This is a Makuleya song from Malawi that tackles the theme of superstition in a satirical manner. The song revolves around accusations of witchcraft, specifically whether a person who owns an animal horn filled with magical charms should be allowed to remain in the community.
The women singers who open the song state that the one who possesses the witchcraft horn should be allowed to stay. But the chorus states to the contrary that the one who does not possess such a horn be allowed to stay.
The contradictory message conveyed can be interpreted in various ways. Has the one with the horn bewitched the villagers? Is this an example of the confusion that superstitious beliefs can breed? Or a comment on the arbitrary nature of witchcraft trials? Satirically, the song contains all these possibilities.
My thanks to Waliko Makhala of the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation for the translation and transcription that follows.
The One With a Horn
The one with the horn should stay
The one with the horn should stay today
The one with the horn should stay.
Chorus:
The one who doesn’t have it
The one who doesn’t have it
Let them stay
The one who doesn’t have it
Let them stay.
Yemwe Ali Ndi Nyanga
Yemwe ali ndi nyanga ndiye atsale
Yemwe ali ndi Nyanga ndiye atsale lero
Yemwe ali ndi nyanga ndiye atsale.
Chorus:
Yemwe alibe
Yemwe alibe
Atsale
Yemwe alibe
Atsale.
Makuleya song,
from the Traditional Authority Mthache area in Mwanza district,
from the Malawi Broadcasting Corporations archives,
translated and transcribed by Waliko Makhala.
