The music of

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

has a rich heritage which falls roughly into categories of traditional, popular and Christian music.

Traditional music

Traditional Zambian music is rooted in the beliefs and practices of Zambia's various ethnic groups and has suffered some decline in the last three decades. Traditional Zambian music once had clear ritual purposes or was an expression of the social fabric of the culture. Songs were used to teach, to heal, to appeal to spirits, and for mere enjoyment. Despite the decline of traditional music, its influences can still be heard in many of today's Zambian musical forms. The ubiquitous African "

call-and-response Call and response is a form of interaction between a speaker and an audience in which the speaker's statements ("calls") are punctuated by responses from the listeners. This form is also used in music, where it falls under the general category of ...

" can be heard in almost every Zambian song no matter what the style. Traditional drum rhythms and

polymeter In music, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling) refers to regularly recurring patterns and accents such as bars and beats. Unlike rhythm, metric onsets are not necessarily sounded, but are nevertheless implied by the perfo ...

s are evident in many different kinds of Zambian music. Contemporary popular forms such as Zambian ''

Kalindula Kalindula is a kind of bass guitar which gives its name to a style of popular music in southern-central Africa. It originated in the late 20th century and is popular in Zambia and is also found in Malawi and Zimbabwe. Some people claim it originated ...

'' also exhibit traces of traditional music in the finger-picking style used by guitarists.

Instruments

Traditional Zambian instruments include a variety of

membranophone A membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification. ...

s, both stick-struck and hand-struck. Drums are essential for most traditional dances. '' Ngoma'' is the generic central Bantu term for drum but Zambian drums come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and purposes and have specific names depending on their tribal origins and functional roles. The '' Budima'' drums of the Valley Tonga, for example, are used specifically for funeral ceremonies. ''Budima'' drums have a goblet shape and come in sizes ranging from large to small. One of the most interesting of drums is the so-called "lion drum" (''Namalwa'' in Tonga) used at traditional funerals. This is a

friction drum A friction drum is a musical instrument found in various forms in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. In Europe it emerged in the 16th century and was associated with specific religious and ceremonial occasions. Construction A friction d ...

which is not struck at all but which has a stick inserted through the drum head that is rubbed. The silimba is a large 17-note xylophone from Western Province.

Chordophone String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...

s and

aerophone An aerophone () is a musical instrument that produces sound primarily by causing a body of air to vibrate, without the use of strings or membranes (which are respectively chordophones and membranophones), and without the vibration of the instru ...

s are less common in traditional Zambian music but exist nonetheless. The Valley Tonga play instruments made from animal horns called '' Nyeele''. ''Nyeele'' are played using an interlocking technique with individual musicians each playing a single horn and interlocking with other musicians who have ''Nyeele'' of different pitches. A chordophone called a ''

kalumbu The kalumbu, or kalumbo, is a traditional instrument of the Tonga and Ila people of Zambia and Zimbabwe. A single metal-stringed bow played with a stick is lashed onto a calabash gourd that acts as a resonating chamber. The kalumbu player manipul ...

'' was traditionally played by young men to signal their desire to marry. Called a 'musical bow' by ethnomusicologists because of its bow shape, the ''kalumbu'' is struck by a stick. Like many other central African countries, Zambia once had a vibrant tradition of so-called "thumb pianos," each with a different name depending on tribal origins: the Tonga ''kankobela'' is one such thumb piano, the Mbunda "kathandi", the Lozi "kangombio", the Lunda "chisanzhi", the Nsenga "kalimba", etc. Although the use of traditional instruments has declined in recent years, they can still be heard in rural areas of Zambia. Recordings of traditional Zambian music were made in the mid-twentieth century by

Hugh Tracey Hugh Travers Tracey was an English ethnomusicologist. He and his wife collected and archived music from Southern and Central Africa. From the 1920s through the 1970s, Tracey made over 35,000 recordings of African folk music. He popularized the mbi ...

and

Arthur Morris Jones Arthur Morris Jones (1889–1980), was a missionary and musicologist who worked in Zambia during the early 20th century. He was stationed at St Mark's School in Mapanza, a community in the Southern Province of present-day Zambia (called Rhodesia ...

