AFRICAN BASED RELIGIONS AND DANCE
Introduction
Many African religions believe that there is a very small line separating the life they live and the spiritual life that dead people have when they transit from life into death. The thin line that separates the two worlds is controlled by spirits of dead ancestors who make communication possible between the living and the dead. As such, the dead have great influence in the lives of the living and the communication between the two groups can be made possible through media. Several calamities that befall people are caused by aggrieved spirits of the dead and they can send the victims into a spiritual world as demonstrated when a person becomes unconscious or highly violent.
During these calamities and misfortunes, the religious African groups believe that ceremonies and rituals must be held at such a moment to establish the cause of the misfortune and to appease the spirits and alleviate the calamity. The most common means of appeasing the spirits is through music and dance; hence dance is a major practice among the African religious societies. This article aims at highlighting dance within the African religions (Douglas & Kaberi, 135).
Dance in the African sense is quite different from the western understanding of the same. The African religious society considers dance as to the way in which it can facilitate possession then how it can be applied in music-making and finally the sustainability of African cultural and religious practices that are dance-oriented (Douglas & Kaberi, 134). Dance is therefore not considered in form of its aesthetic values and movement but rather, it ranges all the way from the violently wild movement of people who are possessed by the power of spirits to the mild slight organized movement of any body part in response to music (Friedison, 78). Dance is therefore inspired by music and there is no dance without music. This informs why it is almost impossible to talk about dance without mentioning the vital aspect of music and the pivotal role that music plays to elicit dance (Charles,134).
While admitting to the African religious dance, one must admit to the vigor and the energy that is required for the music in a way that will instigate the process through which the spirits take over the body into the spiritual world. Trance is a very important process. It is the letting go of the entire psychological, physiological, and cognitive domain of a person in a dance so as to initiate the way for the spirits to take over and control the entire body through music. At this point, it is also important to skillfully play a piece of particular music that will attract and appease the required spirit who will also be in a position to provide a solution to the calamity that befalls the initiate. In an interview with one of the renowned initiates, he declared saying “I found myself doing the dance without really thinking about it.” “My body just took over and followed the music motto.” (Charles,134). He added. He says it was like he was watching someone else in the dance but not doing it himself.
The Luos and the Samburu of Kenya
Among the Kenyan societies, the Samburu people are the most prominently involved in African religious dances. Most of the socio-political and cultural aspects of their lives are approached religiously in such a way that dance and religion assist them to express deeds, words, and expressions that can never be experienced in the normal life. Among the Samburu people in northern Kenya, the society is divided into three groups of people called pier (Berline, 225). The first group is the uncircumcised children (Berline, 234). The second group comprises of circumcised youths who must be prepared either as herdsmen, or warriors called Moran. The last group comprises of the married elderly (Charles,134). However, as modernity crops in and the societies grow more peaceful, the work of the Moran goes extinct and many young people are herdsmen. The position of Moran remains ceremonial (Claris, 70). During religious ritual when young boys are initiated from childhood to adulthood through circumcision, there are a lot of religious ceremonies carried out and the apex is the communications with some deity, spirits, and gods. During this session, music is played and men and women are deeply involved in dance as a means of worship to appease the spirits (Charles,135).
The other group is the Nomiya Roho Sabato and the Nomiya Luo Sabato among the Luos. As the names suggest, Roho means spirit (Berline, 221). These are people who believe in spiritual control and trance.
During worship, they go into trance as controlled by the spirit. The dances are so vigorous and violent with common cases of casualties who sustain a lot of injuries in the process. The wonder of it all is that the climax of the dance is very long but the end of it must be declared by a spiritual leader of a very senior rank. This is the time when the spirits communicate to the people through prophets, causing healing and revealing marvelous and unsearchable things. The dance is accompanied by round songs that are singing along other percussion instruments like the drum, shakers, and metal ring (Berline, 235).
