Dances across the boundary: Banande and Bakonzo in the twentieth century (original) (raw)

2009, Journal of Eastern African Studies

Dances, songs and instrumental music are a meaningful element in the construction of identity and cultural boundaries. In many cases, and above all in situations of conflict, a specific repertory, or a song, a dance, an instrument can become the symbol of a nation or a region (just think of the Irish harp, the Catalan sardana, the Sardinian canti a tenores). On the other hand, music, which is a 'volatile' art, is more susceptible and open to crossfertilisation than other forms of expression. Through contact with the musics of other groups, social classes or people, far and near, musicians from every part of the world see opportunities to enrich and renew their art. In music, the concept of boundary is therefore questionable to say the least. As with many other experiences, music in this case reveals its functional and apparently contradictory duplicity. It is a communicative system that is able to favour both the isolation of individuals and peoples, and the sharing or even collectivisation of experiences. There may be countless reasons for moving forcefully in one direction or the other, and all of them can be located within the complex interstices of historic dynamics. For some decades now, in a period that is today defined even in cultural terms as post-colonial, ethno-anthropological studies have abandoned some assumptions that were characteristic of such disciplines at the outset. Amongst these was the idea that societies, particularly pre-industrial ones, with which contact was made during research activity, could be perceived and described as stable and immobile entities. Concepts such as cultural fluidity, "originary syncretism" 1 , continual renegotiation of identities, etc, have gradually become more pertinent and useful in understanding what happens in various parts of the world, together with a rediscovery of a diachronic approach to events. In this article, and using this perspective, a particular research experience, which has been carried out in the Rwenzori area since 1980s, will be analysed. The populations referred to, the Banande and Bakonzo, are settled around a boundary: first geographical (the two sides of the massif, the two shores of Lake Edward); and then political (the colonial and post-colonial border between Uganda and Congo). John Blacking in 'A Commonsense view of all Music' writes: Dance and song can be understood as primary adaptations to environment, with them, mankind can feel towards a new order of things and feel across boundaries, while with speech, decisions are made about boundaries. This is why, even in industrialized societies, the changing forms of music may express the true nature of the predicament of people before they have begun to express it in words and political action 2. formations, will all be useful clues in reconstructing a hypothetical history. This will, of course, be the history of the dances, of how they are considered, set within their system of customs and values, and of how they have evolved, indicating the differentiation between these two peoples, separated by the colonial border. At the same time, however, it aims to be the story of how groups of people define themselves through their dances and how, with these dances, they have come into contact with each other, with neighbouring peoples, with the colonial forces, and with the modernity that has been diffused by the media. As Curt Sachs said, among the various forms of art expression, dance is perhaps the most complete: it lives in the time and in the space. 3 Between musical expressions, dance is the most immediate. Song, in fact, in its logogenic forms, is mediated by verbal language which is semantically unequivocal; instrumental music is mediated by the technology of the instrument which forces one to build a relationship with an object; in dance, we are in the front line, revealing ourselves in our bodily dimension. Corporeal expressiveness is exalted in dance, but at the same time it is structured in organised and stereotyped ways, particularly in the socially shared dances, as is largely the case with the Banande and Bakonzo people whose songs and dances I will analyse. Studies in Anthropology and Sociology of dance claim that dance is undoubtedly the most culturally determined of the various ways that people demonstrate their bodily presence in the world. The natural limits of corporeity seem to be most severely tested particularly when dancing, and the gestural differences between one experience and another become more sophisticated at that level. 4 Dance, inasmuch as it is gestural expressiveness of a collective, organised and public sort, thus becomes one of the most direct means that a population or a group has of portraying itself. In studies on Africa, correct emphasis has very often been laid on the relationship between traditional dance and life experiences, both ordinary and extraordinary. Maurice Sonar Senghor, the founder and long-time director of the Theatre National "Daniel Serano" in Dakar, stated in a 1971 interview reported by Doris Green, that "before a dance can be created, an event or happening must occur". 5 In order for these events or gestures of everyday life to become dance, someone has to create original patterns of movement that come to be part of a new perception and portrayal of self. This process should be understood first and foremost from the point of view of its aesthetic motivations. The new dimension, the artistic one, can then proceed along autonomous paths of development, and give birth to different relationships with new facts and events, in a constantly renewable circuit. 6 These processes are, I believe, recognisable in the dances of every group of people, including the Banande and Bakonzo. The Ba-nande and the Ba-konzo speak the same language, have the same clans, and the same economic and family organisation. The two groups appear to stem from a single population, the 3 Sachs, Eine Welgeschichte des Tanzes: 21(Italian Edition) 4 See Hanna. To Dance is Human, Peterson Royce, Anthropology of dance, for the anthropological approach and Thomas, Dance, Modernity and Culture, for the sociological. We should also remember an aspect which will not be tackled in this essay: the codification of gestures makes dance one of the possible therapeutic paths for confronting psychic disorders. Its use is wellestablished in many traditional therapeutic practices throughout the world, including Africa, through dance therapy. There is also a reference in Lowen, The Language of the Body, with regard to how schizoid patients seek a response to their personality disorders in the rules of movement imposed by dance. 5 Green, Traditional dance:14. 6 For a (post-colonial) aesthetic perspective in approaching the history of African dance and its Afro-American offshoots, see Welch-Asante (ed), African Dance. 11 Czekanowski, Carnet de route au coeur de l'Afrique : 154. 12 "In their tales, became a true paradise." Id.. 13 Kambale Wilson, head of the Kasese school district (Uganda), interviewed in August 2007. 14 The need for a monarchy to be recognised intensified after the republican government of Uganda decided, in 1993, to reinstate the ancient kingdoms, attributing to them even some prerogatives regarding the administration of the territory and, above all, the management of their cultural heritage. The kingdoms recognised were the four main ones: ganda, nyoro, toro, ankole. For information on the Rwenzururu Movement rebellion, see Stacey, Tribe, and Cooke, Doornbos, Rwenzururu Protest Songs. 15 Charles Mumbere was in exile for many years in the USA. 16 Katya Aganatya, interviewed in August 2007.