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This article was downloaded by: [University of Windsor]On: 12 November 2014, At: 18:57Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registeredoffice: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Muziki: Journal of Music Research inAfricaPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rmuz20
The function of songs in the Shonaritual-myth of Kurova GuvaMaurice T. Vambe aa Department of English Studies , University of South AfricaPublished online: 03 Sep 2009.
To cite this article: Maurice T. Vambe (2009) The function of songs in the Shona ritual-myth ofKurova Guva , Muziki: Journal of Music Research in Africa, 6:1, 112-119
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18125980903037393
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The function of songs in the Shona ritual-myth of Kurova Guva
Maurice T. VambeDepartment of English Studies University of South [email protected]
Abstract
This article aims to discuss the contradictory principle that informs various functions of songs in the ritual-myth of Kurova Guva among the Shona of Zimbabwe. The discussion of this ritual-myth will focus on selected songs that are sung during the ritual-myth of Kurova Guva. While the Shona are not perceived as a group with homogeneous cultural values, there is general agreement that Kurova Guva is a distinct Shona cultural rite of passage. It will be argued that the ritual-myth of Kurova Guva rests on the acceptance that someone physically dies. However, the physical death of the flesh is not the ultimate terminus of ‘human’ life. The Kurova Guva ritual-myth ceremony reasserts the continued spiritual existence of the dead person by seeking to bring that person back into the community of ancestral spirits that are recognised by the dead person’s surviving family members. During Kurova Guva, which usually takes place on Friday and Saturday, popular songs and drumming constitute the medium through with the ritual-myth of bringing home the spirit of the ‘dead’ is carried out.
Key words: Kurova Guva, ritual-myth, popular songs and drumming, subversion of death and spiritual re-integration
IntroductionThe songs of the Shona of Zimbabwe have long since been discussed as a carrier of social news and political commentary (Kahari 1981, 113). However, it is in contexts of the performance of rites of passage that songs can reveal their subterranean energies to carry the freight of a people’s culture. In ritualistic contexts, songs not only carry the content of ritual-myths, but become mythopoetic narratives naming realities in very subtle and complex ways. In African performance genres, distinctions between one form and another are difficult to achieve with any precision. In fact what gives oral genres their potency is their intertextuality. Thus, a ritual can be said to be a cultural practice performed in more or less the same fashion, time and again, in similar contexts. Still, each new re-enactment of the ritual will introduce new elements to the drama, so that the description of a ritual as a static custom is in fact subverted when new materials and meanings are the outcomes of ritual performances.
6 (1) 2009pp. 112–119
© Unisa PressISSN (Print) 1812-5980ISSN (Online) 1753-593xDOI: 10.1080/18125980903037393
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113The function of songs in the Shona ritual-myth of Kurova Guva
Okpewho (1983) separates myths from rituals. A myth is not simply a story; it is ‘that quality of fancy which informs the creative or configurative powers of the human mind in varying degrees of intensity (1983, 69). It is a story, but also the way the story is told. On the other hand, a ritual designates the actual practice of beliefs. Rituals and myths are, therefore, causally connected (Okpewho 1983, 52). Myths give a community a sense of solidarity (Mbitu and Prime, 1997), and can entrench an existing social order. There are myths of origin, explaining the origins of social phenomenon; there are also myths of return in which the possibility of ultimate death is always deferred.
However, the instabilities within myths of return are that the community can choose which stories to retrieve, what aspects of the story to remember and forget. Thus, mythic imagination is fractured even when it purports to represent collective frames of minds. Kurova Guva is one such ritual-mythopoetic narrative in which the acknowledgement of the actual physical death of a human being is countered by a celebration of the return of the spirit of that human being. This double identity of Kurova Guva worried the Christian church in Zimbabwe in ways that forced the church to work towards do-mesticating it; Kurova Guva was ‘christianed’ to ‘kuchenura munhu’ (Gundani 1998, 216.). It is outside the scope of this article to describe the processes of preparing Kurova Guva that Gundani has so clearly elaborated on. It is the constitutive ritualistic-mythic songs sung at this occasion that are of interest here.
Shona world-view, death and the ritual-myth of the return of the human spiritIn this Shona world-view, the dead are not really dead; the dead are the departed and can return in the form of a spirit when necessary rites of passage are performed. While death is unwelcome in Shona society, death is not necessarily viewed as punishment. The physically dead have only entered spiritually into another world, the spiritual world where human responsibility is extended. Thus, the Shona notion of what is ‘real’ includes the tangible world of material things and the spiritual world of ancestors who are believed to intervene in human social struggles for good or for worse. This understanding of the Shona world-view is important in appreciating the way the Shona communicate with their ancestors during the Kurova Guva or ‘welcoming the spirit of the dead’ ceremony.
