Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. The repertoire of women’s songs forms a wealth of cult songs, girls’ initiation songs, social dance songs, christian songs, songs in stories and games1See an example of a girls’ game., critical songs, work songs and women’s dance songs. In this article, we describe the types not treated elsewhere on this site.
Contents
Women’s work songs
Women’s critical songs
Chibale dance aesthetics
Women’s dance genres
Women’s music and social dance music
Association with other cultural regions
An example of the way the association with another cultural region works
Conclusion
Similarity of women’s songs and dances in adjacent cultural areas
Do genres belong to one or to more areas?
Usefulness of genre names for historical research
Conclusion
Women’s songs
Women’s work songs
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. The typical pounding and grinding songs are mourning songs, although women may use other songs from the women’s repertoire as well. In most cases, the one mourned about is the mother or grandmother. Crying while pounding is not exceptional. Where men use mourning songs in the mpanga to obtain products, women use them in the village for work. The repertoire is not very large and contains beautiful, that is: generally liked, songs. In the interludes during the pounding the pounder(s) give commentaries on the husband, the co-wife or situations at the farm or in the surrounding area.
A pounding song
Song 178
Fragment of a pounding song by Margaret Chibuye, 1981.
Text of Song 178 ∵ Mourning mourning you, mother oo
Natwa neuli nenka iyo
Ililelile bama mwe o – Natwa neuli nenka yo
Balume besu cipuba
Ililelile bama mwe o – Balume wesu cipuba yo
Musowa wa tunga nebo iyo
Ililelile bama mwe o – Musowa wa tunga nebo yo
Bama muncinsheko
Ililelile bama mwe o – Natwa neuli nenka yo
I pound all on my own iyo
Mourning mourning you, mother oh – I pound all on my own yo
My husband is crazy
Mourning mourning you, mother oh – My husband is crazy yo
Wailing of the pounding mortar, me, iyo
Mourning mourning you, mother oh – Wailing of the pounding mortar, me yo
Mother, come and pound with me iyo
Mourning mourning you, mother oh – I pound all on my own yo
Another pounding song
Song 179
A pounding song by Elina Chibale, 1981.
Text of Song 179 ∵ I am just a dog and a mortar
Seni muncinshe muncinshe
Babukwe, ba mulamu
Nalikutwa kale nebo
Banandi bakulwala kulwala nandi kwabweshako
Bama iya ati besa balalume balalume bamukula nkule
Kamupengela bwa ka ati bakapeyeye
Bakapeyeye nindo bangamupela
Bama iyo ati besa balalume bamukule nkule (bamutobela cibwabwa)
Kupite ya mukulo nkomfwe ifyo babule fyo balanda bana Bina Musonda
Nalikwimba bwino kwati nakumanda nakumanda twakuye li tubonga
Mwebafwala masuti kwati nakumanda nakumanda mwalikuye li mubonga
Mama ne mulanda cibonga cakwimba cakwimba ne kabwa ne tunga
Cimbwi calabile kamutwa mwebashimbi
Translation in English
Come and pound with me, pound with me
My brother/sister-in-law, my brother/sister-in-law
I was pounding in the past
My friends are sick while with me the disease has lessened my abilities in pounding
Mother, iya, said I, who are those men who are doing the deep hoeing
You who are poor, really really poor
What could these very poor ones give you
Mother, iyo, who are the men who are doing the deep hoeing?
(I’ll) pass via the path over there to listen how the mother of Bina Musonda begins, what she sings
I will be singing well because we can’t do kubonga when we are going to the grave
You who dress in suits do kubonga because you can’t do it when you’re going to the grave
Mama, me the poor one, doing kubonga while singing and singing, I am just a dog and a mortar
The hyena said it: just be pounding, you [marriageable] girls.
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. Doing the deep hoeing: deep hoeing is mostly done when rains are about to stop, here it refers to dipping nshima deeply into the relish: eating a lot, and therefore causing a lot of work for the lonely singer. Kubonga is a special type of Cisungu dancing. It is a sign of femininity not valued in the singer’s marriage.
A third pounding song
Song 180
A pounding song by Chibale Katumpa, 1981.
