ENGLISH DEPARTMENT RESEARCH SEMINAR SERIES

You are all invited to the English Department Research Seminar as follows:

      Date:           Thursday, 28th September 2017

      Venue:         Language Lab (Room M)

      Time:           3-4 pm

      Speaker:       Andrew Nyirenda

      Topic:            “Songs of Witchcraft: Vimbuza and Chipangano Spirituals and Gospels"

Abstract

Religious songs and poetry have varying conventions, content and function in different cultures. The religiosity of the songs can be seen through the content, the performers and occasions of performance being deemed generally religious.This paper focuses on the songs that are sung in the Chipangano church and at the Vimbuza spirit possession dances. It analyses subject matter, their rich imagery and how this music shapes and reshapes the society. The Chipangano(Christian) church songs and the Vimbuza (spirit possession) dance songs share the same subject matter. They both have the call-response pattern in their form. I argue, in this paper, that these songs which are very rich in imagery carry on their back a description and critique of a society infested with evil resulting from witchcraft and a people’s loss of morality and further reflect  the desire to reshape such a society through social recollection.