Songs and dances in Zambia: moba

Songs and dances in Zambia: moba. Moba possession was common in Chibale from the beginning of the 1910s up to the 1950s. In the 1980s, it had become  rare. See List 46.
Most Moba songs collected in the research period were old; only a few were contemporary. Some of the older songs deal with the upheavals in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century, see Song 66.
People most often consider it as a Ciwila kind of possession, sometimes as a Mwami kind of possession. There are both Ciwila-like and Mwami-like melodies and texts in the Moba repertoire.
Many Moba songs use the words moba or mukamoba. When the song is icilaila-ed, the singer replaces these words like in Song 109.

Song 109

An old Moba song sung Pa kwisha by banaMwape. Members of the Chungwa and Chikola families form the chorus, 1986.

Text of Song 109 ∵ How can I dance Moba?

Ningabono kushana Chibuye
Mwebana babene afimba molu
Ningabono kushana nebo
Mwebana babene afimba molu

How can I dance, Chibuye?
My friends, my legs are swollen
How can I dance, me?
My friends, my legs are swollen

Other, not recorded versions of this song have ‘Moba’ at the place of ‘Chibuye’ and ‘nebo’. ‘How can I dance Moba?’.
Due to the fierce nature of Moba dancing, leg complaints abound in Moba song texts.

Songs 110

Four Moba songs sung by Sailande Mutema Chani in 1986. The spirits brought these songs through him when he was a Moba possessed in the 1950s.

Texts of Songs 110a-d ∵ Four moba songs

Kwa Chikubula uko naile
Mwebana babene
Ba Eshi bansungo bwino

At Chikubula where I went
You people out there
Eshi took good care of me

Songs and dances in Zambia: moba. Chikubula is a small village near the Lukusashi. Ba Eshi was the master drummer that drummed well for him. So, it is criticising the present master drummer.

Bakashi besu tupile/twaupa
Batinamino lusabu funga tumbote
Bakokumbwa

The wife I married
Is fond of nice things [that I can’t afford]
She is always longing for those things

Baine nekuba twalifungaika Kombe
Twalilya ba bola wa nsenga

Maybe we are handicapped, Kombe
We ate the big fishes of Nsenga

Kombe is the name of the possessing spirit.

Nekasuba kawa mulemba Kombe
Tulokutwala bana ba lyanga

And the sun has set down, Kombe
Let us start pounding, you children of medicine

The bana ba lyanga, children of medicine, are the cult group members.

Song 111

A passage of the Kubuka, containing Song 111, a Moba song brought by a Moba spirit possessing bamukaKunda Mfwanti. The chorus is formed by the helper (cipyaila), the patients and some family members, 1985.

[Kunda Mfwanti is busy treating a patient]
[Kunda Mfwanti:
Bona tewe tewe emukunda tukwetepo pano tewe!
Just see the sick we have here, my friend!]

[Song 111 is started]

Emo nkandila balwele mukaMoba
Emo nkandila balwele mukaMoba

It is where I massage the sick wife of Moba
It is where I massage the sick wife of Moba

Kunda Mfwanti:
Ulya mwana kubuta ekele mwati fisa! Amashiwi akomutwala kwabo.
Tekwesha ukwimba kileya, kamutontomeka!
Think about what the white man sitting here will do! He is taking your voices back home.
Don’t sing cileya, be sharp!

Cipyaila (Helper):
Kabatutwale ina.
Enable him to take us [our music] away!

Kunda Mfwanti:
Kani walikwimba kileya, noko uleya kileya.
If you sing cileya, even where he will take it: it will be cileya.

Cipyaila:
Ee.
Yes.

The obvious cileya¹Pronounced by Kunda Mfwanti as kileya. in the chorus is a thorn in the side of Kunda Mfwanti.

Songs and dances in Zambia: moba. Moba dancing is very powerfull. It is said that in the past only men were being possessed. The dance can be very frantic. Moba dancers are known for dancing so fiercely that they broke their nsangwa. The spirit bringing the moba song in the Kubuka above even is called Mutobansangwa, Nsangwa breaker.