Table Of ContentThe Changing Faces of Aawambo Musical Arts
Minette Mans
with Ngoma Research Collective
The Changing Faces of Aawambo
Musical Arts
Basler Afrika Bibliographien 2017
©2017 The author
©2017 Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Basler Afrika Bibliographien
Namibia Resource Centre & Southern Africa Library
Klosterberg 23
PO Box
CH-4051 Basel
Switzerland
www.baslerafrika.ch
All rights reserved.
Efforts were made to trace the copyright holders of illustrations and maps used in this publication. We apolo-
gise for any incomplete or incorrect acknowledgements.
Cover photo: Leg movement component in uudhano
Photographer: Minette Mans
ISBN 978-3-905758-83-2
ISSN 2296-6986
Contents
Preface IX
1 Aawambo People in Namibia: History and Musical Heritage 1
Pre-colonial Kingdoms 4
Encountering the Christian Missionaries 11
The South African Apartheid Era 17
The Armed Struggle for Independence 19
Contemporary Music 22
2 The Work We Do: Performing Daily Lives 24
Oondjambi 29
Omapitifo – Birthing and Naming Songs 30
Ondjupa 33
Uusita – Herding 34
Okwiitanga – Praise Chants 34
3 Praise and Endurance: What Men Value 36
Loneliness Music 37
Hope Music 40
Travelling Music 40
Religious Music 40
Recreational Play 41
Marula Celebrations 42
Songs for Kings 42
Ongovela 44
A Lion Hunt 51
4 New from Old: Women and their Weddings 53
Characteristics 58
Olufuko Dances 63
Musical Instruments 65
Clothing 67
Time and Place 70
Namunganga 70
The Process 72
Modern Ohango 78
5 Moonlight Play: Teaching Old, Developing New 83
Playing 85
Social Circumstance 86
Structure 91
Women’s Moonlight or Entertainment Play 94
6 Myths & Metaphors: the Enduring Magic of Stories 102
Storytellers and Storytelling 103
Stories 105
Stories as Entertainment and Education 105
Stories, Storytelling and Praise Poetry 109
Poetry and Songs during the Struggle 110
Stories for Spirituality, Healing 111
Namunganga and Eenganga 112
7 Urban Oshiwambo Music: Hybrid Realities 121
During the Struggle 122
Music of Today 126
Live Music 128
Kwaito 129
Women in Contemporary Music 131
8 An Aawambo Musical World: a Theoretical Position 133
Musical Categories 134
Repertoires 135
Micro-organisation of Aawambo Sound Practices 137
Aesthetics and Values 140
9 A Collection of Aawambo Songs 144
Abbreviations 162
List of Illustrations 162
Glossary of Performance-related Terms Gathered during Field Research 163
Bibliography 177
Index 182
Acknowledgments
Putting together the information in this book has been a major task over a period of years.
It has, however, not been a path walked alone. From the beginning of the process – the
field research begun in 1999, there have been many people who have contributed time,
information, ideas and music. The author wishes to express sincere appreciation to the
four young people who were interested in writing, researching and further developing
electronic media to disseminate this information, namely Shishani Vranckx, Ismael Sam,
Jacques Nashilongweshipwe Mushaandja, and Trixie Munyama. Each is highly knowl-
edgeable in a different field of performing arts. You brought inspiration and ideals to this
project and shared your ideas and knowledge freely. Thank you. Without you I would
have given up when the going was tough.
To all the informants that guided me, in the north and in Windhoek, my greatest ap-
preciation for your willingness to share and your generosity in welcoming me into your
homes and environment. Thanks therefore for permission to inquire and for information:
King Shikongo Taapopi at Tsandi, Uukwaluudhi; King Japhet Munkundi at Uukwandon-
go of Ongandjera; Chief Oswin Mukulu and wife Mikael Suama of Ombalanhu – also
for allowing us to stay at your home; Andreas Toivo Shikulu, thank you for opening your
home to me; and Jonas Jason, Thomas Ndamesime, Cornelius Angula, Nasser Nelenge,
Sakaria Angula, Muxwangi yaNdakola, Sadraka Hailenge, Erasmus Twakulilwa, Jonah
Katewa, Abraham Haipumbu of Windhoek for your soulful singing of ongovela; Kuku
Monika Abisai and Tatekulu Johannes Andjaba for hospitality and information; Maria
Mbwadha (Malyana Ishitile) of Onaitembu for all your sharing and awesome knowledge;
Teodensia Kashiima, Maliyana Naundjoba, Rosalinde Nambili, Simson Muupopya, Beni-
sia Andowa, Magdalena Aifete, Filipa Angula, Monika Nangolo, Ngenofefa Taanyanda,
Lindivine Tuyeni, Astelia Hifikwa, Evalista Langameni, Maliseline Kalili, Rosalinde Da-
vid for performances in and around Outapi; Saara Andjaba-Lukileni (and Hertha) for
opening your home to us; and sweet children at Omahale – Saara Ndinehafu, Saara Ngi-
fikwa, Fiina Elikan, Veronica Katiti, Rachel Moombola, Martha Endjala, Tuuli Matheus,
Velemina and Albertina Gomes, Rosa-Maria Shikongo for energetic iidhano!
