Text repertoires in Zambia: song texts

Text repertoires in Zambia: song texts. Song texts in Chibale are highly contextual. It can be a new song text specifically made for the occasion or an existing song text intentionally brought for the occasion. Its text may mean ‘what it says’ but it also has an intended meaning of which not everybody present will be aware.
Song texts are generally short, there is a lot to guess.
From the other hand, people expect song texts to teach (kufunda), to bring wisdom, using proverbial language, quotations, metaphors and the like. The interpretation still can be contextual but the image or proverb also provides a more enduring meaning. The goal is increasing mano.

The spirits communicate through Kubuka, omens and dreams, and songs. Singing makes it easier to remember the message since people have to sing along and can repeat it. Singing also reaches many more people than speaking.
BanaSibilu ∵ personal communication, 1985.

It happens that non-specialist individuals encounter omens or have dreams that contain messages about the future or help in interpreting trouble. Nevertheless, many people only come into contact with messages from outside the human world through song texts. Analogously, christian songs bring the audience into contact with important knowledge from outside Chibale.

The interpretation of song texts on this site

Text repertoires in Zambia: song texts. This site presents many song texts, in most cases with a recording of the song. Use the search term “text of song” (including the quotation marks) and take a look around.

We keep the interpretation of these song texts to a minimum in most cases. The reason is that the ‘original’ meaning or meanings of a song only exist at the moment that the bringer of the song positions it and those present interpret it. Its interpretation therefore needs contextual information that is either unavailable or that would distract us from the intent of the article in question. In cases where the song text contains more general elements, we pay attention to this, for instance in case of metaphors or reference to more general, such as historical, social or political, phenomena.

However, there are a number of articles on this website in which we devote extensive attention to the interpretation of song texts.

Articles on this website devoted to song text interpretation

The interpretation of song texts by the general public was studied through surveys. For a number of songs we present interpretations by the general public and we compare them with the interpretations given by exegetes.
In the series of articles Fighting with songs, we present all 113 songs brought during one particular Ipupo and explain them within the context of that Ipupo.
We also interpret song texts in detail that contain clues about the underlying principles of music and related dance, text and ritual, for instance Song 1.

In the remainder of this article, we will discuss some characteristics of song texts in Chibale.

The art of positioning a song text

Text repertoires in Zambia: song texts. In the series of articles Fighting with songs, we present all song texts brought by various spirit possessed during one particular Ipupo in context. It describes in detail the use of the two arts of song text positioning practised in Chibale.
The first is the bringing of a new song text on an existing, well-known musango. The challenge is to understand the new text as a product of the, in many cases well-known, bringer of the song, the Ipupo context, the previous song texts, the behaviour and events during that very Ipupo and more general events and trends in the area.
The second art of text positioning is the bringing of an existing song, possibly with a few words altered. The challenge here is larger since this text –in many cases a well-known text that has been used more often for contextual interpreting– is to be connected somehow to the situation, taking into account the bringer of the song, a possible relation between the ‘standard’ context of the song and the present one, the previous song texts and the behaviour and events during that very gathering.
During the first half of the Ipupo described in Fighting with songs, an alternation of texts unfolded in which each of the two arts show (off) its merits.

Songs do not lie

Text repertoires in Zambia: song texts. A conviction that is quite generally shared in Chibale is that song texts can not lie. Lie should be taken here in the wider sense of not showing your intentions, just as it can be found for the southern (Ambo) part of the Lala region¹Stefaniszyn (1964b: 142).: “In divining by munyeng’u ants, musolo, the leaves are used. This tree has many seeds, therefore it does not ‘lie’ but truly bears fruit. To the Ambo, a barren tree is a lying tree. Hence the fruitful musolo becomes the symbol of divining truth”.
The conviction may be related to the idea held in the local and possession cults that all texts derive from the ancestral spirits (mupashi)²Mwesa Mapoma (1980: 122) gives the following quotation for the Bemba region: “Nalimo nici twenda ne mipashi eco tushifawaila bufi”: maybe it is because we [we, the possessed] move with the spirits that we dislike lying/lies. and the connected idea that all important texts are to convey a message of wisdom (mano). One can only conceive of lies in song texts when the music is derived from nature spirits (cibanda) or when a song is sung by a madman since the latter can not be held responsible for the text or its interpretation. “It is a madman’s song because there is nothing [no message] you can take out of it” (Lwimbo lwe shilu pantu takupo ico ungabulamo).

