Dances across the boundary: Banande and Bakonzo in the twentieth century

Abstract

Banande and Bakonzo, in the Rwenzori area, have a similar language and a similar music. They consider themselves as descents from the Baiyra, who lived in the western part of Uganda in pre-colonial times. At the end of the nineteenth century the colonial boundaries between the British Protectorate of Uganda and the Belgian Congo divided the Banande (Congolese) from the Bakonzo (Ugandan). This article focuses on their dances. Comparing data from field research done among both Banande and Bakonzo, it underlines similarities and differences in repertoire and style. An important group of ritual dances, linked to the cycle of life (birth, circumcision, funeral), is still shared by the two populations, while others are not. Some historical factors are important in the persistence or the absence of dances linked to the pre-colonial possession cult, Kubandwa. Internal factors were also an important element in the evolution of dances connected with political power. Post-colonial national educational politics have also played their part in promoting specific dances rather than others. In many cases the variance in choreography, motives, styles and body attitudes are consequences of the recent uncommon and unshared history of creativity and artistic influences, which the Banande and Bakonzo experienced during the last century.

Keywords:

• Banande
• Bakonzo
• cultural boundaries
• music
• dance
• dance and history
• dance and identity

Notes

1. Definition in Amselle, Mestizo Logics, 1.

2. Blacking, A Commonsense View of all Music, 60.

3. Sachs, Eine Weltgeschichte des Tanzes, 21 (Italian edition).

4. See Hanna, To Dance is Human and Peterson Royce, Anthropology of Dance, for the anthropological approach; and Thomas, Dance, Modernity and Culture, for the sociological. We should also remember an aspect of dance that will not be tackled in this essay: the codification of gestures makes dance one of the possible therapeutic paths for confronting psychic disorders. Its use is well established in many traditional therapeutic practices throughout the world, including Africa, through dance therapy. There is also a reference in Lowen, The Language of the Body, with regard to how schizoid patients seek a response to their personality disorders in the rules of movement imposed by dance.

5. Green, “Traditional Dance,” 14.

6. For a (post-colonial) aesthetic perspective in approaching the history of African dance and its Afro-American offshoots, see Welch-Asante, ed., African Dance.

7. Mashauri, Organisation étatique des Yira. For a recent synthesis of the historiographical hypotheses, see Pennacini, Alle falde del Ruwenzori.

8. The first catholic parish priest in Nsenyi was Fr. John Balyghugha. Fr. Balinande (historian and musician), interview, Kasese, August 2007.

9. Fr. Cyriaco Toxton Ajiga, parish priest in Ibanda (Kasese District, Uganda), interview, August 2007.

10. Czekanowski, Carnet de route au coeur de l'Afrique, 154.

11. “In their tales, became a true paradise.” Czekanowski, Carnet de route au coeur de l'Afrique, 154.

12. Kambale Wilson (head of the Kasese school district, Uganda), interview, August 2007.

13. The perceived need for a monarchy to be recognised intensified after the government of Uganda decided, in 1993, to reinstate the ancient kingdoms, attributing to them even some prerogatives regarding the administration of the territory and, above all, the management of their cultural heritage. The kingdoms recognised were the three main ones: Ganda, Nyoro and Toro. For information on the Rwenzururu Movement rebellion, see Stacey, Tribe, and Cooke and Doornbos, “Rwenzururu Protest Songs.”

14. Charles Mumbere was in exile for many years in the USA.

15. Katya Aganatya, interview, August 2007.

16. The term indicates the highest age bracket for a woman. We could link it to the period of a woman's life in which she is no longer fertile. Generally, older women, who are respected for their experience, are granted prerogatives that are not usual for women, such as the use of musical instruments.

17. The text and comment on these songs can be found in Pennacini, “Danze nande.”

18. They are Elisabeth Mambo, the women of the association, IbandarRural Women for Sustainable Development, and those of the Maliba Cultural Group.

19. The olusumba, practised in Uganda by the Bakonzo and Bamba, is not found among the neighbouring populations and, therefore, makes the Bakonzo a sort of special case in the area of West Uganda, together with other cultural traits such as the language and non-pentatonic musical scales.

20. Arom, Polyphonies et polyrythmies.

21. Consider the fact that in the areas inhabited by the Banande in the 1980s, there was no electricity, few people had a radio and, in the villages and small towns, nobody had television. The situation of the present-day Bakonzo is very different: they use cell phones and do not lack knowledge of the computer and internet.

22. With regard to these rituals, see the testimony of Bergmans, Nova et vetera, and the reconstructions by Remotti, Etnografia Nande I.

23. On court music in the largest Ugandan kingdom, that of the Baganda, see the recent work by Kubik, “Nuove ricerche sul campo nel regno del Buganda.”

24. See also Facci and Nannyonga-Tamusuza, “Continuity and Change in Bakonzo Music.”

25. Mbabazi, “Kikibi Dance.”

26. Waswandi, Le Munde.

27. Elders in the village of Magerie (North-Kivu), interviews, July 1988.

28. “Some Christians, way out in the tropical forest, those who live on the borders of the territory towards Lake Edward, arrive here after several days of walking the day before Christmas Eve. They stay here and there with their friends, and on their arrival, those who are able to receive the sacraments, confess and receive Holy Communion: Not all are able – unfortunately! – to receive the Sacraments. Down there, far from the succour of missionaries who can visit them only two or three times a year, mingling with the pagan masses, they return to their sickening polygamy,” drawn from (anonymous) “Echos de Béni,” L'Afrique Ardente 4 (1932) (my translation from the French).

29. Sister Relindes, interview, August 2007.

30. On the Konzo endara and its symbolic values, see Crupi, “The Role and Functions of the Endara Xylophone.”

31. On the value of the endara as an instrument of identity for the Banande, see Facci, “I Nande e la loro musica.”

32. Sitone, “L'Assomption au Congo (1929–1967).”

33. The influence of Christian churches has been deep and far reaching in Africa, operating by means of prohibitions, the introduction of new repertories and styles (such as certain models of choral singing and instruments like the organ), and enculturation processes which gradually changed the functions of dances and musical instruments, emptying them of their previous symbolic values. Regarding the dances and percussion instruments which are so widespread in Africa, there have been numerous and varied reactions over time. After the Second Vatican Council, there was a period when they were gradually incorporated into the liturgy itself. See also Agawu, “Effetti del colonialismo sulla musica africana.”

34. Danze Nande, film by Cecilia Pennacini and Serena Facci Archivio Storico per la Resisterza, 1989. Walina Davis, Gedeon Nzwenge; Savi Balikenga, Matsuza Kabughu, Zebia Masika, Muhasa Andiriya (of the Maliba Cultural Group); Zedekiya Lhulhanda, Mihandiko John Bosco, Margrate Ithungu Kilhamira, Masika Flora, Kabugho Alice (from Kisamba), interviews, August 2007.

35. Gedeon Nzwenge, interview, August 2007.

36. See also Nannyonga-Tamusuza, “Competitions in School Festivals.”

37. Regarding African-American slavery, see Malone, Steppin’ on the Blues.