Item : Songs of the vhusha and tshikanda initiation schools for girls _18

Title: Songs of the vhusha and tshikanda initiation schools for girls
Collector: Blacking, John
Collection: Venda Music: Recorded Examples by John Blacking [enregistrements accompagnant publication, accès en ligne]
Recording date: Jan. 1, 1957 - Dec. 31, 1958
Access type: full

Location: Province du Limpopo
Population / social group: Venda
Ethnographic context: Songs of the vhusha and tshikanda initiation schools for girls.

a) Muulu, sung with lower lips flapped with the forefinger to warn people that the school is in progress, at Lukau in 1958. See HM, p. 38, Ex. 6. (0:30)

b) Xaxaee! Ri toda mutei (“Haha! We are looking for a novice”), the song by which girls are summoned and taken from their homes to the council hut for instruction, sung at Thengwe in 1958. (0:40)

c) Vhusha, the ritual song of the school, sung at Thengwe in 1958. Note the characteristic rhythm and the khulo style of singing. (2:05)

d) Phetha-tshigele, a song to accompany ndayo dancing, sung at Thengwe in 1958. See HM, p. 40 and illus. following p. 18. See also dzhombo song (12/b). (0:35)

e) Rejoicing on the last night of tshikanda at Lukau in 1957. Sounds of phalaphala horn being blown by women, and also the pembela rhythm on the bass drum. (0:20)

Number	Composition	Vernacular name	Interprets