DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0381
THE WAYAO OF NYASALAND
365
Women stick on a small spit a pretty green and white beetle, one of the Cetoniidae.
The free end of the spit is then held between the teeth. At different positions on the stick,
the buzzing of the impaled insect gives rise to different notes. The beetle is named ching-
wanguwangu or chiwauwau (nangalire, Chin.). The wing-covers of another beetle, mateche-
teche, a Lamellicorn, are used by women for the making of a musical instrument. The
wing-covers of some twenty of these insects are threaded on a string arranged round the
shoulders and feet of the player as she sits on the ground. The string on each side, as it
passes from the shoulder to the foot of the same side, is plucked by the fingers of the opposite
hand, different notes being obtained by different degrees of tension put on the string by
pressure with the feet. The wing-covers give a buzzing quality to the notes which all
natives like.
Mention should also be made of the horn, lipenga, commonly made of a long piece of
reed or bamboo with a trumpet-shaped end, made out of a portion of a gourd. Antelope
horns are also used. The horn is blown on journeys.
Dancing. Dancing among the Yao, as among many other peoples, is the outcome of
the pleasure experienced in rhythmical movements. The first accompaniment was prob-
ably the clapping of hands to mark time, followed by some exclamatory sounds more or less
prolonged and occurring at regular intervals. Later, there was probably some refrain and,
later still, drums were added to mark time, and songs formed an additional accompani-
ment. I believe that, here, dancing has always been an expression of pleasure and happiness
and has been secondarily introduced at many ceremonies. In the majority of cases, such
ceremonies were occasions of joy, the only exception being at funerals, but there I think
their introduction was rather as a means of passing the time and avoiding silent brooding
than as any real part of the rite.
The names given to various dances indicate their time or rhythm, and are, therefore,
comparable to our own words, waltz, two-step, etc. There may be a number of airs for
each time, and many sets of words to each air. The time may be given by clapping only, or
by the addition of drums. Anyone acquainted with these dances, hearing drumming in
the distance, can at once recognize the dance that is going on.
The drums which are used at dances (Pl. XXII), are made of a hollowed-out log of
wood with a skin tambour stretched over the mouth of the drum and fixed by wooden pegs.
On the tambour is smeared a layer of beeswax. The tambour is tightened by warming
over a fire, so that the correct note is obtained; a fire is always kept burning close to the
spot where drums are being played.
Likuti: a drum shaped somewhat like a native flour mortar, three to six feet high with
the tambour one to two feet in diameter. The drum usually lies on the ground, the player
sitting on the barrel of the drum, or he may have it suspended from him by a cord, the body
of the drum dragging on the ground between his legs. It is played with both hands and
gives a deep, resonant note, 11 ti, ti, ti! ” (Pl. XXII, figs. 12, 15).
365
Women stick on a small spit a pretty green and white beetle, one of the Cetoniidae.
The free end of the spit is then held between the teeth. At different positions on the stick,
the buzzing of the impaled insect gives rise to different notes. The beetle is named ching-
wanguwangu or chiwauwau (nangalire, Chin.). The wing-covers of another beetle, mateche-
teche, a Lamellicorn, are used by women for the making of a musical instrument. The
wing-covers of some twenty of these insects are threaded on a string arranged round the
shoulders and feet of the player as she sits on the ground. The string on each side, as it
passes from the shoulder to the foot of the same side, is plucked by the fingers of the opposite
hand, different notes being obtained by different degrees of tension put on the string by
pressure with the feet. The wing-covers give a buzzing quality to the notes which all
natives like.
Mention should also be made of the horn, lipenga, commonly made of a long piece of
reed or bamboo with a trumpet-shaped end, made out of a portion of a gourd. Antelope
horns are also used. The horn is blown on journeys.
Dancing. Dancing among the Yao, as among many other peoples, is the outcome of
the pleasure experienced in rhythmical movements. The first accompaniment was prob-
ably the clapping of hands to mark time, followed by some exclamatory sounds more or less
prolonged and occurring at regular intervals. Later, there was probably some refrain and,
later still, drums were added to mark time, and songs formed an additional accompani-
ment. I believe that, here, dancing has always been an expression of pleasure and happiness
and has been secondarily introduced at many ceremonies. In the majority of cases, such
ceremonies were occasions of joy, the only exception being at funerals, but there I think
their introduction was rather as a means of passing the time and avoiding silent brooding
than as any real part of the rite.
The names given to various dances indicate their time or rhythm, and are, therefore,
comparable to our own words, waltz, two-step, etc. There may be a number of airs for
each time, and many sets of words to each air. The time may be given by clapping only, or
by the addition of drums. Anyone acquainted with these dances, hearing drumming in
the distance, can at once recognize the dance that is going on.
The drums which are used at dances (Pl. XXII), are made of a hollowed-out log of
wood with a skin tambour stretched over the mouth of the drum and fixed by wooden pegs.
On the tambour is smeared a layer of beeswax. The tambour is tightened by warming
over a fire, so that the correct note is obtained; a fire is always kept burning close to the
spot where drums are being played.
Likuti: a drum shaped somewhat like a native flour mortar, three to six feet high with
the tambour one to two feet in diameter. The drum usually lies on the ground, the player
sitting on the barrel of the drum, or he may have it suspended from him by a cord, the body
of the drum dragging on the ground between his legs. It is played with both hands and
gives a deep, resonant note, 11 ti, ti, ti! ” (Pl. XXII, figs. 12, 15).