Musical instruments in Zambia: true instruments

Musical instruments in Zambia: true instruments. The only general classification criterium in Chibale in the 1980s was that of ‘true’ and other musical instruments.

Of the instruments frequently and occasionally played, only the ngoma, the babatoni, the banjo, the ilimba and the kalimba were true instruments. Other instruments did not belong to the group of true instruments. The cisekele, the ciwaya, hand-clapping, ululating, the masamba, the mukonkonto, the musekele, whistling, the nsangwa, the cinyenye, the kameme, the musebe, the mutolilo, the ndibu, the ngolwa, the nsangwa kwa kuboko, the pintu as well as the christian music instruments.

What makes an instrument a true instrument?

Musical instruments in Zambia: true instruments. The major factor determining this partition is whether the playing of the instrument is worth evaluating. About an instrument not belonging to the true instruments someone phrased it like this. ‘Though it can be played wrong, it cannot be played better than others’. In Chibale differences between two equal persons, things or situations are looked at with much scrutiny. Talent in music, dance, healing and a lot more has to have some sort of accepted reason.1See the article about Skill and success. The concept of true instruments shows for which musical instruments talent is an object of scrutiny and for which not. But, true instruments are not only the instruments that are hard to play/ worth evaluating.

A second factor is that the purpose for playing the instrument is to accompany songs (at larger gatherings). The masamba and nsangwa definitely require skill to be played, but they are not seen as true instruments because their sound is produced through dancing and serves more as a sonic proof of the dance movements. So, skill in playing nsangwa or masamba is seen as a dance skill. The ngolwa also needs skill to be played, but it is played with the sole purpose of attracting the honeyguide. If the bird and the player manage to find a well-stocked bee nest together, the playing has apparently been good enough.

A last factor is the identity of the player. The masamba and nsangwa are played by the possessing spirit, not by the – possessed – human being. So, the latter cannot claim to play it well or better than another.

In short, a true instrument is a musical instrument the playing of which is worth evaluating, that has the purpose to make music -that is: accompany songs- (at larger gatherings) and is played by a human being.

Elaboration N: Playing a true musical instrument

Musical instruments in Zambia: true instruments. The numbers of people in the two surveys in 1985/86 and 1987 claiming to play a musical instruments differ enormously. In 1985/86 45,5% claimed to play one or more instruments while in 1987 this was 85,5%.

The reason for this difference turned out to be the difference in position of the question about the playing of musical instruments in the two surveys.2See the The questionnaires of the three surveys. In the first survey the question was put halfway through the section about musical preferences. It followed the question asking for the preference for musical instruments and the reason for that preference. This focused the minds of the ones interviewed to the ‘true instruments’: that is, the instruments worth evaluating. In the second survey the question followed a question involving going through a list of all musical instruments. This focused the mind upon all possible musical instruments and sound producers. For instance, none of the 25 mediums in Survey 1985/86 claimed to play masamba and nsangwa while in 1987 all mediums did.
The crux of the matter lies in the position of our question in the two surveys respectively. This emphasised different aspects of the definition of musical instrument.

So, in the first survey there was more emphasis on the true instruments. In the second there was no particular emphasis. This means that we can compare the two surveys as to the playing of true instruments. Then we see that the difference is small: 42% (Survey 1985/86) against 45% (Survey 1987) of all interviewed persons played a true instrument.

In the 2000s, the distinction between true instruments and all other instruments had become less prominent.

Footnotes

IJzermans, Jan J. (2024) Amalimba. Music and related dance, text & ritual in one African region. https://amalimba.org/true-musical-instruments/

TEST