Text of Song 180 ∵ Mother, I can’t get over it
Teti munsunge, banshi Boni
Teti munsunge apo bafwa bama
Seni muncinkilemo
Seni muncinshe babukwe ba Kani nailila
Bama naingainga
Lelo naingainga neuli neka iyo
Bama iyo nakubanaingainga ne kabwa ne tunga
Bama nali kumweba ba Eshinala mwitulo munshi
Nkomusha mukucula
Bunga bwandi nkotwa
Nabako kabalyako nebo babukwe bamulamu
Tubatwiletwile – Bamunshitota
You can‘t take care of me, father of Boni
You can‘t take care of me because my mother is dead
Come and assist me to pound
Come and assist me, my sister-in-law, Kani, I cry
Mother, I can’t get over it
Today I can’t get over it because I am alone iya
Mother, iyo, I can’t get over it, I am just a dog and a mortar
Mother, I was telling you, Eshinala, don’t put the pounding stick down
I will leave you in great sufferings
It’s my mealie-meal I am pounding
With all that I prepare, it should be enough for the in-law[s] to take part
Let us pound for them – Those who do not thank you
Women’s critical songs
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. In song, women often express self-awareness, criticism of their husbands, particularly if they have moved away from their parents’ village, and criticism of their co-wives in the case of polygyny. We did not encounter other subjects of criticism. A clear relation exists between this criticism and one song genre name: the fisango. This term, which translates as assorted things, refers to a form of song in which the women sing a verse one at a time. If danced, the women stand in a circle and sing a verse one at a time, anti-clockwise. The woman singing dances in the circle and then returns to her place.
When seated, accompaniment with a cisekele is possible and in the past also with nsanshi, mitungu or bottles. The word fisango is always used when referring to the critical songs but people also use it in a more general sense, like the words fitelele and kasela, for all women’s songs and gatherings. Reason for the reduction of the term fisango to women’s critical songs may be that while the women’s repertoire was performed less often when villages decreased in size, the problems underlying the criticism did not decrease.
Song 181
A cisango sung by the women of Kapampalwe seksioni, 1981. Each stanza consists of two lines.
A performance may contain between four to all of the stanzas. This recording contains the first eight stanzas.
Text of Song 181 ∵ I am a rope of beads
Cankole ubanda nshila eya eya
Tanshakwibukile cankole wesu tupwe babili eya eya
Nendi mwando wa bulungu eya eya
Nangu amwamfulwa mwebalume mumbweleshe kwesu eya eya
Kalatwala nka kasongole eya eya
Kalimwibinde lya musesha katwalila amaleka/nkanika eya eya
We bwe witelenteta eya eya
Tupelele mamafyala etuma mwana ati kamubenge eya eya
Kankolobwe kamwibala eya eya
Bani ukotuka we kankolobwe nikusasaula eya eya
Abakashi banesu buluya eya eya
Baipika mbatata kumatako shakanga nokunaka eya eya
Nati nkalapule mulilo/kalilo eya eya
Nasange mipindo baliya bana Musonda wesu eya eya
Nokutemena kwa mulupili eya eya
Nafwa mama wesu / nemulando lubwebwe lwampoka amakasa eya eya
Mwaice/Kaice minta katumbe eya eya
Tukabone kumaibepe kumunda baposa mukasungo eya eya
Mwitina mushitu kubuluma eya eya
Mbeli mwaubalile, mwatina nswa nswa kuwela eya eya
Ndikatele kalumbumbe eya eya
Nefi mulukulabila ndukunfwa eya eya
Fumbwa pepe alinjikete eya eya
Tekala mwaice ngamwakanda ubushike eya eya
English translation
You magpie who waggles like making a path eya eya
I didn’t expect the two of us to get married eya eya
I am a rope of beads eya eya
If you are so angry with me, my husband, take me back home eya eya
This kasongole tree bears fruits eya eya
It bear fruits for so many eya eya
You grinding stone, don’t move here and there eya eya
I grind for my mother-in-law so that she doesn’t ask her son to divorce me eya eya
You bad pumpkin of the garden eya eya
Whom are you cursing, otherwise I smash you to pieces eya eya
My co-wife is a fool eya eya
She only half-cooked the potatoes eya eya
I wanted to get some fire eya eya
Only to find the door barred; Musonda’s mother has gone eya eya
Cultivating on the hill eya eya
Causes my feet to ache because of the gravel eya eya
Young one, take this little bit of nshima eya eya
Let’s go and see where they cheat in the garden while making citeme circles eya eya
If you fear the roaring in the thicket eya eya
Then why did you start it; don’t fear the cracking of leaves eya eya
I am a chicken’s nest [under the roof edge of the nsaka] eya eya
All you talk about I hear it eya eya
The big he-goat has held me (caught) eya eya
If he were young, you would have ‘treated’ him during the night eya eya
Commentary
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. The connotation of ubanda nshila is adultery (cendeyende), in this case possibly resulting in polygyny. Tupwe babili, pe: marrying of men; pwe: marrying of women.
