This document discusses the importance of documenting traditional songs and dances in Zimbabwe to preserve indigenous cultural heritage. It describes how songs passed down orally have served as historical records, but modernization is disrupting this oral tradition. While paper is ineffective for capturing performance-based cultural expressions, the introduction of audio and video recording in the late 19th century allowed for more comprehensive documentation. The document relates experiences from Zimbabwe's National Archives recording traditional songs and dances, emphasizing the importance of capturing all contextual aspects to fully convey cultural meaning.

1. THE POWER OF SOUND AND IMAGES: SAFEGUARDING SONG AND DANCE TRADITIONS IN
ZIMBABWE
Paper presented at the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Conference, Bulawayo, 28-31 August 2012
Victor Nduna
National archives of Zimbabwe, Audiovisual Unit
Email: vnduna@archives.gov.zw
Abstract
Traditional songs and dances in Zimbabwe have, for years been used to convey important messages and
they constitute an important aspect of indigenous oral traditions yet they are poorly documented. This can
be attributed to the fact that indigenous societies in Zimbabwe, as in many developing countries, do not
have a culture of preserving their traditions in written form and even where the desire could have existed,
the indigenous traditions exists in forms that cannot be effectively captured in written form. The messages
that are embodied within the traditional songs, dances and other oral traditions are often associated with
certain specific live performances and artefacts which cannot be transferred to paper. From generation to
generation such messages have been passed on and kept alive through the word of the mouth. However,
modernisation of African Societies has seen the demolition of that interwoven kinship which ensured
smooth flow of knowledge from generation to generation. It is against this background that the need to
deliberately archive indigenous traditions has become inevitable. The advent of sound and image
recording technology in the 19th
century made it possible to capture indigenous knowledge for
preservation in a way that paper could not achieve. To demonstrate the power of recorded sound and
images in keeping the indigenous Zimbabwean memories alive, the paper explores the history of film and
recording sound industries in Zimbabwe and show how they have kept people’s stories alive. The paper
also uses recent National Archives of Zimbabwe Oral history projects field experiences to demonstrate
how sound and image recording is used to capture traditional songs and dances in contemporary times.
Key words: Indigenous knowledge, sound and images, memories, oral traditions, history, dance and
song, culture, archiving, societies.

2. Kutaurirwa hunyimwa mbare dzekumusana-‘You should have seen this for yourself’
The traditional coronation of Chief Ndima, as narrated by Moss (1974:330),
“The remaining members of the family of the party had mealie meal smeared in a patch on their
foreheads...As the party approached the kraal they were singing a traditional song ‘Ndiani waka uraya
baba’ and proceeded to shuffle around the grave of the chief. The party was joined by other relatives and
people who had come to the ceremony... Once the song and dance had been completed one of the
madzibaba ordered people to sit...”
Wish he had a video camera to record this!!!
Introduction
There is a popular Shona expression, Kuziva mbuya huudzwa. In its literal sense it simply means one get
to know his/her grandmother only when told, but the expression has deeper connotations in the Shona
culture. The expression has a strong emphasis on the importance of imparting knowledge through verbal
instructions. Imparting knowledge through the word of mouth is a shared norm among African societies.
As such, a considerable proportion of heritage in these societies occur in intangible forms such as music,
languages and other oral traditions (Watson 2003:4).
In such societies the elders are the custodians of societal memories and their lives resembles an archive
hence the famous declaration by Hampate Bas that “Africa looses a library when an old man dies”
(Watson 2003:4). But does this mean there is no place for continuity in indigenous African cultures?
Certainly, not so! Obviously, as natural attrition takes place, with one generation passing on the button
stick to the next generation, as stories are told and retold societal history and knowledge inevitably
changes. While these changes, deny future generations the chance to compare the past with the present,
they are the nature of cultural dynamics (Watson 2003:4). Moreover, there have long been traditional
methods such as folklore and songs to preserve important events in African societies for generations
allowing for continuity beyond the life of an individual or a generation. This, however, is not to say that
there is no use for archival institutions in African societies.
Documentation strategies that fix activities in time and space will give future generations an opportunity to
have a clearer understanding of the present in relation to the past even where cultures could have
changed. This is even more necessary in the global village where modernisation has demolished the
interwoven kinships that, for long, have allowed for a smooth flow of knowledge from generation to
generation in African societies. Yet accepting the need for modern documentation strategies is not a
suggestion that archiving is totally a new concept in indigenous African societies.
Indigenous Zimbabwe society and Archiving
While archival theory gained popularity in the 19th
century, archives have a long history in human society.
Richards in Cook et al., (2002), discusses “the archive as a utopian space of comprehensive knowledge
. . . not a building, nor even a collection of texts, but the collectively imagined junction of all that was
known or knowable.” Cook et al., (2002) also affirms that “despite changes in the nature of records, the
uses for those records, and the need to preserve them, archives, ever since the mnemons of ancient
Greece, have been about power – about maintaining power, about the power of the present to control
what is, and will be, known about the past, about the power of remembering over forgetting.” By passing

