Songs and dances in Zambia: mbeni

Songs and dances in Zambia: mbeni. In the beginning of the 1930s a new, possibly unrelated social dance came up, the mbeni.
For the Ambo (southern) part of the Lala region, presumably referring to the end of the 1930s, Stefaniszyn¹Stefaniszyn (1974: 6). mentions the group dance beni for young people, the old name for this dancing being ciila [icila]. Also Mensah²Mensah (1971: 74). mentions the mbeni: “Dancers of the mbeni of the Lala around Ching’ombe Mission perform in pairs from positions in a circle”.[/mfn] It had little more to do with the beni described by Ranger³Ranger (1975a). than the name.
There was also little similarity with any of the daughters of beni that existed in regions outside Chibale like kalela, maganda or malipenga⁴See Jones (1945), Brelsford (1948: 19), Mitchel (1956), Mensah (1971: 74) and Chingwalu (1972d). It is striking, if not irritating, that dances involving adoption of European elements get so much more attention than the great majority of dances that, in spite of the presence of European culture, influence of town and the like, did not adopt European elements. The same holds for religious subjects, economy and many other aspects of culture. Whether they put them in a positive or in a negative light, North Atlantic writers often seem to be more oriented to reflections of their own culture and its motives..

Mbeni in Chibale

Songs and dances in Zambia: mbeni. In Chibale, no dance associations were formed for the performance of mbeni. Neither did the dancers fulfil European functions like officer or doctor. It was ‘just an icila dance’. The dance is said to have been taken to Chibale from town. This may have given it its name since mbeni, presumably derived from the English word ‘band’, must have implied something like ‘modern, European, from town’ in this period. The master drum for the mbeni was an itumba drum, only used for mbeni but it is also posssible that it was a normal iyikulu that was called itumba when played for mbeni.
It is being said that there were two types of mbeni. One from the Bemba region and the Copperbelt towns and a Lalaified version from Muchinka, another chiefdom in Serenje District.
A daughter, and a further Chibalisation, of mbeni was the luwela. Listen to Song 104.

An example of mbeni

Song 103

An mbeni accompanied on the kankobele by Sitifini Nunda, 1981. This is the only mbeni I have come accross.

Text of Song 103 ∵ I can’t eat when mbeni is being played

Lodikai leke misango Maliya kosepe
Maliya kosepe
Lodikai leke misango Maliya kosepe

Refrain:
Banamoba nalila Changwe
Bamayo wakabaya wayewe wayiya bai mama [etc.]
Banamoba nalila kuli bama

Lodikai stop that behaviour, Maliya come and harvest
Maliya come and harvest
Lodikai stop that behaviour Maliya come and harvest

Refrain:
Wife of Moba, I am crying for Changwe
Mother, wakabaya wayewe wayiya bai mama etc
Wife of Moba, I am crying for my mother

Nangu kabanaile tekulyapo apoyalile mbeni
Bati kansenke ba Lipensho kabainankulapo
Mumatampa yeka ukupala ba Iloni Kanjeke
Uli nomwana kumupela kacaya we tumba
Besa banakashi nakufwila mumukoti wa Loni /mukoti wa Luanshya
Nomba twatota ba Nunda Chale abafyele ba Mwape
Cikoti campumine ba Mutende nobulungu kabuputuka

Even if they cooked food I can’t eat when mbeni is being played
As Lipensho wanted to laugh she fell down
Her thighs look [as beautiful] as those of Iloni Kanjeke
The one with a child should be given to the itumba player
Which wife would I sacrifice dying in the mines of Loni (Roan)/ of Luanshya
Now we thank Nunda Chale for producing Mwape
The whipping I got from chief Mutende cut all my beads

Songs and dances in Zambia: mbeni. Each line after the first stanza and refrain is worked out in the same way as the first stanza, all of them followed by the refrain.

An example of luwela

Song 104

The luwela, a daughter of mbeni, as remembered by banaNshimbi, 1987.

Text of Song 104 ∵ Wela loud while moving

Mwebali ne nume ciwalewale mama yo
Uluwela ukuya ilyo muwela iciwalewale mama

You with brothers sing loudly, mama yo
Luwela means: you wela loudly while moving, mama

Mbeni and cinko

Songs and dances in Zambia: mbeni. There is very little knowledge of mbeni in Chibale. It can not be excluded that a dance from town was rapidly localised, if it had not already been Lalaised before reaching Chibale. The label mbeni may have been put on a dance that was a further development of cinko. In other words, it is possible that the Bemba/town version never reached Chibale or otherwise had little effect other than introducing the names mbeni and itumba. The Lalaised version then was an adoption of a few mbeni elements in or as a new version of the cinko. From the other hand, as seen under Cinko, it is not impossible that the coming of mbeni changed the concept of social dance.