No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
The concept of masking as a cultural device for Chewa music and dance performances
Abstract
In the course of field research various relationships between Chewa masking as a cultural phenomenon and Chewa music and dance became consistently evident. The research focused on the ethnographic study of drumming artistry within major Chewa dances. This resulted in a detailed analysis of Chewa dance organisations and drumming accompaniment from musical, anthropological, theatre, fine art and dance perspectives. In this article two Chewa dances, gulewamkulu and mganda, are used to demonstrate that Chewa music and dance performances display the concept of masking through their organisation, presentation and coordination. As a cultural device, Chewa masking emanates from various historical roots and is applied to music and dance performances culturally, musically, symbolically and aesthetically, making it a key element in the execution of these performances.
In those moments when focus on creative work overrides input from the outside world, we are in a creative trance. This psychologically significant altered state of consciousness is inherent in everyone. It can take the form of daydreams generating scientific or creative ideas, hyperfocus in sports, visualizations that impact entire civilizations, life-changing audience experiences, or meditations for self-transformation that may access states beyond trance, becoming gateways to transcendence. Artist and psychologist Tobi Zausner shows how creative trance not only operates in scientific inventions and works of art in all media, but is also important in creating and recreating the self. Drawing on insights from cognitive neuroscience, clinical psychology and post-materialist psychology, this book investigates the diversity of the creative trance ranging from non-industrial societies to digital urban life, and its presence in people from all backgrounds and abilities. Finally, Zausner investigates the future of trance in our rapidly changing world.
In colonial Tanganyika, popular music and football were the most important genres of popular culture in urban areas then as now. From the 1930s, these modern forms of recreation grew out of a precedent tradition of the competitive dance societies among the Swahili on the coast. In the capital Dar es Salaam, various musical and sporting organizations developed in the urban community made up mainly of coastal Africans, besides including the migrants from upcountry and the people of Arab descent. These organizations were interrelated and had overlapping memberships, and their heyday also coincided with the awakening for national politics. The African Association, the fi rst modern political organization established by Africans, was founded in Dar es Salaam in the late 1920s, and later became the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU). During the campaign for independence, there was a close collaboration among the bands, football clubs, and TANU.
Malawi, a country of great cultural diversity, shares many of its musical traditions with neighbouring cultures in other south-east African countries, namely Tanzania, Zambia, and Mozambique, as well as with culture groups further away, the Nguni (Zulu-Swazi) cultures of South Africa, for example. As part of the UNESCO CD series Musics and Musicians of the World, UNESCO (with AUVIDIS as co-publisher and distributor) made available Music traditions of Malawi (D 8265).
A continuation of the theory published in the previous edition of “African Music”, pages 29-34, and part of the text of the second Cramb Lecture delivered by the author at the University of Glasgow on January 17th, 1967. The musical arts of Africa provide a channel, a veritable fiord, into the heart of African spiritualities which may yet provide a key to much of their distinctive character. Whether it will remain distinctive in a positive or negative way is another matter, and depends entirely upon Africans themselves however much they may shelve the responsibility.
The facts which have been collected are part of the tangible side of the subject; we have already discovered much of how they make music.
The main topics covered in this description of the major syntactic structures of Chichewa, a Bantu language widely spoken in Malawi, include phonetic and phonological aspects of the language, clause structure aspects, and interactions between tone and syntactic structure. Sam Mchombo's analysis is supplemented by observations about how the study of African languages, specifically Bantu languages, has contributed to progress in grammatical theory. The text covers debates about the interaction between syntax and the lexicon, as well as the contributions of African linguistic structure to the evaluation of competing grammatical theories.
In the Matengo highlands of southwestern Tanzania, musical changes reflect broad economic and political changes as well as local and gendered decisions made by men and women dancers. By analyzing the important realm of group dances over the preceding century a clearer picture emerges of the frequently unintended consequences of actions and the various ways that Matengo dancers employ music in their strategies to comprehend and command the "modern." In Matengo music choices to pursue divergent goals for new performative resources led to radically different outcomes for two group-dance genres. In the one case, dancers' decisions coupled with shifting economic and political realities led to fl uorescence, and in the other, to almost certain abandonment.
Research on the Kalela dance of Zambia has tended to focus on the dance as performed in urban Zambia, especially the Copperbelt. While it is true that this dance is popular in urban areas, this article argues that casting this dance as an urban dance has robbed the public a chance to sample the richness of its roots. As a point of departure therefore, the article transports the reader on to Chishi Island in the heart of Lake Bangweulu where Kalulu, the inventor of the Kalela dance came from. If indeed African artefacts assume exotic attributes once they are seen by European eyes, then it should not be wondered why the explorer, David Livingstone, sacrificed his life here in the mosquito-infested marshes of Lake Bangweulu. This area is alive with mysteries and puzzles waiting to be explained. In an attempt to strike a balance between the influence of modernity and originality of the Zambian society on the Kalela dance, the article showcases, in places, the intricate nature of ethnicity in Zambia with a suggestion that previous research bypassed a gem by not paying attention to the roots of the Kalela dance.
Mask.'<www.yourdictionary.com> accessed
- Your
- Dictionary
Your Dictionary. 'Mask.'<www.yourdictionary.com> accessed 20 April 2011. Downloaded by [Thammasat University Libraries] at 07:14 03 October 2014
Between Theatre and Anthropology. Philadelphia: University of PennsylvaniaSome music traditions of Malawi
- R Schechner
Schechner, R (1985). Between Theatre and Anthropology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. Strumpf, M (1999). 'Some music traditions of Malawi.' African Music, 7(4):110–121.
