of a man¹⁶Doke (1931:367).. It remains in the village because it is too heavy to carry. Similar use of a kamangu is described for the Valley Bisa region.¹⁷Marks (1976).

The gourd drum

Certain gourds (nsupa) were cultivated to make gourd drums, musumpiti. The maker cut off the bottom of the gourd and made small holes in the gourd to attach the skin with small pegs (lubambo). Skins of goat (mbushi), steinbok (katidi), duiker (mpombo) or water lizard (insamba) were used. The gourds were 25, 35 and 50 centimetres high. There was a hole in the side, covered with a mirliton made of thick spider’s web (lembalemba).
They played the musumpiti in sets of three sizes: kace, cibitiku and iyikulu. Patterns were the same as drum patterns. It was used when drums were not available and for teaching children how to play the drums. However, for the iyikulu a real drum was preferred, because of the importance of tonal sounds on the iyikulu.

The mbeni drum

In Chibale, the itumba or litumbu accompanied the mbeni, a social dance popular in the 1930s. Outside Chibale, in a large area Northwest to Northeast of Serenje District, it was the normal (master) drum for social dances.¹⁸See Scheyven (1937), Roland (1934) and Ragoen (1938). It was broader than the conical Chibale drum and had a hole in its body covered with the thick web (lembalemba) of a certain spider that functioned as a mirliton. The drum did not find another use after mbeni disappeared.