3. on their values, beliefs, joys, sorrows and other knowledge forms through oral traditions, indigenous
African societies have been able to let the ‘present control the future’ and in that effect they have thrived
in archiving their societal memories. According to Ncube (2001) oral traditions have been and are still a
very good indigenous African means of archiving human memories and knowledge.
There are well established oral traditions to keep societal memories alive among African societies and a
very good example is the song tradition. According to Nkeits in Onyeji (2004:24) African songs provide
allusions to significant incidences and genealogies. Among the indigenous Zimbabwean societies music
is more than mere entertainment, rather it conveys massages of social value. Through songs, myths,
legends and folklore are passed on in forms that can be easily stored and retrieved from people’s memory
and the question of literacy becomes unimportant (Pfukwa, 2008:32). From early childhood to late
adulthood, songs play an important role in a life of an indigenous Zimbabwean. Songs are part and parcel
of every aspect of life. In every Zimbabwean society, there are popular songs to celebrate, motivate,
mourn, worship, lament, rebuke, console, and so on (Tracey, 1929:97; Gecau, 2001; Pfukwa, 2001).
The role of songs in The Second Chimurenga in Zimbabwe is a very good illustration of how songs can
be an effective means of communication and keeping memories alive. Having a strong song culture,
songs were an important aspect of the liberation struggle among indigenous Zimbabweans. Songs were
composed to motivate and mobilise both the masses and the guerrillas to the war effort or to bemoan war
atrocities such as the Chimoio and Nyadzonya massacres where a lot of Zimbabwean refugees were
massacred in Mozambique. The tones and expressions in the songs, in a way, documented the memories
associated with the events. Some of the songs were sung in riddles to express oppressed opinions and
such songs to this day serve as a record of people’s feelings during a specific period or towards certain
conditions.
My recent field experiences across Zimbabwe have affirmed that the role of songs in everyday life cuts
across societies and cultures among ethnic groups in Zimbabwe. It is very common to find the same song
sang in different dialects in different cultures but with the same meaning. It is also striking that some of
the songs refer to events that occurred in ancient times, suggesting that they originated from those times.
Tracey (1929:98) also observes that some historical songs are apt to be most abstruse, with most
idiomatic and unusual phrasing, relating often to some deed in the past of which the singers have no clear
idea. In this capacity, songs therefore serve as a ‘records’ with the role of ‘capturing’ important events for
the future.
With this significant role, songs signify an important cultural heritage among Zimbabwean societies and
as Gecau (2001:51) mentions, it is people’s music that makes them a unique people. From place to place
songs are associated with unique performances, dances, regalia, objects and traditions which constitute
an important aspect of human knowledge and culture. While the lyrics may stand the taste of time, the
song culture will eventually change and need to be captured for future generations to compare the
present with the past. Thus, despite their power to serve as a ‘document’ of the past, songs as part of
cultural heritage, they also need to be documented.
It was, however, not until the late 19th
century when sound and image recording technology was
introduced that documentation of the song culture was perfectly feasible. While paper has been a reliable
recording medium for centuries, it is ineffective in documenting indigenous African cultures. According to
Watson (2003:4) African cultures exist in intangible forms such as music, languages and other oral
traditions that cannot effectively be captured on paper. The song and dance traditions, in particular,
include movements and actions that the print media cannot capture and convey. Through their ability to
capture and convey complicated movements and processes, sound and image recording technologies
have made it possible to investigate acoustic and visual phenomena objectively and have became the
basis for several disciplines including dialectology and ethno linguistics, ethnomusicology, and greater
parts of anthropology, notably rituals and dance (Schuller 2000).

