The natives of British Central Africa . dinary Nyanja. The original text of the last named is this :— Ta iye {?) zi ri kwa Mate-were chinkinnbaleza—Ga da o ho !Ndimana ine, ndimana cha ngombe chikopa tu. The rhythm of the songs is rather indefinite; itresembles that of some sailors chanties— the well-known Rio Grande. They often consist of only afew words, repeated ad infinitum^ with a refrain ofmeaningless syllables, sometimes mere open vowelsounds—as: e, e, e, e, o, o, o, o—wo ya yo ho, etc. Incanoe-songs and the like, time is marked by the beat ofthe paddles, the rise and fall of the wo
The natives of British Central Africa . dinary Nyanja. The original text of the last named is this :— Ta iye {?) zi ri kwa Mate-were chinkinnbaleza—Ga da o ho !Ndimana ine, ndimana cha ngombe chikopa tu. The rhythm of the songs is rather indefinite; itresembles that of some sailors chanties— the well-known Rio Grande. They often consist of only afew words, repeated ad infinitum^ with a refrain ofmeaningless syllables, sometimes mere open vowelsounds—as: e, e, e, e, o, o, o, o—wo ya yo ho, etc. Incanoe-songs and the like, time is marked by the beat ofthe paddles, the rise and fall of the womens pestles,and so on ; at a dance, it is given by the drums. Somesoloist usually leads off with an improvised line, whichis either taken up and sung in chorus, or a response toit is so sung, and the principal performer continues tillhe has exhausted his idea. If the song catches on,it is remembered and repeated, and passes into thecommon stock. Some dances have their recognisedsongs, as Kanonomera e! ef at the Angoni womens. The Dancing-man To face p. 221 LANGUAGE 221 knnju dance, and Leka ululuza inwana hiyc! (Stopwinnowing, child!)—e! el el e!—0! 0! 0! oT at thechaniba dance. Singing, music, and dancing, or other rhythmicaction, are very much mixed up together, as is alwaysthe case in the elementary stages of those arts; anda combination of all three is practised by the itinerantpoet known as the dancing-man. Of his instrument,the chimwenymnwenyu, Mr. Barnes says that per-formers on it are rare and are most welcome guestsin any village. It is a primitive kind of fiddle, withone string and a gourd resonator, played with a bow,which, when made, has its string passed over thestring of the instrument, and so can never be taken man in the illustration, however, appears to beplaying on the limba^ which has six strings strung on apiece of wood across the mouth of a large gourd, and isplayed with both thumbs. The gourd is hung roundwith bits of metal or of she
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectethnology, bookyear19