I am a rope of beads: I am precious but I can break if you don’t treat me right.
People eat the fruits of the kasongole when hunger strikes the area. And, use kasongole leaves during labour.
Kankolobwe is a dry, small pumpkin that is left in the garden after everything has been harvested. Here it is the husband.
Citeme cultivation on a hill is heavy for the woman. A good husband chooses a place for cultivation that is not too heavy for the wife.
‘Then why do you start it’: then why did you start the dangerous thing. This is a reference to a proverb, see Proverb 178 below. The one who starts something risky should not be frightened at first signs of possible risk.
‘I am a chicken’s nest’: If you do not use proverbial language, then do not bring the topic while the children are around.
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances.
Women’s dances
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. Dancing is important in women’s music, much more so than in men’s music. Even though there certainly is not always dancing to women’s music, dance is an important factor in its categorisation. Masha ya lubunda, dances of the hips, refers to the cimbwasa and all its subtypes. In most Chibale dancing, the hips are the focus of attention.
The dancing consists of a light shaking of the whole body making moderate use of arms and head. Both men and women may use swirling hip movements while practically only women use hip movements back and forth. Another important quality in female dancing is bending the knees at certain periods during the dancing, making the movements as low as possible (kushana panshi).
The movements are ‘for girls and women to obtain a softness of the waist for use in the house later’. An association with sexual heating surely is present though overt references to sex are shunned in most public situations.
Film 18 ∵ Use of hip dancing styles in possession dancing
Chibale dance aesthetics
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. The lubunda styles form the major focus of Chibale dance aesthetics, that is: of what can be done better than another. They are styles of excellence rather than of sexual prowess. Other sources of dance movements, like those of Kaluwe and ilimbalakata dancing, have not been taken over as styles of excellence at other occasions. Reasons for this may be that this type of dancing is for teaching (kufunda) while other types are pa kwangala. Also, the spreading of these dance movements through cilaila was less frequent since cilaila of the hunter’s dance was and is not really accepted. And, another reason will be that lubunda dancing has been central in competitive social and women’s dances within living memory.
Women’s dance genres
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. In the 1980s and later, the following names of genres of women’s songs/dances were in use in Chibale: cidika or cilika, cisango or fisango, citelele or fitelele, kaonge, kasela or cisela or fisela, kashimbo, katembo, maenge, makuku, mancanca or mantyantya, mitungu, mukwashi, musakasa, shiboyongo and teka.
Oh, the mukwashi. Those are mitungu songs like kaonge, mwami, mitungu or makuku. It is just dancing for enjoyment (cishaneshane).
Kasela is a hip dance like kaonge, mwami, mitungu, maenge, musakasa or kashimbo. Drumming and dancing are the same, the songs differ. They are danced at Kasela [Pa kwisha], Cisungu and Ipupo. It are all icila, which the Lamba call fisela. It can also be teka or shiboyongo.
Mika Mwape Chungwa ∵ personal communication at two different occasions, 1986.
With the lubunda dances, differences between the dancing styles of individual dancers are much more important than those between the dance types they perform. When a stranger visits a Pa kwisha and performs a new or improved style there, the other women may give her a present as a way of thanking her for sharing the art. As the competitiveness around lubunda dancing also indicates, women are always on the watch for new and further developed styles.
Film 21 ∵ Various dancing styles during one performance
BamukaKunda Mfwanti dancing at the Agricultural Fair in 1986.
Women’s music and social dance music
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. A connection exists between the women’s music repertoire and the social dance repertoire.
As seen above, women also use lubunda styles in social dances, possibly in the form of a competition. Some social dances, like katembo and teka, seem to have been women’s dances with men also dancing. Of course, there are differences: the setting of the social dance is more public, there is accompaniment by the set of three drums and there are different formation patterns of women and men.
Association with other cultural regions
People in Chibale associate most of the names with other cultural regions. Only cisango or fisango are considered typically Lala, while citelele or fitelele, kasela and teka are regarded as typically Lala but shared with neighbouring areas.
Some of the items on the list indeed are almost identical. In the Chibale perspective, the only difference between kaonge and maenge is an association with the Lenje/Lima regions and with the Lenje/Kaonde regions respectively, kaonge being slightly ‘more Lala’ than maenge.
Some names refer to (a style of) dance movements used with more song genres, like girls’ initiation or social dance songs. The words cidika, kaonge, maenge and teka also refer to forms of intensive lubunda dance movements.