4. Sound and moving image recording in Zimbabwe
According to Schuller (2000) modern knowledge of linguistic and cultural diversity is mainly based on
audiovisual documents and the significance of these documents reaches far beyond the mere academic
world. The role of that sound and image recording technology has played in documenting indigenous
cultures in Zimbabwe bore testimony to this sentiment.
Moving Image recording was introduced in Zimbabwe by the Central African Film Unit in 1949. The
Central African Film Unit (CAFU) was set up by the Central African Council to assist the development of
Africans in the three British colonies of Northern and Southern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland now Zambia,
Zimbabwe and Malawi respectively. CAFU’s directive was to teach, by means of story films, the
principles that are vital to African development, appreciation of the value of self-help, of good farming
methods, wise animal husbandry, hygiene and so on (Peet, 1951). In some instances the films, inorder to
demonstrate the importance of ‘good European practices’, had to show how ‘bad African practises’ were
retrogressive to development by practically filming and showing them. In that process local indigenous
cultures were captured in films and today, though quite often in bad taste, are a rich source of indigenous
cultures. In addition to that, the ability of the camera to capture details which were otherwise not the
intentions of the film producers help the present day viewer of the films to get extra detail about African
cultures on the films made back then. The stars of the films were Indigenous Africans. Through a mobile
film service, the films were shown to appreciative audiences not only in Africa but also in other common
wealthy territories with people of African Origins (Peet, 1951).
Almost at the same time a radio broadcasting service was introduced in the three colonial territories.
According to Tapfumaneyi (2000:56-57)
In 1948, Lusaka the capital City of Zambia officially became the focal point of broadcasting
to black Africans in Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe (formerly Northern Rhodesia,
Nyasaland and Southern Rhodesia respectively), while Harare, then Salisbury, became the
centre for broadcasting to whites in the region. Following a recommendation by a
commission headed by Sir Hugh Green to establish a broadcasting corporation as an
independent statutory body, the 1st
of February 1958 saw the establishment of the Federal
Broadcasting Corporation which was succeeded at the break-up of the Federation by
corporations in Southern Rhodesia, Zambia and Malawi. Thus was born on first January
1964 the Southern Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation, later to be renamed the Rhodesia
Broadcasting Corporation (RBC) which became the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation
(ZBC) at Zimbabwe's independence in 1980
The RBC played a major role in the promotion of Zimbabwe's cultural heritage in the
I960s. In the realisation that indigenous cultures were “in danger of being trampled
underfoot in the march of progress” the RBC introduced a programme to nurture African
musicianship and knowledge of folklore. Through the programme, the tribal drummer, mbira
and marimba player had a place in the broadcasting schedules. In the same spirit, the old
people were encouraged to tell their tales and listener surveys at the time revealed that the
younger people found them fascinating. Later because of bulging schedules the RBC
introduced African service channels which broadcasted the indigenous Shona and Ndebele
languages. The early generation of African broadcasters pioneered the recording of
African musicians. The recordings were done by a mobile van from the RBC using a simple
one-track tape recorder with a microphone. The music was stored on tape and was used
mainly for the African service radio broadcasts to entertain blacks. The van went round the
country to record talented musicians who were paid a royalty of one penny per song if it
was played on radio
The Film and sound recording developments in Zimbabwe are a clear indication of the power that sound
and image recordings have in safeguarding indigenous cultures, knowledge and memories. Today most
of the residues of these developments are at the National archives of Zimbabwe. The National Archives
of Zimbabwe Audiovisual Unit today boasts of a rich collection of Liberation war songs and traditional

