Musical instruments in Zambia: playing and learning

Musical instruments in Zambia: playing and learning. The number of people playing a musical instrument was higher than 80% throughout the research period (1981-2012).¹See also Elaboration N.
In the 2000s, the number of people playing the drum has increased because the occasions at which one or more drums are used increased, especially during christian cult gatherings and cisungu and women-related occasions. All other instruments were played less frequently than in the 1980s. The number of people playing more than one instrument decreased between the 1980s and the 2000s.

List 19: The most frequently played musical instruments, by women and men in 1987.

This list is intended to give an impression.

Instruments played by women and/or men

Musical instruments in Zambia: playing and learning. In the 1980s, the instruments most frequently played by women were the cisekele, ngoma, masamba & nsangwa, ciwaya, christian cult music instruments, and the ngolwa. Most frequently played by men were the ngoma, banjo, kalimba, ngolwa, and ilimba.

A strict separation between instruments played by women and by men is sometimes found in literature about music in Africa. This is not corroborated by this list, though there are instruments played only by one of the sexes. Women play instruments like the ngoma at small occasions, in church, and for the initiation of girls (ngoma ya cisungu). Male mediums also play nsangwa and masamba, but none of them mentioned them in the survey as instruments they played. Instruments played only by men were most of the instruments for personal use, like the kalimba; those used for hunting, like the cinyenye; and all instruments at large-scale occasions.

Learning to play a musical instrument

Musical instruments in Zambia: playing and learning. People learn to play an instrument by listening, watching, and imitating. Three out of five players were helped by someone already skilled through guided imitation and demonstration at a slower tempo. In general, the teachers for women are the grandmother and the mother. For men, teachers are the father and the grandfather for drums, kalimba, ngolwa, and ilimba, and a friend for the kalindula instruments.

Playing the kalimba and cisekele is more often (75%) learned from a teacher than playing the banjo (52%) or ngoma (35%). This reflects the extent to which learning to play the instrument involves learning a whole repertoire of songs. The players of the kalimba, always, and of the cisekele, often, start the song. This means that they have to come up with another song, or stanza, each time a song, or stanza, finishes. In general, drummers never start a song, and the banjo repertoire is relatively small.