Ngoma: Swahili Adult Song Performance in Context

Abstract

T he large cultural group known as the Swahili live on the coast of East Africa. The study presented here focuses on the northern and middle Swahili living north of the Tana river on the coast and on the islands of the Lamu archipelago and those living south of the Sabaki in the towns of Malindi, Mombasa, and Vumba. In general, the people encompassed by the term Swahili are coastal, Islamic, and share a set of values, beliefs, traditions, and customs in addition to speaking one of the dialects of the Swahili language. Poetry is said to be the dominant category of literature and the major art form of the Swahili people of the East African coast. Yet, when performed, all Swahili poetic forms are intended to be sung or intoned, and melody is an integral part of Swahili verse. Indeed, one Swahili poet has stated that if it is not possible to sing a poem, it has no (kama shairi haliimbiki, halina maana) (Abedi 1954:vii). Most scholars of Swahili verse, however, have noted with regret their inability to analyze the musical properties of Swahili poetry.' In 1973 Campbell visited Lamu, Kenya (returning in 1976 to visit other areas of the coast as well) to study the musical nature of Swahili poetry in conjunction with her graduate studies. What Campbell found was that wimbo (song) is the most widespread type of sung poetry and that in many cases wimbo (pl. nyimbo) does not follow Swahili rules of rhyme and scansion but is defined by components of performance rather than poetic structure. Further, it became clear that one of the main foci of northern Kenya's coastal Swahili social life is the ngoma. The word ngoma in the Swahili language commonly refers to drum, but it has an extended meaning that encompasses any event in which music plays a part. An ngoma comes closest to what in recent years has been referred to as a happening in English-a group event in which song, dance, and musical accompaniment commonly take place. The most usual setting for ngoma is the harusi (celebration), which is associated with weddings or male circumcision ceremonies. Another ngoma setting is the annual maulidi celebration on the island of Lamu. Maulidi is a week-long celebration of the Prophet's birthday which attracts pilgrims from all over Islamic East Africa. Ngoma are closely linked both in song-context and dance-form to Swahili social structure, particularly insofar as they involve the reaffirmation of appropriate sex-role behavior, status, and values. The male line-dance formations and the