Songs of Kurova GuvaWhen a Shona man or woman who has had a family and children dies, his/her spirit has to wait for a period of up to a year before it is brought home. This period of a year enables rains to ‘cool’ the spirit of the dead because among the Shona the spirit of the dead is viewed with suspicion, uncertainty, confusion and mistrust (Chinyowa 1998, 12; Gundani 1998). When the family of the deceased member have consulted an n’a nga and satisfied themselves that no-one has desecrated the grave of the dead, then the family prepares rapoko to brew beer. At this preparation the family speaks to its dead
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member in poetic incantations. There are songs used to re-establish communication between the ‘dead’ and the living. Mentioning the dead person in name by his family is believed to create spiritual connections between the living and the living-dead. Elders will chant poetic renditions such as:
Chiwona Mawuto [Look, you Mawuto]Tinokupira zviyo zvebasa rako [We present to you this mallet for your ceremony]Kuti tisvitse mweya wako [So that your spirit will be cleansed]Tisvitse mweya wako pamusha [We call upon you to come home]Chibatana nemadzitateguru ako [Join hands with your ancestral elders]Chengeta Mhuri yako [Look after all of us]Bvisa minzwa munzira dzino [Remove thorns from the path your childrenfamba vana vako walk] Tichengete kuti zita rako [Guide us so that we will remember you]tirichengetewo
What is stressed in this spiritual communication is the need for the spirit of the deceased to return home from wandering in order to carry on the socio-spiritual responsibili-ties of protecting the health of his/her family. Until the time when the Kurova Guva ceremony is conducted – normally from Friday to Sunday – it is the young men and women who sing to welcome the deceased’s spirit. The youths’ songs are lively and gay; they also are suffused with the mood of the ritual occasion. One of the youths’ songs ‘Gamba Redu’ (‘Or hero’) goes thus:
VaMawu igamba redu [VaMauto is our hero]Zvino yave nguva yeshuhevedza [This is the time to welcome our hero]gamba redu
But for the youth, the celebration of the return of the deceased is also an occasion to extend friendship and even courtship, and some of these end in marriage. Another song by the male/female communicates the desire for youths to marry in the traditional way. In the song ‘Chimhandara Chiye’ (‘That lady’) young men sing thus:
Daidza vatete chimhandara chiye [Aunt, call that girl for me]Ndaakuda kuzoenda [I want to take her away home]
Retrieval of tribal history and communal memory during Kurova GuvaWhile the youths are singing outside the hut, the elders are crammed inside the hut. Drums are beaten. Jingles are shaken. The mbira is played. The first drum beat is ac-companied by the song ‘Kuenda kumaMbire’ (‘Going to Mbireland’):
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Kuenda Mbire vakomana [Going to Mbireland]Ha-a Ho-oKuenda mbire vanababa [Going to Mbireland]Ndakwira mugomo wonditevera [When I climb the mountains, you follow me]Woye-o Woye-oKuenda mbire [Going to the Mbireland]
Mbireland or Guruuswa is the mythical home of all the Shona (Mutswairo 1995). Those who die physically have their spirit transported and travel back into historical time towards this mystical place and unite with MaMbire, the Great Shona patriarch. This song, therefore, sets the community of dancers in the hut on a spiritual journey back to the origins of time. Through the song the community is able to retrieve its past history. History is populated with Departed Shona heroes and heroines and the Shona project themselves as a coherent social group, sometimes against a present defined by fractious contradictions. Once the dancers have ‘returned spiritually’ from Mbireland in the song, they bring with them the spirit which, though still on the outskirts of the home, has yet to be called to participate in his/her and the community’s rebirth. The song that accompanies the return journey is ‘Muberevere’ (‘In the Eaves’):
Chaminuka, Chaminuka, Chaminuka, anga agere muberevere[Chaminuka, Chaminuka is in the Eaves]Nyakoko, Nyakoko, Nyakoko, anga agere muberevereNehanda, Nehanda, Nehanda, anga agere muberevere[Nehanda, Nehanda is in the Eaves]Chimamiro, Chimamiro, Chimamiro, anga agere muberevere[Chimamiro, Chimamiro is in the Eaves][Mawuto, Mawuto is in the Eaves]
Or another song called ‘Ndimambo’ (‘He is king’):
Chaminuka ndimambo [Chaminuka is king]Aye, ndimambo? [I say Chaminuka is king]Shumba inogara yega musango [A lion that stays in the forest alone]VaMawuto ndimambo [VaMawuto is king]Shumba inogara yega musango [The lion that stays in the jungle alone]
Most of the ancestors that are mentioned in the song have national significance. They are tribal heroes whose contribution to the political welfare of the community is ac-knowledged on national days. Those departed whose names are recalled in the songs of Kurova Guva have in the song become immortal and larger than life. They are guardians of the living at the portals of community morality and can sanction the destruction of enemies or allow the people to do certain projects of development that are not deemed to be detrimental to the moral fabric of the community.
