The Culture of the Famous Zulu Tribe of Africa - Essay Example

# 6449 # 6449 March 28th , 2008 AFRICAN TRIBAL DANCES The origins of African tribal dances are lost in antiquity, but are known that the African tribes relied on the dances to a remarkable degree. An integral part of their everyday lives, these dances were used to express both joy and grief, to invoke prosperity and to avoid disaster, as part of religious rituals, and purely as pastimes. There are different research proposals about the history, background and other details about the dances. According to one research criteria, the people who truly dance are those who have never bartered the fierce freedom of their souls, never strangled their hunger for rhythmic movements, nor frustrated their joyous physical response to music and song. Furthermore, when they dance, for them all time stops, the air draws back and the past, the present and the future merge into a single indescribable jewel in eternity. We will discuss about the culture of the famous Zulu tribe of Africa. Zulu is the largest ethnic group of Africa. It has a population of an estimated 10-11 million people, living mainly in the province of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Their language is ‘isiZulu’. It is ‘Bantu language’, more specifically part of the ‘Nguni’ subgroup. Their importance is revealed by the fact that the Zulu Kingdom played a major role in South African History during the 19th and 20th centuries. At one time, Zulu people were classified as the third-class citizens and suffered from state sanctioned discrimination, now they are the most numerous ethnic group among the African tribes and share equal rights among all the other citizens. The Zulu are descendents from a chief from the Congo area. They migrated south in the 16th century, picking up many of the traditions of the San, who also inhabited this South African area. During the 17th and 18th centuries, as a result of the treaties made by many of their most powerful chiefs, the control of the Zulu villages was given to the British. As Zulu had a strong village government systems, so this created much of the conflict and they fought against the British, but could not win because of their small strength. Till 1879, much of the Zulu area was given under the British, but still, the Zulu as a whole decided not to be under British rule, so as a result, war erupted between the British and Zulu. Although the result was in favor of Zulu, as they won the war, but within six months, they were conquered by the British, who exiled the Zulu Kings and divided up the Zulu kingdom. In 1906, another Zulu uprising was lead, continuing their try to gain back what they considered to be their ancient kingdom. Zulu people can be Christians or pure Traditionalist. Regarding their religious concepts, the Zulu believe in a creator god known as ‘Nkulunkulu’, but this god does not have any interest in everyday life, thus have no interaction with humans. In order to interact with the spirits, the Zulu must use divination to interact with the ancestors. They believe that all misfortune is a result of an evil sorcery or offended spirits. They believe that nothing just happens because of the natural causes. The Zulu are particularly divided into half. 50% of them live in cities and are engaged in domestic works. While the rest of the 50% live in farms. Zulu also play an important part in the South African politics. Mangosuthu Buthelezi served a term as one of the Deputy Presidents in the government of national unity which came into power in 1994. Like other African tribes, music, dance and rituals play an important role in Zulu life. They perform major celebrations on occasions like, birth, death and marriage. Not to forget, beginning of a new harvest is also a major festival. One special dance is performed by young men, who are being initiated into the manhood. This dance is accompanied by thunderous drumming; the men dress as warriors, wave their clubs and thrust their cowhide shields forward as a way of proving themselves to the chief. Given below are some of the details of famous Zulu dances: 1. Ingoma (isizingili): This dance is performed by both boys and girls. It is accompanied by a chant and there are no drums. The girls are usually bare-chested and wear woolen skirts. Around the ankles, they wear rattles made up of seedpods. This accents the high kicks. This dance is one of the purist remnants of the Zulu tradition. It is performed for the transition ceremonies such as coming of age, weddings etc. In the past however, it was also performed before a hunt or a battle. For the youth, it instills the transition of sharing experiences through the communal dance. 2. Ingoma (isishameni): This dance is also performed by boys and girls. It is a harmonizing performance, but they dance separately. The boys clap and the girls dance, and vice versa. 3. Indlamu: This is a traditional dance most commonly associated with the Zulu culture. It is derived from the war dances of the warriors. This dance is performed with drums and full traditional attire. This dance is regarded as the ‘touchstone’ of the Zulu identity. For this dance, precise timing and uncompromised posture are required. This dance is performed by men of any age. Their costume includes skin (amabeshu), headrings, ceremonial belts, ankle rattles, shields and weapons like spears. The steps of Indlamu are similar like those of the girls in Ingoma, but it has a much more calculated and less frantic feel. This dance includes the showing of muscular strength, and control of the weapons with mock stabs at imaginary enemies. It is accompanied by various drums and whistles. The dancers are more likely to make an eye contact with the audience. 