Musical instruments in Zambia: the masamba ing’omba

Musical instruments in Zambia: the masamba ing’omba. Still remembered by a few is an ensemble of three masamba ing’omba (ing’omba sha masamba). The masamba is a dance skirt. They roamed the area in the first part of the previous century and made a living out of their playing. They did not farm and took wives and children along.

Song 97

A song brought by the masamba ing’omba in the 1920s or 1930s, as remembered by Mika Mwape Chungwa in 1986.
After the short song, he gives a sketch of the nsangwa patterns and tells how they went from house to house, ‘like a honeyguide’ (mwebe), to dance and do a solo (teka) when they received a gift.

Text of Song 97 ∵ Making a living on dancing

Ukutuka mu lusombo
Kutuka mu lusombo

It is making a living dancing
Making a living with the art of the ankle rattle

Compare kutuka muli bucibinda: making a living hunting. The great hunter and the roaming ing’omba did not care about farming. Sometimes they boasted about this or derided the others’ conventionality. Compare Song 68.

Musical instruments in Zambia: the masamba ing’omba. While singing, they played a three-part nsangwa and masamba piece with no further accompaniment than hand-clapping. The one bringing a song played the solo nsangwa while the other two played cibitiku and kace. Musical instruments in Zambia: the masamba ing’omba. Musical instruments in Zambia: the masamba ing’omba. 

Music example 47

Patterns of the nsangwa ing’omba. First we hear a short oral notation of the nsangwa patterns including the notation citaila for 2-against-3. Immediately after that, we hear the two simple nsangwa patterns clapped while the solo nsangwa pattern is played on wood by Mika Mwape Chungwa, 1986.

Musical instruments in Zambia: the masamba ing’omba. Mulongwe, Mulembo and Lusambo were the names of the three ing’omba who roamed the Lala region, and possibly also areas around it, in the first part of the previous century. They wore masamba and nsangwa and played them while singing songs. Mulongwe was the leader, often playing the iyikulu nsangwa part while the other two took the cibitiku and kace parts. Mulongwe was famous for singing low voice interludes, listen to Song 98.

Song 98

Mulongwe, the leader of the masamba ing’omba, was known for his low voice interludes, as remembered by Mika Mwape Chungwa, 1986.

Text of Song 98 ∵ The music of old

Ngoma ya pa kale ngoma ya pa kale mutensha nsombo
(Nsombo) Mutensha nsombo

The drums/music of old, the drums/music of old, the causer of nsangwa shaking
(Nsangwa) The causer of nsangwa shaking

Oral notations of two nsangwa patterns used as text for a song accompanied by nsangwa.

The receiving of Mulongwe and the others was always very good. They got houses and firewood. They were respected. The three visited village after village and often people went with them for a while, up to fifty at a time. In the next village, they had already prepared food for them. They went from house to house, moving just like a honeyguide, and they sang to get whatever they were given. [Follows Song 97] And then a solo (teka) was given for each gift, especially by Mulongwe. Should somebody from town be in the village – the ones with wealth – they would sing: [Follows Song 99]. It was all pa kwangala, for rejoicing.
They worked until they had enough food and then stayed in the village until it was finished and went on again. They just played for food and money, not at Cisungu, Cililo and the like [like other ing’omba did]. Mulongwe did axe handle divination and treated minor illnesses but he did not do Kubuka as a possessed medium. He was possessed by Chibolele. Should at present somebody become possessed by Chibolele, he would also sing and dance without drumming.
Mika Mwape Chungwa ∵ personal communication, 1986.

Song 99

A song for the ones with money by the masamba ing’omba, as remembered by Mika Mwape Chungwa, 1986.

Text of Song 99 ∵ Throw it so I’ll pick it up

Posa ntole, we musungu
Posa ntole, fwe bakumine kubusungu

Throw it so I’ll pick it up, you rich one
Throw it so I’ll pick it up, we who are close to richness

The migrant labourers in the first part of the 20th century had money. Taxes had to be paid in cash, not in kind, but money could hardly be earned in the area. So, if you did not want to go to town or to the mines, you should somehow obtain money locally, for instance as a gift.

Musical instruments in Zambia: the masamba ing’omba. They made a living with their art and visited each village in the area once a year. Just like the other ing’omba, they were consulted because ‘they knew better ways from somewhere else’.

Musical instruments in Zambia: the masamba ing’omba. Musical instruments in Zambia: the masamba ing’omba.