Showing posts with label uyezwa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label uyezwa. Show all posts

Saturday, October 9, 2010

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SONGS OF IZANUSI (DIVINERS)

  • Saturday, October 9, 2010
  • Samuel Albert
  • From: Songs of the Ngoni People by Margaret Read 1937


    When trouble or sickness attacked the Ngoni their first act was go to the isanusi and ask him to divine for them the cause of the trouble. There were several grades of izanusi, from those in " private practice " to those consulted by the chiefs in big state affairs and in time of war.

    The first of these songs is an initiation song of an isanusi. The second refers to a very old prophecy among the Ngoni that their final downfall would " by way of the sea," and which they interpreted as the coming of the Europeans. The next two songs (3 and 4) are those of a famous isanusi called Manyonkolo Camango, and the second one reflects the general despair at his death. The last two (5 and 6) I took from an old isanusi who still practises his art.

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