4. Imvunulo: This dance is different in a way that there is only one participant in it. It shows off the traditional attire of the Zulu tribe. It is a sort of parade. This traditional attire is important because it represents one’s role and position in society. Interesting thing is that, the dress is determined by the age, rank and gender. The thighs are covered only by adults, young ones are not required to do so. Men wear amabeshu. Women wear beaded aprons and leather skirts, which shows that the woman is pregnant, or desires to be pregnant. The beaded aprons that she wears are the ones, presented to her on her wedding day by her father. The colors in the aprons show the area from where the dancer comes from. There should not be any red beads in girl’s beadwork girdles, as they signify the married women. These girdles are called ‘isigege’. 5. Isicathamiya: This dance is performed by men or boys. They stand in a line, or arc. The music is balladic, but use ancient melodies, although the lyrics pertain to modern issues, like aids, crime and migrant labor. The rhythm is provided by the lead singer. The music form shows life in rural Zululand and the townships. This dance has now gotten international fame. 6. Some special wedding songs and dances are called as ‘umBholoho’ and form a ritual to channel mutual antagonism between the families of bride and groom. The families take turns to outdo each other in beautiful dancing and songs. The African dance has long been infiltrated into the other cultures including Europe and North America. The term African dance usually refers to the movements that have come out of the Sub-Saharan or West Africa. Many forms of the African dances showcased today were carried over through European and Asian immigrants. The different dance forms performed throughout Africa include: 1. Warrior dance: These dances have been the essences of both the war and victory. 2. Love dance: It is performed only at special occasions, like wedding and anniversaries. 3. Summoning dance: Still practiced in many traditional religions of Africa. Its purpose is to conjure up a spirit. 4. Welcome dance: It is a show of respect and pleasure to the visitors. ‘Yabara’ is the West African dance of welcome. 5. Rites of Passage and coming of age dances: These are performed to mark the coming of age of young men and women. Dance Purpose Country/Tribe of origin Agwara Courtship Uganda/Alur Akogo Courtship Uganda/Iteso Amaggunju Uganda/Buganda Bakisiimba Celebration Uganda/Buganda Bwola Celebration Uganda/Acholi Ding Ding Uganda/Acholi Ekitaguriro Uganda/Banyankole Ekizino Courtship Uganda/Bakiga Entogoro Courtship Uganda/Bunyoro Gaze Uganda/Lugbara Larakaraka Courtship Uganda/Acholi Mwaga Courtship Uganda/Bagisu Owaro Uganda/Samia-Bugwe Tamenaibuga Friendship Uganda/Basoga There is a large variety of African dances. Some dances typically tell the stories behind them, while others are the dances of special occasions, like those mentioned above. One of the interesting dances in Ghana is the dance called ‘Bamaya’. This dance is about a hungry man, who did not have money to buy food. So, he decided to steal some. Food was generally found where the women were, so he disguised himself as a woman to have an easy access to the market, where he succeeded in stealing a chicken. He was caught and unveiled. In order to remember this event, people created a dance about it, which is performed by men. The men wear skirts and with frills around the wastes, while a woman sings, showing the cry of the woman for help, as her chicken is stolen. Another interesting dance, called as ‘Tchitelela’, depicts the story that the Ewe people, while migrating from Dahomey, to their present homeland in Ghand, were guided by a bird. So, the entire dance drama revolves around the appearance of an eagle. Certain dances are related to certain African cultures. There are many reasons for it. Among many factors, environment also plays a role in specifying a dance. For example, the Masai people of Kenya, East Africa, live in Rift Valley area. So they do not have enough trees and animal hides to make drums. So, instead of drums, they use the oldest African instrument, the human voice, and this specifies their dance. Likewise, all the traditional Nigerian dances can be traced to rituals, history, religion, animals, cults, wars and environment. It is not possible to enlist them all, yet, some of these factors are already discussed above. WORKS CITED 1. “Origins of African American Spiritualism”. April 1st, 2008. http://www.nathanielturner.com/originsafricanamericanspiritualism.htm 2. “Dance History”. April 1st, 2008. http://www.dance4it.com/dancehistory.htm 3. “African Dance: An Artistic, Historical and Philosophical Inquiry”. April 1st, 2008. http://books.google.com/books?hl=ar&lr=&id=nnsWhJGkXo8C&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=african+dance+history&ots=7tNhto3DvF&sig=7_lzkP1jcMe-vhgjLYV9_BqNf_w#PPA25,M1 4. “African People and Culture: Zulu”. April 1st, 2008. http://www.africaguide.com/culture/tribes/zulu.htm 5. “Zulu :Wikipedia”. April 1st, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulu#Zulu_music 6. “Zulu : A traditional South African society”. April 1st, 2008. http://www.donmingo.com/zulupeop.html 7. “Zulu Dance :Zululand Echo Adventure”. April 1st, 2008. http://www.eshowe.com/article/articlestatic/74/1/13/ 8. “History of African Dance”. April 1st, 2008. http://dance.lovetoknow.com/History_of_African_Dance 9. “African Dance”. April 1st, 2008. http://dance.lovetoknow.com/African_Dance 10. “African Dance :Wikipedia”. April 1st, 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_dance Read More