Songs and dances in Zambia: national kalindula and lumba

Lumba

Songs and dances in Zambia: national kalindula and lumba. Lumba is a comprehensive term used to refer to music from Zambia’s neighbouring countries, notably Congo. For an example, see Film 7.
It derives from the term rumba or rhumba used in Congo from the 1940s onward to refer to the new popular music that arose from the coming back to Africa of black music from Latin America.¹For a history of lumba music, see: Gary Stewart. 2000. Rumba on the river: a history of the popular music of the two Congos. London and New York: Verso. Lumba can also refer to all popular music from Zambia and neighbouring countries that one can hear on the radio or in bars. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, Zambian popular music was more often called kalindula.

National kalindula

Songs and dances in Zambia: national kalindula and lumba. One band from Serenje District, the Serenje Kalindula (Band), played a role in the rise of kalindula as the national popular music in the 1980s. Listen to their song Ka nshambala. They called their music fwandafwanda – ingoma ya balala: fwandafwanda, the music of the Lala. Apart from being a reference to Lalaness, their use of the term fwandafwanda presumably illustrates the continuity felt within the icila line: kalindula as the successor of fwandafwanda.

Songs and dances in Zambia: national kalindula and lumba. Though a number of bands grew to national fame, kalindula has a rural origin and, in many cases, a rural focus. It is sometimes unjustifiably described as town and national music only. In many cases, the kalindula songs were arrangements of old, by definition rural, songs with adapted or new song texts.
For example, the melody of Chibuyubuyu, a well-known song at the end of the 1980s by one of the then most popular bands of Zambia, Amayenge, belonged to the Mwami repertoire. Chalebaila brought this melody at a Cibombe in 1987 (no recording). The song can, for instance, be found on the record Shani! The sounds of Zambia by various artists and bands²(WOMAD 009, 1988). On the record cover: “Chibuyubuyu. Traditional dance music of the Lamba people. The beat is called ‘Mayenge’ from which the band take their name”. Again we see the bond between social dance and women’s (maenge) songs.

An example

Songs and dances in Zambia: national kalindula and lumba.

Song 124

A fragment from Chibuyubuyu, a national kalindula song by Amayenge, 1988.³Remastered by Niels den Otter (2024).

Text of Song 124 ∵ Where did we go wrong in this village

Ba Mwape ifyo babapamine mwebo kupama ati kwakwiponya inkoso
Cikamba conse babatununa – endeshemi bamashinge
Spoken: Balibapamine nonsenshi – ukubutuka ulubilo ukusha nencinga kwishilya – abo
Umwaka bafwile ba Ndubeni kabatambika kuboko mwi ulu
Nakaka ne usheme kamushala banababo
Spoken: Twashila – ifyo twalufyenye muno mushi efyo tatwishipo
Muyaya wa ngoma (Davy, Mwape, Chali, Kumwenda)
Nebo muyaya bashiMaloba ee muyaya mawo nebo muyaya mawe
Spoken: Ikatapo ikatapo iyo! lyakulisha bakulu iyakupalasha  –  Kabili lipayeni
Fitenge mu lubunda na machekete onse  –  Ikata!

How they beat up Mwape. It was beating that was meant to kill
They tore everything – hurry up, you messengers
Spoken: They beat him severely – he started running leaving his bicycle behind over there –  there.
In the year when Ndubeni died, he stretched his arm high and said:
I have packed, me the unlucky, you remain, chorus
Spoken: We will perish – where did we go wrong in this village, we don’t know
The drumming must continue [mentions band members]
I, bashiMaloba, to continue ee to continue, me, to continue mawe
Spoken: Beat the drums, beat the drums iyo! which the elders play faster  –  Dance until you’re dead
Put the cloth around your waist and all the jackets.   –  Hold! [one another]

“BashiMaloba is a medium possessed by the female spirit Maloba. BashiMaloba wants her/his drumming to continue. The melody of this song is bashiMaloba’s.”
Salati Mukoti ∵ personal communication with Corien Unger, 1990.

Song 124

A part of the vocals, by Chris Chali, on this song fragment.⁴Remastered by Niels den Otter (2024).

Rise of lumba and national kalindula in Chibale

Songs and dances in Zambia: national kalindula and lumba. In the 1980s, lumba and national kalindula were not very influential in Chibale because of the price, quality and availability of batteries. Though many people had a radio and some owned gramophones or cassette recorders, most of them could not afford batteries. As more money became available in the 1990s, bars were opened that played lumba, national kalindula and other types of pop music especially from Zambia and Congo, for instance Koffi Olomide and Fally Ipupa.