, both well-known

ethnomusicologists Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

of African music. Tracey recorded all over Zambia in the 1950s, but also specifically recorded in the Zambezi Valley in 1958 at the request of anthropologist Elizabeth Colson before the creation of the

Kariba Dam The Kariba Dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The dam stands tall and long. The dam forms Lake Kariba, which extends for and holds of water. Construction Th ...

and Jones did his at Mapanza in Zambia's Southern Province. Catholic missionaries, J. J. Corbeil and Frank Wafer have also contributed to our knowledge of traditional Zambian music. Father Corbeil collected and documented the instrumental tradition of the Bemba in Northeastern Zambia. Frank Wafer, a Jesuit priest located at Chikuni, has collected and preserved Batonga music. A community radio station dedicated to promoting Batonga music and culture is also part of the Chikuni Mission Station. They organize an annual festival of Batonga music which attracts as many as 10,000 visitors according to the organizers. Recent ethnomusicological work has been done by native Zambians such as Mwesa Isaiah Mapoma, Joseph Ng'andu, John Anderson Mwesa and others. Recent field recordings made by native Zambian Michael Baird in Southern Province have been released on his SWP label, as well as producing two excellent compilations of Zambian hits from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Popular music

After independence in 1964, the most important source of popular music was the Zambia Broadcasting Service and affiliated bands like

Lusaka Radio Band Lusaka (; ) is the capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was about 3.3 millio ...

who soon changed their name to The Big Gold Six. Record companies soon formed, with most recordings made at

Peter Msungilo Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

's DB Studios in Lusaka, and records pressed in Ndola by the

Teal Record Company alt=American teal duck (male), Green-winged teal (male) Teal is a greenish-blue colour. Its name comes from that of a bird — the Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca'') — which presents a similarly coloured stripe on its head. The word is oft ...

. The northern, copper-producing area of Zambia was known for singers like

John Lushi John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

William Mapulanga William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and

Stephen Tsotsi Kasumali Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

. Their guitar-based music grew gradually into

Zamrock Zamrock is a musical genre that emerged and gained popularity in Zambia during the early 1970s.It has been described as a fusion of traditional African music and psychedelic rock, garage rock, hard rock, blues and funk, taking influence from pop ...

, which used mostly English lyrics in rock songs. Bands included the Machine-Gunners and Musi-o-tunya. The most popular band in Zambian history soon emerged, Jaggari Chanda's

Witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of Magic (supernatural), magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In Middle Ages, medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually ...

. In the late 1970s, President

Kenneth Kaunda Kenneth David Kaunda (28 April 1924 – 17 June 2021), also known as KK, was a Zambian politician who served as the first President of Zambia from 1964 to 1991. He was at the forefront of the struggle for independence from British rule. Dissat ...

ordered that 95% of the music on the radio had to be Zambian. He hoped to encourage the formation of a Zambian national identity. Rather than using their folk roots, however, Zambians attempted to become pop stars. By the mid-1980s, the result was

kalindula Kalindula is a kind of bass guitar which gives its name to a style of popular music in southern-central Africa. It originated in the late 20th century and is popular in Zambia and is also found in Malawi and Zimbabwe. Some people claim it originated ...

music. Bands included the Masasu Band, Serenje Kalindula and Junior Mulemena Boys.

Amayenge Amayenge is a popular Zambian music group. Started by Chris Chali in 1978 in Choma, the band was originally called Crossbones, one of many Zambian acts that had sprung up to do gigs based on rock. Later the band became known as the New Crossbones, ...

is considered one of the best kalindula bands of the past twenty years. Another top artist is Brian Chilala who, together with his band Ngoma Zasu, continues in the electric kalindula tradition. An annual concert of traditional bands (not just kalindula) was recently begun by the Chikuni Radio station in Chikuni in the Southern Province. Two of the most popular bands from that festival are Green Mamba and

Mashombe Blue Jeans Mashombe Blue Jeans is one of a number of ''kalindula'' ensembles from the Southern Province of Zambia. Like other ''kalindula'' groups, they sing and play a style of Zambian music that blends traditional with modern musical materials. Their r ...

."Drum Roll of Honour: The Ngoma Awards Ceremony"
In addition, artists such as Alfred Chisala Kalusha Jr. based their compositions on "Imfukutu" - Bemba folk music. In the 1990s, economic problems caused the collapse of the Zambian music industry. Unfettered by rules promoting Zambian music, the airwaves were covered with imported

ragga Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music. Wayne Sm ...

and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

from Jamaica and hip hop and R&B from the United States. The most successful record label currently operating in Zambia is Romaside entertainment, Sling beats, Blaza, G-sounds, Alpha Entertainment and X.Y.Z Entertainment. Their stable of artists includes J.K., Slap Dee, Macky 2, Chef 187, joe chibangu, Jay Brown (Son of the most High), hamoba, Ty2, Bobby East, Zone fam and Jay Roxer, J.o.b, Stevo, Muzo aka Alfonso, Petersen, Izreal, Corta Nac City, Danny, Shatel, Black Muntu, pilato,

Mampi Mirriam Mukape (born August 4, 1986), popularly known as Mampi, is a Zambian singer, actress and songwriter. Her music is kwaito and reggae inspired. She is one of the most viewed Zambian female artists on YouTube. Early life Mampi was born in ...

, Tommy Dee, South African based chilu lemba and the Algerian based rapper T.I.D.Y and not forgetting the Pylot African Sun. Sound clips of each of these groups can be heard at their website (see below). The Zambian entertainment industry recognizes popular musicians such as these at its annual

Ngoma Awards The Ngoma Awards are an annual Zambian arts award ceremony which recognise the nation's artistic talent. The awards are organised by the National Arts Council of Zambia The National Arts Council of Zambia (NAC) is a quasi-government agency establi ...

