Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. Of old, there have been specialists in Chibale. The iron smelter, the instructress of girls, the hunter, the healer, the singer-composer(-dancer). They all use(d) specialised ritual, texts, music and instruments.

In this article, we concentrate on the specialists’ use of rattles. When they sing and dance, they wear masamba and nsangwa. When they diagnose, they use the musebe or arm nsangwa. And when singing in private they could use the namukalapanda. To mark the differences in purpose and status, people do not refer to these instruments as ‘cisekele‘ except when that word has the abstract sense of all rattle-like instruments.

Dance skirt

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. The masamba is a dance skirt. A number of ropes of about 25 centimetres hang from a belt. Each rope runs through two to six pieces of bamboo. The dancer makes the masamba according to the instructions of the possessing spirit. The earliest mention of the instrument, in 1926, is for a dance skirt for the possession dances in Kaonde region.¹Anley (1926: 84). And, under the name buyombo, as a dance skirt worn at possession and girls’ initiation (Cisungu) dances for the Lamba region²Doke (1927: 523 & 1931: 367). and the Ambo (southern) part of the Lala region³Stefaniszyn (1964b: 95, 156)..

The playing of the masamba is in line with that of the master drum, as expressed in the text of Song 171. When the drums are playing, the audience will hardly hear the masamba unless the dancer is nearby. The continuous rustling sound it produces and, more especially, the dance movements causing that sound heat the gathering (kukafye cila). At least as important as its sound is that the masamba delivers a visual proof of the dance movements made by the hips.

Song 171

An old women’s song praising the drummers as remembered by Mika Mwape Chungwa, 1986.

Text of Song 171 ∵ The master drum and the hips

Cilisha ngoma kumupo lubunda
Cilisha ngoma

The player of the drum should be given the waist
The player of the drum

A connection exists between the playing of the (master) drum and the dancing with the waist.

Ankle rattles

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. The nsangwa – also called nsombo or, sometimes, nsenselo⁴For the Lala region, also in Madan (1913: 96) and Collard (1920: 62). – are ankle-shaken rattles.

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. The dancer hollows out nsombo or nsangwa seed-pods⁵“The Insangwa is a thickset bush, which produces round seed-pods, which are used as rattles when dancing” (Doke 1927: proverb 709)., with a diameter of 3 to 4 centimetres. Then, she puts the specially grown seeds of the manjenje, or little stones or grains, inside. She passes a stick with a little hole at each end through three to five of these fruits. Next she strings leather strings through the holes at both ends of three or four of these sticks. They then stand parallel. Before a dance, she ties the two leather strings, wrapped in cloth to protect the skin, around the ankle. Most dancers wear two nsangwa. A few spirits have their possessed dance with only one.

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. Nsangwa playing is in line with that of the cibitiku drum. Listen to Music example 26 and Music example 27 for the nsangwa playing of Chalebaila and Kansenkele respectively. When the drums play, you can hear its sound when the dancer is not too far away.
The nsangwa is connected to women⁶Compare for the Lamba region Doke (1931: 97, 98)., and death, compare the text of Song 172.

Song 172

A mourning song as remembered by banaNshimbi and her sister, 1987. [Bad recording]

Text of Song 172 ∵ Nsangwa, anthill and death

Mu culu ca nsangwo mulele bamama mwainama
Kwainama uku lele bamama kwainama

At the nsangwa anthill where my mother lies, it is depressing
It is painful where my mother is lying, it is painful

The singer bows forward feeling sad because her mother lies buried there. The nsangwa plant only grows on the anthill. In the past, anthills were used as graves.

Dancing with the dance skirt and the ankle rattles

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. An important part of the art of possession dancing is the mastery of making two non-synchronous movements at the same time. The dancer has to combine the hip movements for the swirling of the masamba with fast up-and-down movements of the feet for playing the nsangwa patterns. The verb kwalula describes this. It can also mean: alter, change and turn.

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. In the 1980s and later, only mediums played these dance instruments. Formerly, the girls’ initiation instructress, the nacimbusa or nacimbela, played them as well .
They are the sign of the professional (possessed) dancer, see the text of Song 173. Mediums tell that spirits appearing before them in a dream or a vision wear masamba and nsangwa, for instance to teach a song or a dance.

Song 173

A cinsengwe of the ing’omba Chitelela from the 1930s, as sung by Mika Mwape Chungwa in 1986.

Text of Song 173 ∵ To go to the west

Bama nakukaka masamba nakulola mbonshi
Bama katwishi nokubwela nkalola kumbonshi
Bama naya kwa Makumba Chabala

Mother, I will put on the masamba to go in western direction
Mother, I don’t know whether I’ll ever return when I go to the west
Mother, I am going to Makumba Chabala

The first line may be translated as: ‘Now I will go and dance as a medium’, masamba being associated with possessed dancers and ‘going to the west’ with becoming a spirit.⁷See also the article A theory about music. Then, the second line expresses the extent to which the life of a possessed changes, once initiated. The third line also says that the singer goes west: ‘to Makumba’ or ‘to Makumba Chabala’⁸Also in Moffat (1934: 7,8).; the spiritual meaning is: to deliver oneself to the (possessing) spirits. Since the possessing spirit of the ing’omba Chitelela brought this text, the text most likely is the quotation by this spirit of the internal dialogue of the human Chitelela.
In true Chibale vein, the text also had a direct use. It relates to the problems that Chitelela had with some of his relatives. Then, the song means: I am going to change my life and leave this region, to never return. Eventually, he left Chibale to settle in Muchinda. Geographically in the north but metaphorically in the west since he never returned.

The masamba ing’omba

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. Still remembered by a few is an ensemble of three masamba ing’omba (ing’omba sha masamba). They played masamba and nsangwa while singing songs. The ensemble roamed the area in the first part of the previous century and made a living out of their playing. Go to the article about the masamba ing’omba.

The rattle used by the healer

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. The shing’anga plays a musebe during healing and problem solving sessions (Kubuka).⁹See the article about diagnosis and treatment. Sometimes it is a container rattle with a stick passing through it. But in many cases the musebe is an nsangwa kwa kuboko (arm nsangwa). It consists of one stick with nsombo fruits as described under nsangwa, of one complete nsangwa worn around the upper arm, or of one (anklet) nsangwa played with the hands.

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. The famous cinsengwe ing’omba of the first half of the previous century used the musebe. Their ensemble consisted of two musebe played by the ing’omba himself who was also the lead singer, three one-note xylophones (ilimba), one to three ciwaya and a mukonkonto.

No normal person would play the musebe. It was a sign of the power of the shing’anga and the cinsengwe ing’omba. The ing’omba ensemble has long disappeared but the shing’anga still use the nsangwa kwa kuboko, usually during Kubuka. In Song 40 the musebe players, called misebe, are given ritual gifts (kutaila) for their ritual services.

A string-rattle instrument

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. In former days, mediums played a composite string-rattle instrument, called ‘namukalapanda’, indoors. It was played by only one player to imitate the drum ensemble.

It is a complex instrument. The leg can stretch the string. The foot when slightly turned varies the length of both sides of the strings. This yields higher and lower drum-like tones. Around the string, at both sides, are pieces of bamboo and nsombo fruit. The player hits these with the hands or he only hits the string yielding a different percussive sound. The elbows operate resonators placed between the arms and the body.

Song 174

A song accompanied by the namukalapanda, played by Mika Mwape Chungwa in 1986. The player imitates the set of three drums on this one instrument.

Text of Song 174 ∵ The hare trapped by the in-laws

Musical instruments in Zambia: specialists’ rattles. No reference to an instrument like the namukalapanda in other areas could be found in literature.