FTX-814 - KUPURA KUPIKA

African Songs of Work

Songs recorded by Dr. Hugh Tracey 1950-59, covering a wide range of occupations: pounding & grinding, hoeing & threshing, tree-planting & chopping, braying skins & milking goats, training & driving elephants, canoe-launching & paddling, as well as special songs for carrying firewood, Sedan chairs & even for a girl polishing her hut lamps. Most are accompanied only by speech, shouts and clapping, but some like fishing & canoeing make use of drums. Others like milking, originally unaccompanied, are now performed by younger singers with a lyre.

1. KUPURA KUPIKA NA KULDYA NAKUNDEWA (To thresh, to cook) Elmas Nachilwa & group of Tumbuka/ Henga women, Welfare Centre, Mufulira Mine Compound, Zambia, 1957. A girl is being instructed in wifely duties by an older woman - 3'00"

2. CHEYU CHAMUNGANDA (Sweeping the house) Tumbuka men, Bancroft Mine, Zambia, 1957 when it was being used for walking, weddings or for hunting - 2'45"

3. ZAWULA MUTEMBA 14 Lwena men & women (Luvale), Cite Indigene, Lumbumbashi, Elizabethville, Zaire, 1957. A wood- carrying song with bamboo-tongued "chisanzhi" (mbira) resting on a large oil drum with 2 struck sticks, bottle and a small bell providing further accompaniment - 2'57"

4. INDAKURIRA SHUA (I cry for my friend) 2 Tonga girls pounding "munga" (millet) grain with pestle & mortar, Gwembe, Zambesi valley, 1957. Aged about 12, the girls first sieve the seeds, then add water to prevent the powdery meal from dispersing - 1'26"

5. KWEREKWERE MUNGA, KWEREKWERE MUSAMU (Pull, pull the manga tree, pull, pull the rollers) Canoe-launching song by a group of Tonga men, Gwembe 1957. The canoes are not large, only 20- 30 feet, made from the munga tree, a tamarind that grows near the Zambesi river - 1'29"

6. MAYO MULUME WANDI NICHINSELE (Mother, my husband is a good- for-nothing) Edward Shoni with a group of 6 Aushi men, Nchanga Mine Compound, Chingola, Zambia, 1957. Coming back from fishing thec wives complain that their husbands return with a catch and they are so tired of cooking vegetables - 1'18"

7. MAYE MAYE INESIZEMA (Maybe, this is very hard work) Justina Shabangu & group of Swazi girls with 4 men, Usutu Forest, Mbabane, 1958. Tree-planters in, what was described in 1958, as "the largest man-made forest in the World" (about 90,000 acres). This is a hoeing song: "My husband is sick. Fly on, little dove, and you can be plucked further along" - 2'06"

8. SWAHELE Winnowing Song by Gagaza Mavimbela with group of Swazi men and women, Usutu Forest, 1957 - 2'41"

9. WEMITHI MASOGO UYA WUTALA LONJANI (WM is going to have a baby) Group of Swazi men, Pigg's Peak, 1958. This was sung when working with picks on the land before planting - 2'47"

10. CIMBWIWE (The Hyena) Pounding Song by Chewa girls with pestle & mortar, Vidzumo, Kasungu Dist, Malawi, 1958. "The Hyena" cries all night long. Mu-u-u it cried. The husband with many wives failed us today. Nyilonga is sick today, so he says Mu-u-u" - 1'14"

11. KANYALI KANGAKA (My little lamp) Flori Kalindang'oma & chewa girls, Kongwa Mission, Dowa, Malawi, 1958. The girls are cleaning and shining up the hut lanterns - 0'52"

12. MMATI NKONO 'BOY (I want a son) Pounding Song with pestle & mortar by Chewa women, Chadza, Lilongwe Dist, 1958. "She wants a baby, but her husband is not sleeping in her hut, but in that of his other wife. So what can she do to get herself a child ?" - 1'48"

13. A LOMWE TASIYANE (Lomwe, go away) As previous: "Lomwe man, go away from me. Let another come and marry me, especially one who can afford to wear an elastic belt. Let me marry another man who does not have patches on his trousers which break my sewing machine" - 1'23"

14. TENGULISHA (We care for other people's cattle) R. Mzandu with Chewa girls, Vidzumo, Kasungu Dist, Malawi, 1958. Herd- boys are one of Africa's great sources of original song- making. The life of these youngsters is filled with an intimate knowledge of the cattle and their ways, the discomforts of nature and the constant search for food and sweet things. A herd-boys education is second to none at that tender age and the pleasures are never forgotten. They use a well-known proverb concerning their food: "The one who cooks does not eat the food" - 1'18"

15. MOSE DZAKUNO PANG-PA (Mose, come back) M.S. Ngomwa & 5 Mang'anja boys, Port Herald, 1958. Song used by the canoe-men on the Lower Shire River, a large tributary of the Zambezi, as a substitute for drums. It reflects the common anxiety of fishermen everywhere, the fear that the boat and its crew may not return. "Come back and my spirit will be at rest. If you want to go back again, you can go because I see your face. The sun is already high and you paddle slowly like a duck" - 2'39"

16. COKA COKA NATE (Go to Nate) Pounding song by 4 Chewa girls with pestle & mortar, Njolomole, Ncheu Dist, Malawi, 1958. They sing about a man who took his wife home but became tired of asking her to return home, but each time she refused: "I must first have a child. You have not brought me any clothes to go dancing" - 1'03"