The Bushmen of South Africa
During rituals among the Bushmen of South Africa, dancers have idiophones attached to their ankles, clothes, and dancing costumes. These idiophones produce sounds that are additional to the other sound from the main instruments being played and voices of singers. This is regarded as a very essential aspect of the ritual performance frequently ignored by the ethnographers. These idiophones function primarily not as choreographers but as a source of the sound. During rituals, several instruments must be used producing different sounds that accompany the dance. It is important to do so because different spirits are soothed by different sounds. Since there is uncertainty on which spirit will provide a solution to any form of calamity, the Bushmen try to please as many spirits as possible during their religious rituals so as to get a solution to many problems during the dance (Charles, 132). During the dance, all the dancers are thrown into a trance, a state of unconsciousness where the worshipers are transformed into a spiritual world. Finally, the hands of the players of the instruments also take part in the dance. This dance is commonly referred to as Mbira (Berline, 255).
The Hausa of Nigeria
Bori cult is a very popular religious group practiced among the Hausa of Nigeria. Here, women find an opportunity to express their frustration through dance. The Hausa society is known for male chauvinism that leaves women frustrated with the unnecessarily imposed restriction that demean their self-esteem. During Bori dance, women are believed not to be themselves but in some spirit-possessed state (Charles, 125). The music and dance are rich enough to influence the decision of the spirit and to bring upon them the experience of freedom and priority to defy the political and domestic authorities that suppress them through the society and their respective menfolk. In this context, dance allows the womenfolk to challenge the way in which the society governs them and to break off from the chains and bondages that the real-life brings therein through a forum that can only be created by religious practices (Charles, 124).
During these Bori religious sessions of dances, the entire community converges to address a common phenomenon that affects the life of people negatively and whose nature cannot be established physically (Rouget, 67). The Hausa believe that such calamities are sent through some spirits who must be consulted and appeased through music and dance in a worship session, full of trance and possession so that the society can communicate their grievances and the spirits can listen and finally provide solution to the catastrophic events.
Music and dance are the key components of religious worship and gathering that help to foster unity among the Hausa. Singing, clapping and dancing are the best known unifiers of people, for “even if they hurl accusations at one another in the course of dance, the next moment the people become a unit, singing, clapping and dancing together.” (Rouget, 89).
The Shona of Mozambique
In Mozambique, the Shona people also view the sacred religious festival called Bira as a unifying factor. “Solidarity merges as villagers ritually unite with their ancestors through their common participation in music and dance at Bira.” Cultural themes and identities of the Shona people are carefully enveloped in the music and dance (Rouget, 147). The religious practices like music and dance create continuity of old songs from one generation to another, thereby connecting the younger generations with the ancestors in the spiritual world. Those players of musical instrument who are well versed and trained in repertoire help in preservation of the old spirits when they play the songs of old times in the most original form (Fredrick, 356). This help to revoke the spirits of the ancestors, who are much needed among the counsel of the elderly when sending prayers and petitions to the spirits. If they don’t play and dance the original songs, the spirits will no longer be awaken and their presence will fade away from the presence of the people hence missing of a much needed metaphysical experience that only those particular spirits may bring to the people (Fredrick, 245). These spirits are necessary for the sake of mediation during supplication, without which the spirits may not provide solutions to some problems (Berline, 254). Music and dance among the Shona is necessary for preservation of history. When these music and dances are performed and the desired spirits descend upon the people, they come with the historical events and experiences that surround them so that the entire historical field is preserved. Freidson is one of the most renowned players of musical instruments among the Tumbuka (Charles,156). At one time in a radio interview, Freidson recounted that when he plays a specific rhythmic motto, he does not call upon a particular spirit but an array of spirits with a whole historical field of action, who represents the Ngoni warriors (Charles, 145).
Within music repertoire, some old languages that are no longer spoken by the people are preserved. These languages must be carried along in history of the people even though very few people or even none understands them well. In religious gathering, such languages are developed and taught to the younger generations because they are the languages that were spoken by the living dead whose spirits are sought to bring peace and harmony and to connect the living with the gods (Berline, 145). As a matter of fact, music is on the instrument and rhythm while message is embodied in the lyrics. It is of great importance to point out that ne does not need to understand the language of communication in order to enjoy the music. Dancing, clapping and even singing can be done even in the foreign or unknown language. As a matter of fact, lyrics are for this world whereas music is for the soothing of the spirits.
