Page 34 - 2020 SoM Journal Vol 73 No 1 FINAL_Neat

26 The Society of Malawi Journal

Chirwa, let's march!
Kanyama, let's march!
Let's march forward in one spirit!

Tapping into the asilikali martial spirit, those lyrics actually became what
23
historian Wiseman Chirwa describes as “an anthem of the nationalist struggle.”
The asilikali practice of freelancing lyrics to reflect their contemporary
perceptions of trouble also crept into other popular formats, both traditional and
explicitly syncretic. Among the Tumbuka and Tonga peoples in the 1960s, for
example, lyrical exhortations of Vimbuza dance performances—intended to
promote healing of acute social tensions requiring a public intervention—the Sole
tradition offered sanction for complaint. One such instance, expressing the
feelings of a troubled wife, and specifically addressed to a “rebel husband,” is
recorded by sociologist Alifeyo Chilivumbo:

Why have you rebelled?
Is it because you have married another wife?
If so then I am bidding your farewell.
But the time will come
When the graces of your other wife will have gone
And that will be the time
When you will remember me.
24

Similar performances, influenced by asilikali “Sole”-style expression, were not
uncommon across a broad swathe of northern and central Malawi after the Second
World War.
During that same era, similar transference of the Sole lyrical form was
also reprised in syncretic malipenga dance songs which by 1960 were being used
25
in support of the Malawi Congress Party’s drive for independence. One such
lyric, also heard in the northern reaches of the country where MCP recruitment
efforts initially lagged behind those in central and southern districts, addressed a
common complaint:

Let us pray to Chiuta [God]
You chiefs have spoilt our country
Your chieftaincy has led you to corruption

23 Song recorded by Wiseman C. Chirwa, “Dancing Toward Dictatorship:
Political Songs and Popular Culture in Malawi,” Nordic Journal of African
Studies 10, 1(2001): 6.
24 Song recorded by A. B. Chilivumbo. “Vimbuzo or Mashawe: A Mystic
Therapy,” African Music 5, 2(1972): 8.
25 John McCracken, “Democracy and Nationalism in Historical Perspective: The
Case of Malawi,” African Affairs, 97(1998): 241.