Chikuni Tonga Music
Concert – Pride of A Tonga
by Mazuba Mwiinga
We all have where we come from –
that’s to mean our ‘roots’. We may have been born and bred in cosmopolitan or
urban areas, but our lineage still dates back some place in a rural setting
where family units were looked into collectively and not as individual
entities. In these communities, family ties were co-existent in numerous ways –
among them were cultural practices that defined their lives. It’s from these
practices that one was able to identify someone as coming from some certain
place from these practices symbolized life itself in the way they valued it.
The Tonga people of southern
Province are no different from such norms. Since time immemorial the Tonga
people have been practicing various cultural activities that anchored their
identity. Among these, was and to some extent today still is the musical
concerts; famously known as NKOSAADI. In the past, NKOSAADI were musical competitions
held at night in bright moonlight by village folks from different villages in a
Chiefdom. Usually these competitions were done after harvesting time in hot
season. They were so popular because beautiful young girls who have come of age
were the center of attractions during such occasions but most significantly the
events stood as peace-marker parties of any coercion or inter village squabbles
that may have occurred during the farming season. There were no winners or
losers, but the villagers came together to feast and merry-make. These events
were usually for youths though curious adults would found themselves attending
too. Return ‘matches’ often times occurred just as a matter of making each
active village be part of the peace-marking extravaganza.
The coming of education at the
center of the Tonga people, spoiled the intertwined fiber of these events because
the pioneers of western education into the Tonga land just as elsewhere
regarded such events as barbaric and a sheer waste of time and energy. And by
time, boys and girls found themselves peering at books under paraffin lamps at
night struggling to learn the whiteman’s syntax; yet laughably ironically
during school extra-curricular activities, the same boys and girls would learn
‘skipping, jumping, playing soccer, running and even drama which included
dancing and singing –only that they learnt new songs and dances so strange to
their lives and culture; for they were in the Queen’s language. Gradually their
own cultural dances and dramas were sinking as Shakespeare’s English plays were
taking over. The Tongas were not just being culturally and resourcefully
colonized, but were also mentally being re-booted and this was a sad time for
their tradition.
Luckily enough, before the cow
could insult the bull for lack of prowess; as many Tonga clansmen and women
began to get educated they realized the danger they were in so they turned
around; used their education influence to advance their cultural heritage and
resorted to writing books in Tonga and revived the NKOSAADI this time in their
drama lessons and formed cultural groups and dancing troupes in the manner
their grandmothers would have loved to see. The Tonga land was back with a big
bang. But even then, these were just
pockets of events that started and ended in the school time table activities.
At home the Tonga girl and boy’s talent still remained latent and inactive.
To rejuvenate it, just like the
Tonga proverb, “Kazyula Nkumba Muyoba” the wise tag for Chikuni Radio, speaks
for itself, the year 2000 saw a glaring ‘para-trooper’ of villagers converge at
Chikuni Parish to showcase what had always been burning inside their hearts for
as long a time ago as they could remember – music in all forms and statures.
One would not need an explanation as to why all these years such marvelous and
heart breaking skills and talents were just wasting at home when it could have
been earning someone a living or putting a smile on someone roaming with lost
thoughts. Since then, this annual gathering emerged as the first, biggest and
best traditional music concert in the nation 14 years in the running. More than
10 once unknown village musical groups have become national emblems, with some
of them getting National award nominations for their prowess in traditional
music; many more have put their music of record, sold thousands of albums hence
bringing in unexpected income into their once impoverished households.
Thousands of spectators each year
gather in Chikuni for 2 days to appreciate and support NKOSAADI which was at
the verge of going back by sea to Buckingham Palace. During this time sponsors
are able to reach directly and indirectly more than 200, 000, 000 people in a
day promoting their products and services through the radio and direct
marketing put together for the event has become national, with tourists from
Europe often attending. Music promoters get the chance to brush shoulders and
speak to potential young musicians, most of who in previous international
musical events have participated and come back home with honors of awards to
write about.
The Chikuni Tonga Music Concert,
is not just a fun fare event for leisure and pleasure, but has shown how
cultural integration and revival is such a cardinal entity in the lives of
local people who value and cherish their roots. It’s an occasion worth
attending for anyone who wants to learn who they are, where they have come from
and cogitate as to where they should be heading to in their lives. It’s a time
of cultural reformation in each person’s individual life, as what are showcased
stands as an open day for a proud Tonga man and woman to boast about.