Music and dance represent concepts that do not necessarily need to be understood through lyrics but which can influence both affective and psychomotor domain of the worshiper without necessarily understanding the language of communication. In a nutshell, music is more of the rhythm than the lyrics. Spencer once said that it is impossible to analyses or translate a piece of music without distorting the originality of the piece (Fredrick, 336). Only those present during the presentation understand the true and original meaning of the music and dance. The expressions through music and dance in comparison with analytical presentation of the same are perhaps two different things all together (Spenser, 123). Within African religious practice, it is a great disservice to the audience to provide them with analytical presentation of a given performed piece, given the vigor and vast variation among the religious pieces. The only way to explain such music and dance pieces away from the place and time of performance is through a recorded video, which still will not provide satisfactory originality with the emotions that were used during presentation (Fredrick, 334).
It is also important to state that among some African religions like the Orisha cults in West Africa, music and dance can be used to calm possession. Santo state and ere state are the two states of consciousness during initiation. The first state is the state of wild possession when Orisha is still embodied and the initiate’s spirit is starred up. When some cool music accompanied with less vigorous dances are played, the initiate begins to gain control of his body and mind until full recovery is achieved. This state is referred to as ere state. Orisha has departed and the victim remains in a calm state having regained full consciousness (Berline, 276).
The Mussey of Chad
The story of inclusion of music and dance among the Mussey of Chad describes the reverse role played by dance in a religious setup (Chernoff, 244). In this sect, a person is believed to be struck by the spirit when he is alone in the forest. This person remains in the state of trance and possession for as long as he can be rescued by others. During recovery, several tunes of trumpets must be sounded with dancers dancing alongside. It is until a specific tune is sounded to appease the spirit when the victim can regain his consciousness. In this case, dances are found to play the role of reversing the trance and possession to dispossession (Chernoff, 234).
It is also true that dances affects some people while some are not affected. This reveals a great variation on the functionality of music and dance. Perhaps it is wiser to argue that this is not due to variation of music but the state of the adept (Chernoff, 213). Some factors that have proved to be playing role on the person’s ability to be influenced by dances and music include sex; age and hierarchy in the sect. women are more vulnerable to the spiritual attack than men while children are seldom attacked. The more religious a person is, the more easily he can be possessed. This explains why high ranking spiritual leaders can easily be taken into the spiritual world during such rituals (Charles, 167). The scenario among the Yoruba people of Nigeria is a unique one. It is reported that Shango, the spirit cannot possess more than one person in a religious ceremony. Thus as people move from one village to another, only one member of the village is possessed by Shango. This person is therefore the only one that is affected by revocation of chants. This brings upon conclusion that music can be the same but it causes varied effects on different people hence some people get possessed ahead of the others (Chernoff, 144).
Summary
This article aimed at studying dance and the African religions. The line separating the world of the living and the spiritual world of the dead is very thin. The dead people influence the lives of their descendants and can protect the living by communicating to the gods. During religious worship, dance is a very common way of accompanying songs of worship. It is this music and dance that revokes the spirits to descend upon people and cause them to be transformed into a nonphysical experience in the spiritual world in a process called trance. Various musical tunes are used in inviting different spirits who are believed to play different roles in the lives of the living people. Possession is very common among all the African sects. Some are possessed due to the influence of the dance while in some cases, the dance, accompanied by some specific tunes from the trumpets are useful for recovery from trance. The communities among which such practices are most common in Africa include the Nomiya Roho Sabato and the Nomiya Luo Sabato among the Luos and the Samburu of Kenya, Bori cults among the Hausa of Nigeria , Bira, practiced by the Shona of Mozambique, the Mussey of Chad and the Bushmen of South Africa.