17. He, MARASHIA (Hey, Russian) Mamojela Lesojane & large group of Sotho (S) women, Mauteng, Maseru, Basutoland, 1959. "Mantsebo (the Paramount Chief Regent) is a jealous woman. She has taken children away from their parents and given them to the Russians". (The AmaRussia being a notorious gang in the Johannesburg native township using them immorally) - 1'42"

18. KHAJOANE NTSEKE (The Crow) Malebaka Moroke, Upper Qeme, Maseru, Basutoland, 1959. Sotho grinding song: "Crow, go and call my uncle. He should come and see all the work that's being done here" - 1'12"

19. MONGA KOBO BOHLAJANA (The owner of the blanket is wide) Mosinoa Moea & 20 Sotho men. This song was used for braying skins which means stretching and pounding. The cries and shouts include: "Pull this way", "Put more fat in it" and "If they would bring us some more beer, we could finish the job" - 2'47"

20. SELEPE GA SE A JA MESU (The axe on the thorn tree) Ngwaketse men, Kanye, Bangwaketse Reserve, S.Bechuanaland, 1959. This is a wood-chopping song with words that describe the action and imitate the sound - 3'11"

21. TSHETLHA DI KAE (Where are the tawny ones ?) Schoolgirls, Kanya, Bangwaketse, 1959. A threshing song: "Where are the animals standing? They are in the veld" - 1'27"

22. TEBELE YA SILA YA GAILA (The Ndebele girl is grinding and crushing) Group of 40 Tswana/ Lete women, Ramoutsa, Balete Reserve, Bechuanaland Protectorate, 1959 - 3'00"

23. OWE, OWE, MATEBELENG (Owe, Owe, home to te Ndbele) Mapidio Elisabeth Mothulwe & 30 Tswana/ Kgatia women, Saulspoort, Pilansberg Dist., W.Transvaal, S.A., 1959. Hoeing group with drum: "Red locust, to the Ndebele. It does not return. It comes where it had gone to graze. From the grazing to the Ndebele, home, home". Ndebele country is further east, towards Pietersburg, and they were their traditional enemies, likened here to locusts - 2'11"

24. GA A NELWE KOLOBE (Give the pig to no-one) Lentawe & 20 Khatla men, as previous. This song reflects the play of words on the name Kolobe and its literal translation meaning "pig" and the song was formerly popular for pig-hunting - 2'39"

25. MME O LELEKA BAENG (Threshing Song) Levi Modisane & group of Tswana/ Kgatia men & women, Mabe's Kraal, Rustenburg Dist., W.Transvaal, 1959 - 2'05"

26. LETSEMA LA A PHOTA (The group is threshing corn) Boys & girls from Mabe's Community School. "This is Rasensetze's band of threshers, but we don't see him here. We always work our hardest when the men are here. Rasensetze's hair is so thick that he looks like a bird, as we thresh the corn" - 1'35"

27. KGOKONG (If it dies) Mosaila Mokgothu & Hurutshe men, Witleigat, Zeerust Dist., W.Transvaal, S.A., 1959. A hunting song: "If it dies, I'll take the hindquarters, also the ribs" - 1'52"

28. DIYA KILANGO Chair carrying songs: Zegive & Mvu people with harp, likembe, bells & basket rattle, Watsa Dist., N.E.Congo (Zaire), 1952. The sedan chair or "mashila", is locally called "tipoyi". It is used for carrying officials and others who come into this remote area with its few roads - 1'29"

29. MAGI As previous: Njenje & Medje carriers with basket rattle, Medje, Paulis, N.Congo, 1952. They carry their chief Ebandrombi in a chair with light poles and woven cane: "I have taken a wife and she is very happy with me" - 3'18"

30. ADOMBA As previous: "I shall be alone when I lie in the grave". The theme of death is common to songs in this part of the Congo and Uganda. Until recently the Medje had little chance of emerging from the Medje palm forests alive or of enjoying a lonely grave - 2'59"

31. LALALA LISE (Elephant Driver's Songs) Zambo with Zande men, Camp de Nepoko, Andudu (Ituri Forest), Dungu, N.E.Congo, 1952. Songs for riding and driving tamed elephants. This one was used when taking them to water - 1'17"

32. NADINA As previous: this song was used for bringing the elephants back again. Both this and the previous song were learned from Indians early in the century, who impressed upon the Zande the importance of singing to their animals - 1'39"

33. DEKYE As previous. Copied from early archive disc. The men are specially chosen for the dangerous job of training wild elephants in the N.E. corner of the Congo, north of Watsa, near the Sudan border: "A chief's son always wants to become chief himself. Aren't you ashamed to want to take your father's place as chief ?" - 2'52"

34. AYILONGO IOKELE (Canoe paddling songs) Saida Kikongo & Wayenya fishermen, Stanleyville, Congo, 1952. This song, accompanied by a large slit-drum, is the original of the theme song used in the film, "Sanders of the River", in which there were scenes of the Wagenya canoes holding 70 to 100 men above the Stanley Falls - 3'09"

These recordings were made by Dr.Hugh Tracey in the early fifties for The International Library of African Music and are reproduced here with his permission and that of the Library. First published on Folktrax cassettes 1976.