Musical instruments in Zambia: classification

Musical instruments in Zambia: classification. There is no classification covering the whole range of musical instruments. In some cases type names are used to denote a range of similar instruments.
These are:

• ngoma for various types of drums,

• -limba for lamellophones and xylophones: kalimba for two types of lamellophones and ilimba for the one-note xylophone, and it cannot be ruled out that in the past a larger xylophone was used, called bulimba,

• cisekele for various types of struck and shaken rattles, and

• mutolilo for all flute-like instruments.

The only classificatory principle for all musical instruments we have encountered is one also used for activities like cooking, dancing and making beer. It distinguishes between true instruments and other instruments, focusing on the skill needed to play it and, connected to that, whether the playing of the instrument is worth evaluating or not.

Classification principle for our overview

Musical instruments in Zambia: classification. So, there is no classification present in Chibale that can serve as a foundation for an overview of all musical instruments. Since many people in Chibale have some interest in history and cultural heritage, the most appropriate thing to do is to use a variation on the grouping Atta Annan Mensah¹Mensah (1970a). uses when presenting the music of Zumaile village. He discerns three groups: active, moribund, and passive. “This reflects the way in which most of those interviewed looked upon their musical heritage. They frequently referred to a particular musical tradition as either obsolete, almost dead, and rarely revived, or active and often performed. But since many of the obsolete traditions were still remembered and could be revived under appropriate stimulus, the word ‘passive’ has been chosen in preference to the word ‘obsolete’”.

This also holds true in Chibale. It happens that phenomena regarded as disappeared or obsolete or behind the times are revived. Stimuli, to use Mensah’s word, are troubled times (spirit possession), realisation of the loss of valuable practices and knowledge (girls’ initiation, spirit possession, and problem solving and healing), and identity formation (rise of cultural heritage).