. The Ngoma Awards amount to a Zambian version of the all-Africa

Kora Awards The KORA All Africa Music Awards are music awards given annually for musical achievement in sub-Saharan Africa. The awards were founded in 1994 by Benin born businessman, Ernest Adjovi, after a discussion in Namibia with the country's President Ha ...

. At the moment K'Millian, Macky 2, Slap dee, Chef 187 are the very popular artists. A unique hybrid form of Zambian music is found in the so-called "banjo" tradition. The Zambian "banjo" (pronounced 'bahn-jo') is essentially a homemade guitar. A wide variety of such instruments can be found in different sizes and with varying numbers of strings. Most are played using a two or three finger picking style and the tuning of each instrument is unique to that instrument. The body is made in various shapes from wood or sometimes tin cans, and the strings or 'wires' often come from discarded radial tires. Zambian banjos are used in

bands throughout Zambia.

Christian music

Popular influences can also be heard in the newer repertory, some of which is borrowed from

urban contemporary gospel Urban/contemporary gospel is a modern subgenre of gospel music. Although the style developed gradually, early forms are generally dated to the 1970s, and the genre was well established by the end of the 1980s. The radio format is pitched prima ...

, some from so-called "

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music, also known as CCM, Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christian faith and s ...

" from the United States, and some from Zambian popular idioms. The use of electronic

synthesizers A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

and guitars has also made its way into the church. The flow of influence between church music and the popular realm can also be heard in recordings by groups such as Lumbani Madoda, Zambian Acapella, Lota House and Hosanna Band which has been disbanded. The influence of Euro-American hymnody is also evident in the music of many Zambian congregations. Hymns from British and American hymnals continue to be part of the musical fabric of many churches, and many harmonic practices are derived from Western hymn influences. Invented by

John Curwen John Curwen (14 November 1816 – 26 May 1880) was an English Congregationalist minister and diffuser of the tonic sol-fa system of music education created by Sarah Ann Glover. He was educated at Wymondley College in Hertfordshire, then Cowa ...

, the system Tonic Sol-fa was imported into Africa by the British in the nineteenth century. The Heritage Singers Choir, the Heritage Brothers Quartet, and church helped popularise this form of harmonious music worldwide.

List of christian/gospel artists in Zambia

* Mweshi Mulusa * Mukali * Racheal * Ephraim * Kings Malembe Malembe * Jojo Mwangaza * Joyce Mwanza * Suwilanji * Mathew Ngosa * Pompi

Recordings

* Brown, Ernest. ''Songs of the Spirits: The Royal Music of the Nkoya of Zambia.'' Lusaka, Zambia: University of Zambia Institute for African Studies, 1976. * Baird, Michael. ''Batonga Across the Waters.'' Utrecht, The Netherlands: SWP Records, 1997. * Baird, Michael. ''Zambia Roadside - Music from Southern Province.'' Utrecht, The Netherlands: SWP Records, 2003. * "Zambush Vol. 1. - Zambian hits from the 80s." Utrecht, The Netherlands: SWP Records, 2004. * "Zambush Vol. 2 - Zambian hits from the 60s and 70s." Utrecht, The Netherlands: SWP Records, 2004. * Daddy, Zemus. ''Chibaba.'' Lusaka, Zambia: Mondo Music Corp., 1999. * ''Guitar Songs from Tanzania, Zambia & Zaire.'' Tivloi, N.Y.: Original Music, 1982. * Hosanna Gospel Band. ''Lesa Tupepa.'' Lusaka, Zambia: Mondo Music Corp., 2004. * J, K. ''JK''. Lusaka, Zambia: Mondo Music Corp., 2001. * ''Shoprite Zambia Hit Parade.'' Lusaka, Zambia: Mondo Music Corp., 2001. * Tracey, Hugh. "Kalimba & Kalumbu Songs, Northern Rhodesia Zambia, 1952 & 1957: Lala, Tonga, Lozi, Mbunda, Bemba, Lunda." Historical recordings / by Hugh Tracey. Utrecht, The Netherlands: SWP Records, 1998. Produced and remastered by Michael Baird. * Zambian Acapella. ''Zambian Acapella.'' Corsicana, Tex.: Paradox Music, 1993. * Baird, Michael. "The Kankobela of the Batonga Vol. 1." Utrecht, The Netherlands: SWP Records 2008. * Baird, Michael. "The Kankobela of the Batonga Vol. 2." Utrecht, The Netherlands: SWP Records 2011. * Baird, Michael "Zambia Roadside 2." Utrecht, The Netherlands: SWP Records 2013.

References

{{Music of Africa

National Arts National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

Zambian music