Kubvina: An Introduction to Malawian Dance and Theatre. Zomba: University of MalawiChewa visions and revisions of power: transformations of the Nyau dance in Central Malawi Modernity and its Malcontents: Ritual and Power in Postcolonial Africa
- C Kamlongera
- Nambote
Kamlongera, C, M Nambote, B Soko & E Timpunza-Mvula (1992). Kubvina: An Introduction to Malawian Dance and Theatre. Zomba: University of Malawi. Kaspin, D (1993). 'Chewa visions and revisions of power: transformations of the Nyau dance in Central Malawi.' In J Comaroff & J Comaroff (eds), Modernity and its Malcontents: Ritual and Power in Postcolonial Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago, 34–56.
Masks, society and hierarchy among the Chewa of Central Malawi
- L Birch De Aguilar
- Birch de Aguilar L
Birch de Aguilar, L (1995). 'Masks, society and hierarchy among the Chewa of Central Malawi.' Anthropos, 90:407–421.
Dance, Media Entertainment and Popular Theatre in South East Africa Aspects of Non-formal Education, Traditional Customs and Beliefs of the Chewa People of Central Malawi
- D Kerr
Kerr, D (1998). Dance, Media Entertainment and Popular Theatre in South East Africa. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies. Kuthemba-Mwale, J (1977). Aspects of Non-formal Education, Traditional Customs and Beliefs of the Chewa People of Central Malawi. Zomba: University of Malawi.
The Chewa Art of Drumming and Its Influence on Modern Malawian Music
- G Nthala
Nthala, G (2009). The Chewa Art of Drumming and Its Influence on Modern Malawian Music. Bloemfontein: University of the Free State, unpublished Master's dissertation.
Mask.' <www.brainyquote.com> accessed
- Grant Nthala
72 GRANT M NTHALA BrainyQuote. 'Mask.' <www.brainyquote.com> accessed 20 April 2011.
The Syntax of Chichewa Personal communication Personal communication (telephone)
- S Mchombo
Mchombo, S A (2004). The Syntax of Chichewa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mkanthama, C (2006). Personal communication. Lilongwe, Malawi, 8 February. Moloko, F (2008). Personal communication (telephone). 2 June and 26 May. Nchindila, B (2007). 'Linguistic syncopations of the Kalela dance – Riding the waves of Lake Bangweulu of Zambia.' Muziki 4(2):190–199.
The Physical Characters of the Maravi Malawi: The History of the NationThe historiography of Nyau
- G Nurse
Nurse, G T (1974). The Physical Characters of the Maravi. Johannesburg: University of the Witwatersrand. CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS UNIFICATION 73 Pachai, B (1973). Malawi: The History of the Nation. London: Longman. Phiri, K M (1982). 'The historiography of Nyau.' Kalulu Bulletin of Oral Literature, 3:55–58.
The mganda traditional dance among the Tumbuka of Zambia accessed 25
- M Tembo
Tembo, M S (1995). 'The mganda traditional dance among the Tumbuka of Zambia.' <people. bridgewater.edu/~mtembo/menu/zambia/mganda.shtml> accessed 25 April 2008. Tracey, H (1966/1967). 'Musical appreciation in Central and Southern Africa.' African Music, 4(1):47–55.
Mask Arts of Mexico, Singapore: C S Graphics Catholics, Peasants and Chewa Resistance in Nyasaland 1889
- R Lechuga
- C Sayer
Lechuga, R D & Sayer C (1994). Mask Arts of Mexico, Singapore: C S Graphics. Linden, I (1974). Catholics, Peasants and Chewa Resistance in Nyasaland 1889–1939, Berkeley: University of California.
Personal communication. Chancellor College, Zomba, 5 and 10 JulyRegional polarisation in voting pattern: Malawi's 1994 elections
- D Josophat
Josophat, D (2008; 2009). Personal communication. Chancellor College, Zomba, 5 and 10 July; 12 January. Kalipeni, E (1997). 'Regional polarisation in voting pattern: Malawi's 1994 elections.' Africa Journal of Political Science 2(1):152–167.
General address at Kulamba ceremony. Katete, Zambia, 25 August. Merriam-Webster. 'Mask.' <www.merriam-webster Personal communication with Senior Lecturer of History
- Lukwa
- Senior
- Chief
Lukwa, Senior Chief (2007). General address at Kulamba ceremony. Katete, Zambia, 25 August. Merriam-Webster. 'Mask.' <www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mask> accessed 20 April 2011. Mazizwa, H (2007). Personal communication with Senior Lecturer of History, University of Malawi.
Personal communication . Chaazaminga Village in Ntchisi
- C Fulansi
The Chewa .’ The Peoples of The World Foundation www
- A Gough
School language policy, research and practice in Malawi
- H Chilora
Personal communication with Senior Lecturer of History
- H Mazizwa
Chancellor College Zomba 5 and 10
- D Josophat
School language policy research and practice in Malawi. Presented at Comparative and International Education Society Conference
- H Chilora
Regional polarisation in voting pattern: Malawi's 1994 elections’
- E Kalipeni
- Kalipeni E
Aspects of Non-formal Education, Traditional Customs and Beliefs of the Chewa People of Central Malawi
- J Kuthemba-Mwale
- Kuthemba-Mwale J
The Chewa www.peoplesoftheworld.org accessed
- A Gough
Kubvina: An Introduction to Malawian Dance and Theatre
- C Kamlongera
- M Nambote
- B Soko
- E Timpunza-Mvula
- Kamlongera C
Chewa visions and revisions of power: transformations of the Nyau dance in Central Malawi
- D Kaspin
- Kaspin D
Dance, Media Entertainment and Popular Theatre in South East Africa. Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies
- D Kerr
- Kerr D
The Physical Characters of the Maravi
- G Nurse
- Nurse G T
Malawi: The History of the Nation. London: Longman
- B Pachai
- Pachai B
The historiography of Nyau’
- K Phiri
- Phiri K M