In Ongandjera my gratitude to Ester Tuna of Uukwamatsi for hospitality during our
stay at your home; Vistorina Amukweya and Saarti Lukeniko of Okalili for okayagayaga
playing; Andreas Sheepo, and Helvi Kakola, Vistorina Amukweya, Josephine Amukweya,
Maria Amukweya, Aina Uugwanga, Eunice Thomas, Dinanine Lukeniko, Helena Am-
athila, Cecilia Amwaalwa, Wilhelmina Joseph, Emma Amukweya, and Aine Amukweya
VII
for wonderful dancing at Oshukwa in Ongandjera; Christophine Embula at Okangora;
Riis Shikomba in Uukwandongo, and Viktoria Namhilo of Onandjira for information.
Not forgetting the children Loini, Ananias Angula, Rosalia, Sema, Vaina, Kamati, Esther
and Linia at Uukwamatsi, for their iidhano.
In Uukwaluudhi my sincere thanks to Magano Kakwambi at Olunkulo for time and
information; Stephanus Shau Tjaningwe, Johannes Niingo, Willibard Hango, Simon
Shaanika, Veiko Ishila, Loide Iyambo, Hilka Martin for songs and information.
Thanks to Pastor Jason Amukutuwa at Elim, Uukwambi, for hours spent talking in-
formatively; Mr Chief Ankama, in Oshakati; Josua Shaningwa Oshitayi in Ondangwa,
and last but not least, Idda Makende Shivolo Shitemba and entire family at Ongali for
friendship, hospitality and information (and a wonderful wedding), and to Keiran Mans
for accompanying me and taking pictures.
Of course, the students who assisted in me 1999 and 2000 while receiving train-
ing in field work techniques need to be mentioned for their work, good company and
ideas. Surnames of the young women have probably changed. They were Aina Angombe,
Esther Gabriel, Hertha Lukileni, and Etienne Roux, my son. My old colleague from
many moons ago collected stories up north, funded by the then Department of Mu-
sic at the University of Namibia, so thanks to Betty Hango-Rummukainen, who also
sang me the melody of Nekoto while I jotted it down. At that time, our field research
was co-sponsored by UNAM and the French Department of Cooperation in Namibia
and Emmanuelle Olivier collaborated in the research. Music recordings and some of the
information was gathered by her. Many thanks also to Dr. Petrus Mbenzi, UNAM, for
assisting with the terminology and usage of Oshindonga and other dialects, and especially
the “deep Oshindonga” phrases that younger people were unable to interpret. As always,
Namibians should thank the National Archives of Namibia for information and use of
historic collections. They perform such an important function in the country.
A writer becomes a different, driven, single-minded kind of being while working on
a book. To my family, especially Jan, for always supporting me in another years-long
endeavour to produce this book, my most heartfelt love and thanks. You never doubted I
would finish, even when it seemed highly unlikely!
VIII
Preface
Trying to confine the diversity of a people’s musical practices in one book, even ten, is
a daunting and perhaps even impossible task. As an outsider to that culture, it is even
more difficult to convey the wealth of information of tonal as well as gestural symbolism,
especially through the medium of words. This is, however, the task I undertook when,
due to serious illness, I became afraid that the research I and others had done on the
musical cultures of different Aawambo groups in north and central Namibia would be
lost if the task was not undertaken immediately. More than a decade had passed since
collecting the data and it was not fresh in my mind anymore. For this reason I decided to
approach a few up-and-coming performing artists in Windhoek who were all Oshiwam-
bo-speaking.1 My question to them was – would you be interested in collaborating on a
writing-research project on Namibia’s Aawambo music, dance, and drama traditions, as
well as contemporary, mainly urban, developments? The young people, all professional
teachers or post-graduate students in the broad performing arts field, were enthusiastic.
Thus was the project born.
My second challenging question to each of the four persons was: Why? I knew where
my interest had begun, but where did theirs?
As a child in Tsumeb, Namibia, I disappeared from home one day. It was in the early
1950s and I was about three or four years old when I took off on my red tricycle without
my mother noticing. I apparently trundled about four blocks down to the central donga
(water trickle) that we grandly called “The Jordan River”. It split the town in two sec-
tions on its way to the copper mine and shaft which commanded a position right in the
central business area. Somehow I traversed this area and, not being very noticeable in the
hollow of the rivulet, got past the mine fence in the river and continued out and into
the area where miners gathered. Maybe it was during a tea break? Anyway, many men
were gathered there. Most of these men were there as part of the infamous conscripted
labour system of which I, as a privileged white child, was totally unaware. But I was an
explorer and despite a vague idea that it was not allowed, needed to find my own way of
learning things.
1 There is, in fact, no such language as Oshiwambo. The term is merely a locally coined term for the
related languages spoken by Aandonga, Aakanyama, Aankwambi, Aankwaluudhi, Aambalanhu and
smaller Aawambo groups of people. Only two of these languages have a written form, namely Oshik-
wanyama and Oshindonga. The numerically smaller western tribes speak dialects that relate strongly to
Oshindonga. This has complicated certain terms used in this book, since nobody seems to be quite sure
how to write and spell certain lesser known terms. Mistakes in this regard are the author’s.
IX