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To say this is not to suggest that the Shona are at the mercy of their ancestors. In fact, an elder who dies without children has no cause to be recalled through Kurova Guva; he/she has no one to protect. Shona people are also discriminating of who should become recognised ancestors since those persons who in their lives were cruel, witches and murderers may not be recalled into the community. Further, in the context of western Christianity, some Shona people have abandoned Kurova Guva completely and have embraced a new ancestor, Jesus Christ. It is believed by some Shona that this dereliction of the spirit of the dead invites catastrophies, such as social tension, jealousy, floods and unexplainable deaths in the families.
So, the song ‘Ndimambo’ also acknowledges that Mawuto is now part of the legion of tribal ancestors, like Chaminuka and Nehanda who are the guardians of the Shona. Together with the new ancestor, the spirits of the deceased are incarnated by one member of the surviving people in the community of dancers. This dancer begins to sing like the ancestors who are surprised that the life of its descendant on earth has not changed drastically ever since the deceased departed earth. It does not happen often that during the Kurova Guva ceremony, spirit mediums become possessed, although it is not impossible.
When that happens, however, the spirit medium shows concern for the lives of the living. The possessed ‘homwe’ or medium does show the people how to carry out the minute ritualistic details of the ceremonies. But among the Shona, the spirit that comes out at the Kurova Guva ceremony is not bound to command everybody’s respect be-cause this is not a ‘Bira’. Nevertheless, at the Kurova Guva songs, such as ‘Magarika’, that display the community’s confusion over persistent social illness, convey a sense of community bewilderment and regret that the departed is not physically present to overcome the sources of social discord. The song ‘Vana Vangu’ (‘My children’) bemoans the fact that life is still difficult for those who are living:
Vana vangu [My children]Ndanga ndichiti magarika [I thought you are well-settled]Ndimi munaho huranda [Now, I see you are still slaves to life’s misfortunes]
When the spirit of the deceased is ‘brought home’, what is always hoped for is that it should wield enough strength to overcome the negative social forces that are believed to cause misfortune to the family. These sources of evil which could sometimes be among the dancers are warned that the owner of the homestead has come back to protect his/her family. A song such as ‘Kunatsa Muroyi’ (‘How to Treat a Witch’) is sung to insult those who are bent on testing the powers of the new ancestral spirit using magic incantations and dangerous herbs. People sing against the witch thus:
I have given the witch a cowBut the witch has refusedThe witch says it wants human fleshIt is difficult for me to give the witch my own child.
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Cleansing and bringing the Spirit homeThe actual singing and drumming for Kurova Guva that brings the spirit home is nor-mally done early morning on a Sunday when a procession of the community goes to the grave of the deceased to actually bring back home the spirit of the deceased. As people walk towards the grave of the deceased, they are led by village elders who sing hunting songs such as ‘Nyama Yekugocha’ (‘Meat to Roast’):
Yave nyama yekugocha/It is now meat to roastYowerereYave nyama yekugocha/It is now meat to roastBaya wabaya/Kill indiscriminately.
Like the hunters of old celebrating a successful hunting expedition, the community dancers acknowledge that their ritual has been successful by dancing around the grave thus taking the spirit home. But in order to ‘leave’ the grave, the spirit must finally be appealed to through incantations that include poetry and song, for example:
Tarisai VaMawuto [Look, now Mawuto]Nhasi takudzosa mumusha [Today we have cleansed you]Kubva Musango [Come back home from the wilderness]Chichengeta mhuri yako [Look after your family]Bu! Bu! Bu! [loud clapping of hands]
People will finally disperse after the giving away of the deceased’s wealth.
Kurova Guva as subversion of death in Shona philosophyKurova Guva is what the Shona do when they venerate their dead. The popular songs associated with the ritual communication of Kurova Guva have endured and survived the wear and tear of historical times. Old songs have continued to supply Africans with grammar of spiritual values that are adaptable to new cultural contexts. The songs act as cementing spiritual pillars or boulders to bridge and support meaningful commu-nication between the living and ‘dead’. Through the songs Africans are able to share their grief, joy, pain and the love of human warmth radiated during welcoming their own new ancestor into the rank and file of other family and national spirits. The songs themselves are ritual-mythopoetic narratives that on the one hand acknowledges that a person physically died, and that through incantations the spirit of the departed can be called back into the community. The sense of the subversion of death arises from the community’s understanding that the departed are among the living; that the spirit of a person does not die, that the community’s continuity is guaranteed when the children of the deceased person reproduce.
