Oral Poetry from Africa
This is a song composed by Barton Harry, one of the popular banjo players in Malawi who played in a duo with Kausale on acoustic guitar. A few of the pioneers of this tradition recorded in Lusaka, Zambia and later on in Zimbabwe as migrant Malawian artists.
Oooh, Absalom my child
Absalom, why have you died?
He died at war with his brethren…
Gule Wamkulu is a secret initiatory society of men from Chewa-speaking communities in Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique. The dancers wear masks personifying the spirits of ancestors and sacred animals native to the lands. They perform primarily at funerals and memorial services but also at celebrations. This performance was recorded at Mkuwazi Village in the Salima district of Malawi.
Bury me on the veranda
Bury me on the veranda
Eyeee… so that when my mother
Should see me and say I am dead…
A ChiChewa song from the southern region of Malawi about the perils of matrilocal marriage. The singer has married into “a women’s village”, Njenjema, where the land is inherited through the female line and everything is controlled by the wife’s family.
At Njenjema, do not dare
At Njenjema, do not dare…
A spirit possession song from the southern region of Malawi, sung in ChiChewa and opening for the outsider a window on the sufferings of a society where children had, and have, only a 50% chance of surviving infancy. For women like Effie Musa from whom this song was recorded in August 1982, witchcraft practiced by one of her neighbours was the only plausible explanation.
Maize has a Market
Sorghum has a Market..
Vimbuza is a spirit possession ceremony practiced by the Tumbuka people who live in eastern Zambia and northern Malawi.
What will I ever wear with him?
What will I ever wear with him?
An Ngoni song from northern Malawi, sung at girls’ initiation ceremonies. The Ngoni were driven into exile by Shaka Zulu’s conquests, and this song presents Shaka’s achievements from the point of view of people who suffered from them.
It is because of Zwide, chief of the Soshangane people
That though I lie down I cannot sleep…
