The Rain Praying Music of the Bakalanga of Botswana and Zimbabwe

Abstract

Bakalanga of Botswana and Zimbabwe are one people who share the same musical traditions. They were separated by political borders. This research was carried out in both countries regardless of these political borders. It takes into consideration rain praying musical types of Bakalanga from the two neighbouring countries. This paper is aimed at reporting information found out on wosana and mayile traditional music practiced by the Bakalanga located in the North East District of Botswana and Bulilimangwe District in Western Zimbabwe. The paper was conceived from a report compiled as a result of tribal collaborations between the researcher and the respondents in an effort to understand Bakalanga of Botswana and Zimbabwe wosana and mayile traditional musics and their uses among their tribal daily lives. The paper does not only pay attention to the music, but also to its traditional ways of transmission. Techniques by which musical learning transpires are described. The subject of learning styles being practiced among proficient musicians and aspirant musicians is discussed. Data were mainly collected by the researcher through oral interviews with the informants as well as internet search and other documented information repositories. The oral interviews were also recorded using an audiotape for the purposes of future reference by the researcher. Photographs of the practical music performances were also taken. Information repositories on these traditional musical types included books and other written information sources.

Keywords: Bakalanga, Botswana, Mayile, Mwali, Wosana and Zimbabwe