Two of the names refer to the competitiveness of the dances involved, not to their styles nor to the song type. Cilika and teka both refer to a period during the dancing that the dancer can show what she has to offer. Both words can be used to refer to any dance type/occasion in which this competition is important.
Some of the names like fisango, fitelele, kasela and fisela also refer to the occasion at which women’s music is performed, the Pa kwisha. Mitungu refers to the use of the mitungu or mabotolo during the dancing.
Some of the names – kashimbo, makuku, mancanca, mukwashi, musakasa and shiboyongo – are rarely used. They are all associated with other cultural areas.
An example of the way the association with another cultural region works
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. Many of the dances mentioned above are attributed to the Lenje: cidika, kaonge, maenge, kashimbo and mitungu. A possible explanation for this is the following. The coming of Mwami in the 1970s, that was strongly associated with the Lenje region, led to a resurgence, if not emergence, of women’s music for public cult purposes in Chibale. This led to the reasoning that women’s music that could not be clearly associated with Chibale must have come from the Lenje area.
Conclusion
Much more emphasis is placed on the external origin of the female repertoire than on that of the male repertoire. Yet the male repertoire of Chibale shares a great deal with many regions around it.
Similarity of women’s songs and dances in adjacent cultural areas
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. Almost all the names used in Chibale can be found in the literature about central and east Zambia as girls’ and women’s songs, dances and games, girls’ initiation songs and dances, or as social songs and dances.2Madan (1913), Edme (1944: 32f), Lambo (1945: 255), Jones (1954: 35, with clapping patterns), Stefaniszyn (1964: 89); and Smith & Dale (1920: II, 273), Doke (1927: 524f, 531, 538f & 1931: 152, 357f), Roland (1934: np); Brelsford (1935: 214 & 1948: passim), Davidson (1970), Mensah (1970a: 97;1970b: 190 & 1971: 76, 78).
Do genres belong to one or to more areas?
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. Writers about dance in South Central Africa seem to take one of two stances. They describe the dances in a certain region at a certain moment as belonging to that region. And by doing so, they suggest that the dance has a (long) history there. Or, they note that in the described region dances of the same name may be different or that dances with different names may be similar, if not identical.
Many writers about music or dance report that the people themselves say that the dance in question was introduced from another cultural region. It seems to be a general characteristic of South Central Africa that this holds particularly for social dance music, women’s music and healing possession music. “The similarity of some of these dances may be interesting as they seem to suggest the existence of external associations [between various cultural regions] which justify the use of different names for what appear to be identical dances”.3Mensah (1970a: 97). A part of these external associations were kept up by travelling mediums who danced at Cisungu and, at least in the case of the Lala region, met each other occasionally to exchange songs and other information.
Some writers4Like Njungu (1959: 6). tend to associate certain dances with certain cultural regions (‘tribes’). This may be applicable at a certain moment in time, but over a longer period this seems to be less likely.
Dances seem to travel the South Central African area, at varying paces. When we look at the state of affairs in a given period in history, the association between dance and region can be made, while in another period, it will be different.
Usefulness of genre names for historical research
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. A genre name is attractive because it can be traced and suggests a single identity. Unfortunately, the latter is just a suggestion. The tendency in Chibale, and presumably also in the surrounding regions, is that when a new phenomenon, for instance Mwami, takes the place of an older phenomenon with analogous functionality, that phenomenon will be called by the new name, including when referring to the history of the phenomenon or functionality, that is: a period when the new name was not used. In addition, the name may be used at a given moment as a genre name while, previously, it was a name for a certain event or for a dance move in a dance with a different name.
Conclusion
Songs and dances in Zambia: women’s songs and dances. It is not possible to pinpoint the genre names in women’s songs and dances to a certain region nor to try to give a conclusive description of the dancing, let alone the songs, that a certain name covers.
It is probable that in the last centuries within the Kaonde-Lamba-Lenje-Lala area, and, to a lesser degree, the areas south-east of Chibale women’s songs and dances were shared including cilaila-ed (read: feminised) versions of male songs and dances.
Footnotes
- 1See an example of a girls’ game.
- 2Madan (1913), Edme (1944: 32f), Lambo (1945: 255), Jones (1954: 35, with clapping patterns), Stefaniszyn (1964: 89); and Smith & Dale (1920: II, 273), Doke (1927: 524f, 531, 538f & 1931: 152, 357f), Roland (1934: np); Brelsford (1935: 214 & 1948: passim), Davidson (1970), Mensah (1970a: 97;1970b: 190 & 1971: 76, 78).
- 3Mensah (1970a: 97).
- 4Like Njungu (1959: 6).