Others must be able to trust the singer

Singing along is a form of recognition

Related to this is that singing along is a form of showing: it is true, it is applicable. It is recognising (-suminisha) the singer/starter’s intention. This way the starter can seek the consent of those present to back up her intention and show the one to whom she aims that they agree. “The guilty one will understand”.
Similarly, when the songs of a certain person are taken over with much success, it is a sign that he or she is trusted to give meaning to the gathering. In some cases, people interpret the success as a sign that that person can be trusted in other areas as well. For instance healing, problem solving or making a ritual effective.

Quotations as part of song texts

Text repertoires in Zambia: song texts. A means often used in song texts is the quotation. It can be a quote of a person or group related to the subject of the song. Or, it can be a more general view, meaning something like ‘people (may, will) say: …’.
Usually there is no indication that it is a quotation, nor is there any indication who is being quoted.

Let’s look at two examples.

The 87th song of the Ipupo at banaNshimbi‘s, a Ciwila song brought by Kansenkele, 1987.

Boi we twalilwala myaka bana Chibuye  / Buce buce mu nanda eyo
Cipale bamulamu mayo
Shololilo cipale yoyo ba Pepa ndeya / Woyoyo cipale bamulamu nandebo nkoya

Boy you, I have been sick for years, banaChibuye /  It is too silent in the house eyo
Full of themselves, my friends, mother
Believe it: they are full of themselves yoyo, Pepa, I leave / Woyoyo, full of themselves, my friends, I would leave too

Kansenkele mocks the self-centredness of Mwami mediums and the cult of affliction possessed.

Example 1

This song text provides a good example of the use of quotations, so typical for Chibale parlance and song texts. The first line gives two quotations by different persons. The first version of the first line is an ironic reference to the Mwami and cult of affliction possessed’s catchphrase. They often mention their illness or use it as an excuse. The second version is a quotation of the husband who says it is much too quiet in the house during the night. The possessed wife is not capable of making love because of illness or restricting rules of life. Or, she is away dancing somewhere.
The word cipale in the second line refers both to self-centredness and to refusing to make love. Who is quoted depends on the version of the first line. The more general complaint about the self-centredness of (Mwami) possessed or the husband.
The last line repeats the quotation of the second line. In the first version it adds a quotation (“I leave”) of the one fed up with the cipale. In the second version a comment of the singer (“I would leave too”) is added.

Quotation of a (Mwami) possessed / Quotation of the husband of a Mwami or cult of affliction possessed
Quotation of an often heard complaint against Mwami or cult of affliction possessed / Quotation of the husband
Quotation of the one(s) fed up with the cipale / A comment by the singer

Conclusion
This song contains four quotations of different sources and a comment. There is little or no information about who is quoted. From an external viewpoint, there is no clue that the song lines are quotations. From a Chibale viewpoint this clue is not necessary. Song texts, and normal parlance, can contain quotations without much assistance to the listener.

Example 2

Text of Song 71 ∵ I brew in abundance

Cikumba buce
Nebo ndikumbile ku manga

The one who brews little
I have brewed in abundance

The first line is a quotation of people judging a certain person by the small quantity of beer she brewed. A less literal translation of the first line of this song is. They won’t say about me: “That is the one who brews little”.

The roles of song text, singing, instrumental music and dancing compared

Text repertoires in Zambia: song texts. People consider song text as the most important aspect for the interpretation of a song.
They often formulate the role of instrumental music as carrying the message in the song. And the role of singing the text over and over again as helping the people to remember it.
Another example is the following. Most kace players know more than one kace pattern. Nevertheless, they will only use an alternative to the standard pattern if the singing has stopped while the dancing continues. Complicating the music while the texts are being sung is not desired.

Two quotations

To sing is to inform/teach (kufunda). Dancing is to attract people to receive the text. Everybody will say: “We’ll go to see the possessed dance”, not: “to hear them sing their texts”. The picture of a famous medium’s dancing stays in one’s head while one could forget the tunes and texts. Dancing is not kufunda. It is treatment and personal kupupa [for possessed].
Mika Mwape Chungwa ∵ personal communication, 1986.

Now and again we hear the Jehovah’s Witnesses say that singing Lala music is helping in the work of Satan (Satana). But we know that all that is in the world is God’s (Lesa); he only dislikes Satan and the witches since they misguide the people. He also left directions for the people how to behave. Since the songs make the world alive and show it’s alive and since they are instructive (kufunda), there’s nothing bad in them. Singing only Christian songs is no guarantee to a pure life as experience shows. The slow singing of the text [by Jehovah’s Witnesses (listen to Song 8)] to enhance the kufunda is not necessary for us. It might give the impression that they are underestimating their members.
Mika Mwape Chungwa ∵ personal communication, 1986.