It should, however, be remembered that the songs analysed here have been wrenched from their live contexts. As words fixed on paper, the songs may lack that vitality associ-
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ated with real live and physical contexts of the Kurova Guva ceremonial performance. In performance, the communicative ability of the songs themselves derive more from and is accentuated by the dances, grimaces, gestures, the ribaldry talk of drunkards, their attire and other numinous sounds made at the occasion that attempt to capture the ritual mood of celebration, ‘mourning’ and ‘welcome’.
Kurova Guva songs are performed at contexts linked to the welcoming of ancestral spirits and these songs have a common philosophical thread running through them. The songs emphasise unity among the Shona. They deplore corrupt elders and seek to empower the weak. By re-emphasising the links between the living and the departed, the songs communicate a continuous stream of the collective consciousness going beyond the world of tangible things. This way, the songs arrive at a metaphysical and yet also ‘real’ or rational explanation of the Shona’s cosmological system. The songs may appear as only addressing the spiritual dimension of the Shona. There is a yearn-ing to recover a world of noble ideals belonging to the past in most of the songs. This gives the songs their conservative impulse. But there is also promise that the present generations ought to emulate their ancestors’ heroic deeds. In this function, the songs point to the future that can only be realized through active engagement with natural and social forces.
It may also appear to a casual observer that the material conditions which nourished the rituals of Kurova Guva have been eroded by the forces of colonialism. But the para-doxical development of capitalism in Zimbabwe enables the simultaneous existence of ‘conflicting’ systems of rationality; one material the other spiritual. The Shona have been able to use both the materialist and spiritual systems of rationality creatively to filter experiences that come to them. Ideas on development are first filtered through the spiritual grid provided by the enduring Shona cultural institutions such as ‘Kurova Guva’. The institutions generate and refract cultural meanings and language idioms which have enabled Africans to reject some forms of modern values while accepting and incorporating others into their socio-moral fabric. The robust nature of Kurova Guva ritual-myth songs, and the somber defiance of the ritual itself to colonial forces of destruction is registered by the bowing down of the Catholic Papacy to the spiritual pressure exerted on Kurova Guva church by the Shona in 1981 (Gundani 1998). The adaptability and endurance of the songs of Kurova Guva also explains why Shona spiritual religion provided to Africans, the grammar of values for both the first and second Chimurenga in Zimbabwe. In Shona cosmology, the dead are not dead; they are the departed, those whose spirits can always be experienced as the living, particularly through the ritual-myth of Kurova Guva.
ConclusionThe aim of this article has been to explore the subversion of death in the Shona ritual-myth of Kurova Guva. The article has established that the Shona believe that a person can die physically, but that death is deprived the power to bewilder the community
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because the community can always remember and relive the life of the departed by way of bringing his/her spirit home. Kurova Guva is a ritual that is conducted through elaborate folk songs which more or less guide the community in following the steps during the process of bringing back home of the spirit of the ‘dead’ in Shona culture. The Shona songs are constitutive of the content of the ritual-myth and the songs facilitate the capturing of moments of sadness and for those participating in the ritual-myth. The songs enable a complex form of religious communication to take place between the Shona and their ancestors. While the songs can reveal meanings that are specifically invoked by words, the overrall gestures, dance, attire, familiar and unfamiliar sounds that characterised the occasion are part of the meanings of Kurova Guva. Since generations of Africans come and go, new tunes are added to the repertoire of the songs. The spirit of the departed cannot die for as long as new songs are available, and for as long as some Shona people continue to respect the ritual-myth of bringing the spirit home.
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Pearce, Vol. 4, No. 3 July–September. Harare.Gundani, P. 1998. The Roman Catholic Church and the Kurova Guva ritual in Zim-
babwe. In Rites of passage in contemporary Africa, (ed.) J. L. Cox, pp.198–223. Cardiff: Cardiff Academic Press.
Kahari, G . 1981. A history of the Shona song. In Zambesia, (ed.) R. S. Roberts, Harare, University of Zimbabwe pp.110–127.
Mbitu, N. and R. Prime. 1997. Essential African mythology. California: Thorsons.Okpewho, I. 1983. Myth in Africa: A study of its aesthetic and cultural relevance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Mutswairo, S., trans. 1995. Feso: An historical novel. Harare: Harper Collins.
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