5. songs from late 1940s to the present day recorded on different audiovisual media reflecting the
Zimbabwean song and dance culture.
Some Field experiences
In recent years the National archives of Zimbabwe, has intensified the recording of oral traditions through
its oral history projects administered by the Oral History Unit. The current project, dubbed “One
Zimbabwe” where the National Archives endeavours to document the totality of Zimbabwean cultures,
with emphasis on ‘minority groups’ that have been marginalised in the archival setting. Among the groups
that have been visited so far include the Tshangani, the Kalanga, the Ndau, and the Tonga.
In these and other oral history projects that I participated in, I don’t remember ever coming across a
community without song and dance culture. As people try to tell a story, more often than not, they break
into a song. The songs are not just songs but associated with different performances, dances, events,
artefacts, regalia, and places among other traditions. In some of these projects I served as a cameraman.
We usually go with a single video camera and that often put me under pressure when recording songs
and dances. With the understanding that all song and dance aspects need to be captured, quite often I
have had colleagues shouting ‘Hey Victor! You are missing that! Hey get that!’
I remember very well a project we went for in Chipinge. The Ndau people in Chipinge were so particular
with their song culture. Our first encounter was with school children who had won the national
Muchongoyo dance competition for several years. We recorded the children and left for a village where
the dance is still very much practised. As we engaged into discussions with the villagers we mentioned
our experiences with the school children. While the villagers spoke highly of the school children’s ability
they were quick to point out that the children’s performance was not the real one but a mock dance simply
because instead of sheep skins that are supposed to be worn on the upper limps of the male dancers, the
school children wore ragged sacks. It was only for this reason that the villagers denounced the school
children even when the moves, performances and the songs associated with the dance were the correct
ones. We also had an incident where villagers in Musikavanhu village were not comfortable to showcase
a certain dance simply because they had no proper drums and regalia for the dance.
The lesson in all these experiences was that every single aspect of the song culture is so important that
the meaning of the song is distorted if any is omitted. All the aspects have to be captured as vividly as
possible so much that no recording mediums other than sound and image recording technology can
effectively capture them. The need to capture every detail also demands tactful use of sound and image
recording equipment, often in combinations.
In an attempt to capture every detail when recording songs and dances, we employ a specific systematic
approach. Before the actual song and dance session we shoot videos of dancers and singers to
introducing the regalia, objects, events, dances and other traditions associated with the song and dance.
We also take photographs of the objects, dancers and all other aspect of the song that can be presented
in still pictures. We then go on to record the actual song and dance session in audio, photography and
video.
To build a complete story of the song and dance culture, after the actual song session we conduct audio
and video interviews with people whose culture is associated with the songs. Although some of the
interviews are not necessarily about the songs they help to contextualise the songs. All the recordings
that are associated with songs are not edited in any way and are preserved at our Audio Visual Unit. In so
doing every aspect of the song is captured and this provides a complete record of the present to the
future.

6. Conclusions
Although sound and image recording technologies are less popular as compared to print media they are
an effective means of archiving indigenous African cultures. Today, by far, the greatest part of the
indigenous cultural heritage, song and dance culture in particular, is presented in sound and image media
than any other media. African Archival institutions, such as National Archives of Zimbabwe, that have
endeavoured to re-invent themselves as total archives reflecting a collective national memory largely
depend on sound and image recording technology to fill in the gaps created by the colonial archives
systems that disqualified African memories from national memories worth being remembered.
References

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