Parade: full circle - back home

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Created: Wednesday, 28 October 2009 08:46

End of September the /Parade/ made it once more and somehow full circle
to where the idea originated from: to the Tonga villages along the
Zambezi river in Zimbabwe. In fact, the way the Tonga Ngoma Buntibe
music uses space was the inspiration and core for the concept of
“Parade” as designed by the late Keith Goddard and Peter Kuthan.

First, on 29th September in Binga at Tonga.Online office at the Binga
library and then the next evening in front of Siachilaba bottlestore,
the video documentary of Parade met great interest and rousing applause
from a packed audience.

In Binga the local stakeholders and authorities recognised the promotion
of Tonga culture abroad and the performance of the joint Tonga ensemble
from both sides of the lake. A lively discussion followed if such
exposure and random music is not diluting the essence of Ngoma Buntibe
as spiritual music. This argument was countered with emphasis on the
fact that Ngoma Buntibe is a dynamic concept which has always served for
community entertainment and leisure too. Another issue coming up was
that of decent and appropriate attire. Again this was seen mainly quite
flexible as to be in accordance with a certain purpose, location and
audience and nothing "authentic" at all.

In Siachilaba, especially with most Simonga members and lots of friends
and families present, the documentary was revoking many pictures and
memories of the long journey to Linz in Austria, the Cultural Capital of
Europe.

Prior to the show the Simonga members sat together with Peter Kuthan and
the Tonga.Online team who facilitated the tour and came up with abundant
stories how fruitful the money earned in Europe was spent back home. It
was not only welcomed as a significant increase in family income but
also as a source for carefully planned investments like cattle, goats, a
plough, a fishing net, household items or school fees.

Even the community benefited by the donation of soccer attire from
Joachim and friends at Heim.Art. The sets were handed over to schools
and teams in the area boosting a fresh drive of sporting exercise and
enthusiasm.

Of course there was reason to celebrate this achievement with another
splendid Ngoma Buntibe performance and lots of Chibuku beer.

Full Report on Linz09 Parade Video Show at Binga Centre by Sengamo Ndlovu & Theo Sianyuka

Twenty-eight stakeholders from the Binga community had the opportunity to watch the video documentary of the Linz2009 Parade.
 
The screening of the video was done at Tonga.Online offices on the 29th September, 2009 starting at 6:00 pm.
 
The Director, Pottar Muzamba gave the opening remarks and welcomed the stakeholders present. Sengamo Ndlovu then gave the background of the rehearsals in Zimbabwe and Zambia in preparation for the Parade and highlighted the benefits of the trip to the Simango and Maliko Group members which included the opportunity of earning money through the selling of some pieces of Tonga basket, Tonga bead work, Tonga earings etc. during their stay in Austria. Peter Kuthan gave the background of the concept of the parade and how it came about.
 
After the video show the attendees were asked for comments on the video and some interesting observations and comments were made.
 
Below are reactions from several Binga stakeholders who were invited to T.O linz09 video show at Tonga.Online office in Binga:
 
Q  L. Mangwende (Lake Navigation Control)
Why is it that there are no youths involved in Buntibe dance...Buntibe is not much exposed because some Zimbabweans are not aware of the dance eg in my home area in Mashonaland people are not aware of it?
 
A It was given to the groups to select their best performers but to also include young people. The final team of the best only had old people which   indicates that the young are not active in this traditional dance. Efforts are underway by Tonga.Online to bring the young onboard as evidenced by the plans to take the young Buntibe Group from Mucheni Primary School to Zambia in August. This plan, however, hit a snag at the last minute. The Mucheni Primary School group is still set to travel to Inyathi, which will be a platform to expose the culture and the young children. Buntibe Dance has previously travelled to H.I.F.A in Harare and prior to the trip to Austria there was media coverage on Buntibe in the Print media, an interview on Radio and on Television. There are also plans to take Buntibe to Inxusa Festival in Bulawayo and to HIFA in 2010.
 
Comment1:  
J Chikozho (National Museums & Monuments)
Simonga/Maliko represented the culture of BaTonga people of both sides of the mighty river Zambezi. The two in one group also represented Zimbabwe and Zambia  well in Europe.  The group was quite aunthentic, the members did not seem to feel out of place like what most people would have expected, they gave a very good presentation of Tonga culture.
 
Comment2: PDC Muleya (local Govt)
From the parade, Batonga people still know their traditional dress as evidenced by the attire in some of the video clips, bits of attire worn in some cases.
 
Question: N Nyathi (ZFTU)
When should Ngoma Buntibe be perfomed. I thought traditionally, Ngoma must be perfomed ONLY at funerals not at social gatherings.
 
Answer : Ngoma Buntibe is performed  at any time and at any occassion as long as there is open ground enough for the performers. It was traditionally  used even when  people got together for a social gathering.
 
Question:Siatala S (Zimbabwe Prison  Services)
Since the group was representing the baTonga people in Europe, from the video our representatives never wore our full attire during the parade even   though they had some bits of traditional attire on them which they mixed with modern dress. WHY?
 
This question brought about some heated debate on the issue of traditional attire. Some people arguing that the full traditional attire had to be worn when going to represent the district anywhere. A sticking point was which traditional attire should be regarded as adequately traditional since the dressing has been dynamic over the years and in some instances people do not have the full traditional attire anymore. Mr Chikozho of BaTonga Museum posed the question If I were to show you photos of the attire in the 1930s, would people take that up and use it now for performances? Due to time limitations, this debate had to be shelved and  Tonga.Online indicated that they are in the process of documenting the Traditional Tonga Attire and make up in light of the disappearing traditional attire in the district. This would help as a record of how the attire was made, how young women used to  make up for future generations to see and how it was made.
 
Comment  
Our cultural group was unique in a sense that it consisted of two groups from two different coutries. This is a clear indication of oneness dispite the man made boundary and the vast amount of water between the two countries due to the building of the Kariba Dam.  Simonga represented BaTonga people of Zimbabwe whereas Maliko represented BaTonga people of Zambia.The parade vehicled the exposure of BaTonga culture globally hence the people of the culture whose artifacts have gone places world wide. I personally want to applaud Simonga and Maliko for representing us (Tonga people) during the great parade as part of Linz 2009. Even though the attire was not fully worn, the ngoma buntibe dance and music was performed in a manner that effectively represented the BaTonga of both sides of the Lake.
 
Peter Kuthan closed the session by thanking the audience for coming and for their contributions by passing comments on the video and the Parade at Linz09.