Representation of music in Zambia: conclusion

Representation of music in Zambia: conclusion. What representations of music exist, or can be made, in Chibale that specify or explain its characteristics? In this article, we draw conclusions about the representation of music in Chibale. We compare what we’ve learned from the representation of individual features and of the higher-order structure of music.

There are two main orientations of the concepts representing individual features of music. Space –vertical and horizontal– and weight & level of difficulty. The sensenta form has a spatial (horizontal and vertical) orientation and it is cyclical. The theory about music focuses on the optimisation of the effect of music.

The ideal of light music and the efficacy of heavy music in healing

Representation of music in Zambia: conclusion. The representation of the individual features of music indicates a bias in the developed theory of music. The theory presupposes that the optimal effect of music in large-scale gatherings depends on the optimal lightness of that music. With the coming of Mwami in the 1970s, it turned out that heavy music could also be effective in large-scale gatherings. Therefore, the developed theory of music is about the music of the Mwana Kubuta and Fetulo periods –and possibly one or more periods before that– and its present-day remnants. Its mulundu, male orientedness reproduces the bias towards nika, female music present in the historical periods mentioned. It views heavy music as a performative, and not unproblematic, variant of light music.

BanaNshimbi and Mika Mwape Chungwa, two of the three exegetes who co-developed the theory, were from Chibale. However, they also functioned as shing’anga and Mwami mediums leading a Mwami cult group. Somehow they were able to bridge the gap between the ideal of light music and the efficacy of heavy music in healing. They likely considered Mwami (Lenje) music effective in its otherness. In the way it brought knowledge and practices from other areas (within the Kaonde-Lamba-Lenje-Lala area). The effectiveness then did not have to, or even: could not, be expressed in a framework about music from the Lala region.
The third exegete, Salati Mukoti (Chalebaila), came from the Lima region. He agreed with the central place of the exchange between mpanga and mushi. But he did not agree with all the details of the sensenta form. He considered it biased by an unwarranted emphasis of light music.