Songs and dances in Zambia: owner of the song

Songs in Zambia: owner of the song. What appear to be the ‘same’ songs can be classified differently depending on the status of the one starting it. That person is ‘the owner of the song’. A distinction is made between songs brought by mediums, (non-possessed) specialists and laypeople. When a hunting medium brings a song, it will be called a kaluwe song. When brought by a hunter it is called an ilimbalakata. And when it is brought by anyone else it will be called cilaila. When a Cisungu song is brought by a medium, it will be called a mwami song. When brought by a girls’ initiator (nacimbusa) a cimbwasa. And when brought by anyone else cilaila. In the weeks after an Ipupo where Kansenkele had performed, many women would cilaila his songs Pa kwisha.

Cilaila in the Lamba region in the beginning of the 20th century

Songs in Zambia: owner of the song. Cilaila is not a song or dance genre. Though for the Lamba region Doke¹Doke (1927 &1931). treats it as such, his use of the word can be analysed to corroborate the above. Cilaila refers to the performing of important music in another, less serious context. It is also used to refer to the imitation of musical instruments or the use of substitutes for musical instruments as well as to the imitation of rituals by children. Literally the term means just doing the Cila (musical occasion, ritual), or doing the Cila for enjoyment only.

Elaboration J: Cilaila, cinsengwe and cimbwasa in the Lamba region around 1920

Doke has classified 129 out of the 144 song texts in Doke (1927) and Doke (1931).
Of the 87 cases in which the classification is done with a name, cilaila occurs most often: 26 times. In all cases in both books the cilaila is done by women, by children or by women and children. The frequent occurrence of cilaila seems to indicate that imitating songs by women and children outside of their ritual context was normal in the Lamba region in the first quarter of the previous century.
In practically all cases of double qualification the cilaila connects with the cimbwasa or girls’ initiation. This may implicate that cilaila was especially done with cimbwasa songs and dancing.
The other names in the classification by Doke corroborate the importance of cinsengwe and cimbwasa in the overview in Figure D. The most frequently used names of songs/dances other than ‘cilaila’ are cinsengwe (23 times) and cimbwasa (17 times). Cinsengwe is related to occasions connected to hunting (10), mourning (4), Bayambo (hunting) mediums (2), beer party (1) and the erection of a shrine (1). Cimbwasa is only related to the girls’ initiation (9), not to other occasions.

The effect of the performance of the three types of performers

Songs in Zambia: owner of the song. There is a difference in the effect of the three types of performers. A medium’s performance is more significant and its reach is wider. It has implications for a whole area or a whole group of people. It will be effective for the whole ritual and its purpose and it can be new. When the occasion is particularly serious, involving vulnerable transfer processes between nature and culture or vice versa, mediums are indispensable. The performance of the specialist is especially significant for the occasion and for those directly involved. While a layperson’s performance of mediums’ and specialists’ songs (cilaila) is private.
It is possible that the cilaila is part of an old system of domesticating and re-using songs as kwilimuna or kwangala songs. Or of forming pairs for heavy and light performance according to need.

Performance by a medium, a specialist, a layperson

Songs in Zambia: owner of the song. The three domains occurring in the three rows in Figure D are not symmetrical.
Hunting: there were hunting mediums, hunting specialists –in one area, only a few men were considered great hunters– and laypersons at hunting rituals and feasts, including old Beers. The medium – specialist – laypeople performances are called: kaluwe – ilimbalakata – cilaila.
Healing: in the past, there may have been rare healing mediums, there were healing specialists, patients and laypersons at healing rituals and occasions. This repertoire is linked to the female repertoire: no mediums, specialists (nacimbusa) and laypersons at girls’ initiation rituals and women get-togethers. The medium – specialist – laypeople performances are called: [mwami -] cimbwasa/cisungu – cilaila.
Mourning: there were mourning mediums but no mourning specialists and, of course, there were attendants at mourning rituals and occasions. The persons designated to take care of the proceedings for mourning, funeral and after-funeral occasions of a particular deceased were the relatives and ritual friends (abali) of the deceased.²The ‘professional mourners’ in Hoffman (1929: 177) presumably were ritual friends of the chiefly clan. They did not have the public function that the hunting specialist and the nacimbusa had. The medium – [specialist -] laypeople performances are called: Ciwila – [cinsengwe -] kulila (personal or family mourning). Furthermore, a layperson’s performance of a song brought by a Ciwila possessed also was called cilaila.
It is not impossible that in the 19th century each of these functions was performed and led by a medium of the ing’omba type. That is: possessed by the spirits of specialists of the same trade.

Figure D: Overview of the relations between the major older song genres
and the domains, types of spirit possession, purposes and occasions.

The position of the three types of performers: medium, specialist and lay(wo)man within Figure D.

History of the female repertoire

Songs in Zambia: owner of the song. This would explain how the female repertoire was extended in that period, through cilaila of that repertoire and adoption of cilaila-ed repertoire of adjacent areas.
This would also explain the difference in weight of songs and dances in adjacent areas. A light song from a certain area would likely have a heavier, cilaila version in that area but all in that area would be aware of the dominant (light) version. In the area that took over the heavier (cilaila) version this awareness would not be present, which could lead them to conceive of it as a heavy type of song only and, so, as a (typical) part of the female repertoire.

Social dance songs have no medium nor specialist performances. They can be derived from possession music. Or they are composed by spirits, not through normal possession but by abduction (kuwilwa fya kubuka). And social dance songs can come from outside, as most of the female repertoire does.

Conclusion

Songs in Zambia: owner of the song. It is not unlikely that in former days the ownership of songs was an even larger issue than it was in the 1980s. The starting of songs at larger gatherings by non-possessed was rather rare in Chibale in the 1980s, because the starter still ran the risk of being regarded as pretentious. Though hypothetical, it is possible that in the past certain songs were owned by a certain specialist or group, for instance a clan or cult group, and that these songs, under certain circumstances and with a shift in seriousness, could be used for or by people from outside of this group.