The Sunday Mail
Pathisa Nyathi
While on a recent trip to Harare we visited Albert Chimedza’s Mbira Centre. We later learnt that in Harare, there was some spirited and intellectually flexing debate regarding the musical instrument’s sacredness. The resulting controversies were rather fascinating with some apparently based on false notions about science and technology in relation to African spirituality and ideas concerning sacredness and holiness.
Essentially, the thrust of the argument by some people is that the mbira, an ubiquitous traditional musical instrument, is sacred and should be confined to the realm of the sacred in terms of the manufacturing processes and usages.
There is however some counter argument that the musical instrument is secular and should be manufactured just like any other gadget in line with industrial production processes. The mbira, so goes the argument, is first and foremost a secular instrument that can and should be taught in schools alongside other musical instruments from various cultures.
School children belonging to other religious faiths should not feel subjected to a musical instrument that is seen as belonging to the African spiritual realm. We shall pursue, in subsequent articles, the pitfall of lending a spiritual dimension to the mbira and the attendant implications for its sustainability. We shall argue strongly that the basis of some of the arguments being advanced is founded on wrong assumptions and perceptions of African spirituality. Some people see the African spiritual realm as a never-changing phenomenon, and one that is characterised by extreme conservatism. In other words, their ideas never see dynamism within the African spiritual realm.
For the purposes of this article we are going to argue that sacredness and its related concept of holiness are spiritual and or social constructs. There are no items that are by their very nature sacred or holy. It is being argued that there are natural phenomena that lend themselves to easy conferment of sacred or holy attributes. These include, inter alia, big forests or individual trees of immense measure or uniqueness, mountains and caves in mountains and pools of water. What emerges from an observation of these is that there is some unique quality within the chosen natural object or landscape.
What is critically important to appreciate is that sacredness does not dwell in these objects. Rather, it is a human idea and sacredness that must be infused into an item or object. Sacredness, it is being argued, is conferred on an item or object. Where natural phenomena are concerned, association with an iconic or legendary or spiritual figure lends holiness or sacredness to an object or item.
Sacredness or holiness is thus sustained by or stands on the pillars of a community’s spiritual beliefs, values, cosmologies and worldviews. For as long as this set of ideas subsist, the item or object retains its sacredness. We do know that ideas are never cast in stone. They change over time, sometimes as a result of internal processes or as a result of importation of foreign ideas.
What this implies therefore is that sacredness is a shifting idea, which on longer term, is in a state of constant flux. When the value and spiritual pillars supporting the sacredness of an item wobble and crumble, they do so with the sacredness that they were supporting. Things will certainly fall apart when ideas, perceptions and conceptions change.
The mbira belongs to the category of cultural items, and more specifically the musical items. Even on this front, the item was first and foremost a secular item that was infused, in special circumstances that embraced certain rituals, for it to assume a sacred character.
We have observed over the years the functional or utilitarian character of African societies. With regard to the mbira for example, the instrument became a musical accompaniment during dances that had a functional purpose. Africa dances for a purpose. Survival was such an important consideration that the people would ill-afford to engage in idle pursuits when food and hence sustenance were not guaranteed. Continuity and survival of the family and hence the species was critically important.
The mbira was as an artifact and bearer of art. It is very clear that the mbiras of yesteryear, in particular before colonisation, were exquisitely decorated. The scope and finesse have been on a steady decline since then. It is not surprising at all these days to find a mbira musical instrument without any aesthetic embellishments. The motif and designs that were executed on the resonator were in consonant with universal African aesthetic qualities or attributes.
Utilitarian and secular objects belong in the first instance to the secular domain. Later, on account of their beauty and functionality, migrate to the spiritual realm whereupon they are conferred with sacredness and holiness. Some may argue that there are items of a cultural nature, that during and immediately after manufacturing acquire sacredness. Here it is a question of time frame. There will inevitably be a time lapse between manufacturing and conferment of sacredness.
Objects and items migrate from the secular realm to enter the sacred realm. In different situations the time lapse varies widely. Ritual processes attend to the migration to and acquisition of a new status — that of sacredness. It is at this stage when the community has accepted and acknowledged the conferred sacred status that reverence is accordingly effortlessly given.
There is a dangerous misconception to isolate African culture from science. The net effect of this misplaced and unfortunate notion is that African culture is then perceived as backward and unscientific. Nothing could be further from the truth. The mbira is testimony to this. The musical instrument could not have been conceived in its known form before knowledge of iron smelting and working was acquired. The gourd resonator must be cut neatly and that is achieved through the use of a sharp metallic object, usually sharpened iron.
Equally, the wooden base to which the metallic keys are fastened needs shaping-with a metallic instrument. Finally, the metallic keys are making use of iron which has the attributes of malleability and tensility.
Both science and technology are very much present in the manufacturing of the mbira instrument.
And yet African spirituality predates the invention of iron smelting and iron working. Here lies the misconception about African spirituality: that it is unscientific and rooted in primitive production. The ancestors are conservative and do not embrace change. A close look at the mbira will reveal the falsity of this notion. African spirituality is characterised by a very high sense of dynamism. All that Africa needs to be alert to is the essence of Christianity as distinct from Western culture that provided the cultural context for Christianity.
It is to this dynamic nature of African spirituality as it pertains to the mbira that we shall turn in the next article as we further unpack the controversy relating to the manufacture and use of the popularising mbira musical instrument within communities that have embraced it.
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The writer, Phathisa Nyathi, is a published poet, playwright, historian and biographer who has worked in education and public relations but is now largely known as a cultural and historical consultant.
