4. CHAPTER FOUR: GENERAL OVERVIEW AND CONTEXTUALISATION OF TSONGA
4.2 Music and dance
Traditional Tsonga music is important to the Tsonga people. Tsonga music is polyrhythmic and polyphonic and in it, texts are accompanied by musical instruments such as xigubu, xizambi, timbila and mhala-mhala (Johnston, 1971, 1970; also see Levine, 2005). According to Harries (1989: 89), ‗Tsonga music was influenced to differing degrees by the Pedi and by people today classified as Venda, Lovedu, Chopi and Ndau, many of whose instruments they have adopted‘. However, their music can be identified amongst the latter. Their drums are pitched differently and are easily distinguished from other musical drums.
The most important part of this music is the song text. Like with other African music, the text is used to convey norms and values of the community. It is also used as means of communicating with God, through their ancestors, swikwembu.
As stated by Placide Tempels in Okofur (1982) in his theory of cosmology, there is a strong connection between the living world and the spiritual world. This connection is made strong through ritual ceremonies used as veneration that often take place over a number of days.
Language is a medium of expression for the society. Tsonga also use language to express themselves and in singing songs. According to Kramsch, ‗culture is encoded not only in the semantic structures of a language, but also in its idiomatic expressions that both reflect and direct the way we think. Different languages predispose their speakers to view reality in different ways through the different metaphors they use‘ (1998: 91).
Music represents tradition through ritual performance. Tsonga sing songs that bring them together and remind them of their past in their struggle when they arrived in South Africa. In some of the songs the emphasis is not only on the past but also the present. When they perform these songs they bond spiritually.
Eyerman and Jamison mention that rituals empowered African slaves in the United States to preserve their pride and even celebrate their identity in the circumstances of excessive deprivation. It was through music and dance that they expressed ‗contradictory experiences of sorrow, pain, hope and despair‘
(1998: 36).
Songs and artwork are instruments of disputes and creations of collective identity. When there are social gatherings, people reflect on their past and chant their historical songs. I would like to argue on the statement that I mentioned earlier that people sing songs that bring them together. This is not always the case, because of their past. I will give examples of the two controversial songs sung in South Africa. That is Umshini Wami (my machine gun), which was a solidarity song that was famous during the apartheid regime, which was a crime against humanity, and was sung by the African National Congress–Umkhonto we Sizwe in which President Jacob Zuma was a commander. This song was sung to
achieve a common goal. Umshini Wami is a simple, repetitive chant, which gives a straightforward radical communication. It is the modest song that induces the strongest emotions (Mail and Guardian 23 Dec 2007). Some people feel that the message that this song sends out does not serve the purpose anymore because of the introduction of democracy in 1994.
The other song is a song by Bok Van Blerk, De la Rey. This song is about General De la Rey, one of the strongest generals in the Anglo-Boer War, and is about Afrikaner history. According to Pallo Jordan, the former Minister of Arts and Culture, ‗in any revolution one of the mobilising tools is culture and music … why should we abandon it?‘ (Mail and Guardian 23 Dec 2007), while Jacob Zuma, the State President of South Africa, affirms that De la Rey and Umshini Wami are the songs ‗that celebrate the different communities‘ heritage‘ (Mail and Guardian 23 Dec 2007). What music means can have great consequence in society.
According to Afolayan, ‗music has tremendous potential to reach across the boundaries of race, class, gender, literacy and political convictions‘. Hugh Masekela, as quoted by Afolayan, states: ‗Music is the key. We sing about everything in South Africa, there‘s nothing we don‘t sing about. And when we sing, the boere [Afrikaner masters] listen. It‘s the only time they listen‘ (2004:
257). It was through music that the musicians voiced their desire for freedom and objected to injustice and oppression (ibid.).
Music furthermore exposes ways of identification through which the past can develop into the present. However, Eyerman and Jamison state that ‗the role and place of music needs to be interpreted through a broader framework in which tradition and ritual are understood as a process of identity and identification, as encoded and embodied forms of collective meaning and memory‘ (1998: 44).
Music and song can make the social movement stronger, even if it is not measurable, and can encourage the formulation of powerful social movements.
Song texts are sometimes used ironically as a means of social commentary. The Tsonga also use songs as a way of expressing their inner feelings, as in the case of poetic singing. The Tsonga likewise use music and performance to call upon and to celebrate transformation. The music or performance is used in an attempt
to compensate for the injustices of the past. Political rallies, sporting events, international conferences and a range of public events and rites of passage are all accompanied by music.
The emergent culture of Tsonga music and dance was forged from an oral tradition. The Tsonga traditions emphasise singing and dancing, because song and movement are used as a way of communication and are inseparable. For this purpose the dance uses iconic gestures, mime, props, masks, costumes, body painting, and other visual devices. Some dance movements may be simple, stressing the upper body, torso, or feet, e.g xibelani; while others are complex, involving coordination of different body parts and strenuous movements, for example the xincayincayi dance.
The dances are communal, or may be activities in which one, two, three, or four individuals (regardless of gender) take turns in the dancing ring. They use dance as a transmitter of culture, identity and history. Team dances also occur, especially in xibelani dance. Unlike the Venda traditional dances that are anticlockwise, the Tsonga dances may be linear, circular, serpentine, or in columns of two or more rows. Supplementing the drums, leg and hand rattles are used. The leg rattles (marhonge) are tied on the lower leg. The sound is produced when the dancers move around. Afolayan states that Tsonga stick rattles (mafowa) are used by the ‗convalescent for protection from the perspiration emitted by those who have had sexual relations as considered inimical to quick recovery‘ (2004: 242)
According to Johnston, in ‗Tsonga dancing, not only are particular rhythmic patterns mandatory for certain social and musical functions, but the type of drum is mandatory‘ (1971: 483). In xichayachaya, xigubu is used and in initiation rites for women, ndzhumba (a conical drum) is used. This drum is also used in Venda women‘s initiation and is called murumba (Blacking, 1957).
Macdonald and Hargreaves (2002: 155) perceive dance as crucial in cementing
‗ethnically specific gender roles‘ within the community.
The Tsonga, like other ethnic groups, have different kinds of work songs, songs for rites of passage such as childbirth, dirges, marriage, etc. They also have
music to ward off evil spirits and to pay respects to good spirits, the dead and the ancestors. This performance is organized by the traditional healer. None of this is performed outside its intended social context and much of it is associated with a particular dance.
Performances are usually long and mostly the audience also takes part in the performance. As performers, Tsonga people take into consideration their appearance, attire and instruments; they need to entertain the audience. The attire furthermore maintains a traditional expression or appearance. They dress in costumes that are suitable for the type of performance.
Having discussed the sociological and anthropological background of the Tsonga in this chapter, in the following chapter I will provide the background of Musisinyani, the founder of the Caravan Traditional Dance Group.