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LINDA F. WILLIAMS

"Straight-Fashioned Melodies": The Transatlantic Interplay of

American Music in Zimbabwe

Late nineteenth-century Zimbabwean history is marked by intrusive European settlements. Protestant missionaries and British government administrators clearly had a purpose beyond mere economic exploi- tation. Even in the most benign cases, both missionaries and govern- ment administrators pursued the goal of imposing another society's vision of culture on an alien and subject nation. Notably, these two groups presented their invasion of Zimbabwe as a provisional occu- pation.1 While missionaries envisioned themselves serving only un- til the church would be strong enough to run itself, the white minor- ity (Rhodesian) government described its presence as necessary only until African people had sufficient experience for self-governance. As these two forces outlined different objectives and emerged separate- ly in Zimbabwe, they nonetheless depended on one another in their attempts to suppress local music, culture, and religion. Thus mission- aries and government officials made major attempts to shape the ex- perience of Zimbabwean musicians.

While these colonial institutions aimed to transform Zimbabweans into "less than equal members of a European model," the Zimbabwe- an people did not wholly accept European music or values.2 Instead, they appropriated aspects of African American music into their own

Linda F. Williams received her Ph.D. (1996) in ethnomusicology with special- izations in jazz, African studies, and African American studies from Indiana University, Bloomington. She is an assistant professor at Bates College in the departments of music and African American studies. Bates College recently awarded Williams a Special Faculty Development Grant to examine the trans- atlantic musical cultures in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Durban, South Africa (July-Aug. 1997).

American Music Fall 1997 ? 1997 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Williams

social, political, and cultural experience. Working creatively within the constraints imposed on them during colonialism, Zimbabwean musi- cians moved beyond the limitations of imperialism and recovered a sense of their own voice and artistry, combining their traditions with African American musical influences to achieve a strong, authentical- ly African musical identity.

The first section of this essay examines the historical context of music in Zimbabwe during the colonial era (the 1890s through the 1970s), beginning with missionary educational practices and its effects upon a massively unwilling Zimbabwean society. The second section documents how Zimbabwean musicians combine influences from their musical traditions with American paradigms to articulate the reciprocal interplay of African and African American music. The final section explores how the injustice of imperialism caused many Zim- babwean musicians to become expatriates in other countries through- out Africa and abroad.

Missionary Music and Colonial Control When a country enslaves a people, the first necessary job is to make the worldfeel that the people to be enslaved are subhuman. The next job is to make his fellow countrymen believe that man is inferior, and, then, the unkindest cut of all is to make that man believe himself inferior.3

During the latter part of the nineteenth century, a small group of mis- sionaries and colonial administrators made large-scale efforts to im- plement radical changes in Zimbabwe. Examining the racial conflict between Africans and the white colonial establishment, political sci- entist Patrick O'Meara states:

The history of racial interaction in Rhodesia for the relatively short period from the first white settlement in 1890 until the present [1975] has been one of point-counterpoint; as Africans aspired to greater political participation, the white system delib- erately and consciously escalated the requirements for meaning- ful involvement and placed it beyond their grasp. Most white Rhodesians viewed African political ambition as a severe threat to their privileged position. There was, therefore, a continual en- trenchment of white political control and of concomitant African frustration.4

In order to promote European commercial interest in Zimbabwe during the late nineteenth century, the London Missionary Society sponsored many different churches that eventually built mission schools throughout the country. Such historical figures as David Liv- ingstone were driven by ulterior motives:

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That you may have a clear idea of my objects I may state that they have something more in them than meets the eye. They are not merely exploratory, for I go with intention of benefiting both the African and my own country. I take a practical mining geol- ogist from the school of mines to tell us of the mineral resources of the country. Then an economic botanist to give a full report of the vegetable production, and a moral agent to lay a Christian foundation for anything that may follow. I hope this [religious expedition] may result in an English colony in the healthy high- lands of Central Africa.5

Therefore, while many missionaries initially characterized their role in Zimbabwe as a temporary stay, they soon adopted a vision of a permanent, white-controlled nation. Missionaries began to participate actively in the political, economic, and cultural exploitation of Afri- can people. Within two decades (1880-96), the missionary enterprise in Zimbabwe became an integral part of an invasive political pro- cess. Thus, the gun and the Bible carried a political as well as ex- plicit message of forcible conversion, eventually becoming instru- ments of control.6

For many missionaries, a conversion priority became the transfor- mation of Zimbabwean music, formed by centuries of indigenous tra- dition, into something they considered appropriate to a Christian identity. Father Emmanuel Ribeiro (a Zimbabwean Catholic priest) notes distinct patterns among religious institutions that were imposed throughout Zimbabwe:

