Upholding Tonga culture through dance, song

THE Tonga tradition and culture is a mixture of mystic and intrigue as one looks at it from afar.

The language barrier for most Zimbabweans makes the culture most interesting, as they are curious to know what the Tonga people will be saying.

In the mainstream people are used to seeing dances like isitshikitsha, muchongoyo, jerusarema, or ingquzu. When one gets to Binga and sees dances such as chilimba, malimbwina and siampukutu mpukuti one wonders about how diverse culture is in Zimbabwe.

All these dances are performed by people holding hand rattles (hosho or amahoso) blowing whistles and dancers put on beads on their heads, necks and waist.

Saturday Leisure last week visited Manjolo in Binga District and found a group called Nchalilayi Lubu Culture Group. The group has taken it upon themselves to become the torch bearers of upholding Tonga culture through song and dance.

The 18 member group, which comprises the elderly and youths, was established in 2010 with the aim to showcase Tonga dances and culture to the people.

As the Government introduced the teaching of Tonga for Form Two pupils last year, the group decided to take the chance to be involved in the preservation of Tonga culture through song and dance.

Saturday Leisure caught up with the leader of the group from Lubu Village, Mudimba Mackson, who said the group's name motivates them to continue preserving the Tonga culture.

He said as a community they wanted to teach youths their own culture instead of the ones that they have adopted.

"We have been performing dances from other people's cultures, shunning ours. So we decided to be proud of our culture and uplift it. The group is called Nchalilayi which means 'we have been left behind'," said Mackson who is also the ward councillor for Ward 11 Lubu.

The dances that the group showcased were chilimba, Malimbwina and Siampukutu mpukuti. The most interesting dance is Siampukutu mpukuti which is the courtship dance.

It comprises three logs, of which two are put parallel to each other and the other which goes across the two is held by two of the group members on each end. As the group sings, those holding the log tap the logs that are parallel, in sync with the lead drum.

As this happens women and men take turns to dance in between the logs. According to Mackson when a young man sees that a girl he likes is in between the logs, the young man joins her. If the girl continues to dance with him, that means she likes him too and they can continue their courtship until marriage.

Mackson, who is also a poet, said it was sad that these days older members of society, especially men, were not being good examples to the youth.

"I penned a poem titled Ziyakabinga belene, which basically means that there are too many orphans in society because of HIV/Aids. Adults are not being exemplary to the youth," said Mackson.

He bemoaned the manner in which older men were looking for younger women. He said  it was not surprising that HIV and Aids had caused so much harm especially to children.

"Older men want young girls and I have a saying for this, Mulavu wakakala chikala. This means the 'lion now waits for its prey by the well'. This behaviour must stop as it is destroying our youth especially young girls and spreading HIV/Aids," said Mackson.

The other dances such as Chilimba were  done in celebration of a bumper harvest. Malimbwina, also called "Zesa", is a dance done by the youth when they are together.

Binga has the potential of being a good tourist attraction and the cultural groups in the area have the prospect to be the main attractions.