The Ekola is a

friction idiophone Friction idiophones is designation 13 in the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification. These idiophones produce sound by being rubbed either against each other or by means of a non-sounding object. Instruments of this type a ...

of the

Ovambo People The Ovambo people (), also called Aawambo, Ambo, Aawambo (Ndonga, Nghandjera, Kwambi, Kwaluudhi, Kolonghadhi, Mbalantu), or Ovawambo (Kwanyama) the biggest of the Aawambo sub-tribes are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Afric ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. The instrument consists of two to four calabashes, sewn and plastered together in sequence from largest to smallest to form a linked series of resonating chambers. The largest calabash has a hole on its top. A notched palm rib extends over the length of the calabashes. Sound is produced by placing the Ekola on the ground so that the hole in the resonating chamber faces up, and alternately rubbing across the palm rib's notches with one short thick stick and a bundle of several long, thin sticks. In traditional Ovambo societies, only healers of the

Third Gender Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usuall ...

''ovashengi'' were allowed to play it. Ekola

History

For most of its existence, the Ekola seems to have been limited in its use to particular rituals or private formal occasions, so that knowledge of its existence outside of Ovambo culture has been fleeting and intermittent. For example, after Italian missionary Giovanni Cavazzi published a drawing of the instrument in 1694, it was seemingly lost to outsiders until the 1930s when it was rediscovered by Scottish ethnomusicologist Percival Kirby. Having come across a strange instrument in an exhibition in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

, Kirby brought it to his Ovambo associates, who after much persuasion reluctantly identified the instrument and told him its context.

Cultural context

The Ekola was traditionally played in ceremonies, outside of earshot of women, by , an

Ovambo Ovambo may refer to: *Ovambo language *Ovambo people * Ovamboland *Ovambo sparrowhawk The Ovambo or Ovampo sparrowhawk, also known as Hilgert's sparrowhawk, (''Accipiter ovampensis'') is a species of sub-Saharan African bird of prey in the famil ...

term for a gender caste of male homosexuals. Among its ritual uses was to accompany a song initiating men into ''ovashengi'' status, calling them away from their masculine gender role and into a lifelong feminine one. According to

University of Namibia The University of Namibia (UNAM) is a multi-campus public research university in Namibia, as well as the largest university in the country. It was established by an act of Parliament on 31 August 1992. Background UNAM comprises the follow ...

historian Wolfram Hartmann, "the of the Unkwambi, a subgroup of the Ovambo, are respected as

healers Alternative medicine is any practice that aims to achieve the healing effects of medicine despite lacking biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or evidence from clinical trials. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and al ...

, or . Among another Ovambo subgroup, the

Oukwanyama Oukwanyama (''Uukwanyama'' in the neighbouring Oshindonga dialect) is a traditional kingdom of the Ovambo people in what is today northern Namibia and southern Angola. Its capital is Ehole. List of rulers The Oukwanyama Kingdom and King Mandume M ...

, the are not treated as well; however, they are the only Oukwanyama members entitled to play the ekola, a special music linstrument". While close familiarity with the Ekola was thus always limited, its status as 'a secret instrument' seems to have been a product of the homophobia that European colonialism enforced upon the Ovambo and other African people. Since the instrument was central in rituals centered around forms of sexual and gender expression forbidden by colonial regimes, even acknowledging recognition of it could risk attracting the attention of colonial religious and judicial authorities.

References

{{reflist Musical instruments Ovambo Namibian culture