The Christian churches were unspeakably intolerant, insensitive to, and ignorant of our religious musical practices. They mount- ed an orchestrated effort to destroy these values by forbidding any singing and dancing. Unlike Catholic services, in Christian churches it became a sin for converted Christians to merely move while singing hymns.7 For more than a century, Protestant missionaries attempted to erad-

icate the Zimbabweans' musical heritage and replace it with Western European music traditions. Singing religious songs, accompanied by hand clapping, drumming, and moving the body, rather than stand- ing still, were specifically condemned by many missionaries. A glar- ing example is the following condemnation of traditional performance practice: "The native minstrels with bodies besmeared with a filthy mixture of fat and red earth, moving about singing songs that could be relished by none but people of utterly depraved minds."8

The missionaries' response to a distinct music tradition highly val- ued by its practitioners was callously insensitive, as revealed by their

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uncompromising attempts to obliterate traditional Zimbabwean mu- sic during the early twentieth century. An understanding of the struc- ture and function of music in Zimbabwe before the intrusion of mis- sionaries is necessary to situate this period in its historical context.

Early music in many parts of Zimbabwe was characterized by the highly flexible role of three to five independent rhythms superimposed over one meter (ex. 1). Rhythmic nuance and split-second timing pro- vided the basic nature of this music-what many Zimbabwean musi- cians describe as a transcendence that is difficult to translate into no- tation.9 Melodic elements of the music in many parts of Zimbabwe consisted mainly of short phrases; a significant feature was (and still is) the microtone. These microtones comprised a tonal interval smaller than the European half-step. Tonal sequences provided three- to four- part melodic patterns that overlapped throughout a song. The melod- ic patterns (mostly extemporaneous, short, and narrow in range) were based on broader nuclear themes representing an underlying melody. Each pattern, according to Simangaliso Tutani, related to specified cir- cumstances-for instance, joy, sadness, or frivolous play:

In the older days, our music had multiple tonal patterns that oc- curred throughout the song. For example, a woman, usually hav- ing an exceptional voice, could begin singing a song, while another woman would actually join in and improvise, often using variants of the same melody. If someone else stood by, they too could sing yet another part, using the same theme or the original melody, or a pitch or two higher than the melody. As each person became more involved in singing, the entire song would begin to sound like repetitive echoes centering around familiar themes.10

Although vocal music figured prominently, instrumental music throughout Zimbabwe played a major role in musical practices. Per- formed at a Bira (Shona traditional religious services), sacred music, both vocal and instrumental, recalled ancient ritual melodies passed down from elders and duplicated by younger generations. The songs comprised more or less a set repertory, allowing for creative impro- visation within certain limits. Professor Dumisani Maraire (Univer- sity of Zimbabwe) explained: "The melodies that are played and sung by the mbira players serve as reference songs to appeal to the ances- tors. Simultaneously, the musical themes create a kind of dual me- lodic [polyphonic] texture, not specifically harmonic, but much more detailed and intricate."11

The texture of the mbira ensemble is further enriched by hosho and ngoma players.12 Transforming the texture of the ensemble, the hosho and ngomas create rhythmic patterns that enhance the overall sound. Tension, produced by subtle cross-accentuation of polyrhythms, exem-

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Example 1. Excerpt of traditional Zimbabwean music. Transcribed by Linda F. Williams.

^### i ^:rr:L Cf ?r r d mr

#### yhj , 7 J77 J^ DJ7 ;7 ; 7 7#?## f f f, f f f ? r f r ^ c-c-j ,

.Y /tB v 6. ./ j 7 Y y ,4 r/ , .

11X 7 X X X7 I i X J. X 7. IJ X XX > r m f- m m m* r m fm m y r.

.f i - y ^

. y r r

I I I I

plifies the role of ngoma players. In this setting, the ngoma fulfills an important function by indicating the changes in tempo: it holds all the players together. In addition to the musical performance, many partic- ipants dance to create an ambiance of festivity around the entire event.

In Zimbabwe, as in many African countries, music has always played a prominent role in an individual's life. During the initial phase of music acquisition, young children rely mainly on the ability to imitate their elders when singing, dancing, and playing the drums, tambourines, or rattles. Following this early period, young musicians are encouraged to experiment on instruments that they construct themselves. During more advanced musical training, children absorb themselves with intense listening and aural practicing or ear train- ing.13 Early missionaries designed the solfeggio curriculum even as Zimbabweans freely adapted European four-part harmony to their rhythmically complex musical system. The Zimbabweans' mastery of chord progressions, combined with aural methodological approach- es, led eventually to the formation of African popular music.

Missionaries who taught music in Zimbabwean schools were not

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I I I I

Williams

initially willing, however, to allow the Zimbabweans to fuse their re- gional musical concepts with European forms. The guitarist Andrew Chakanyuka describes this conflict: "At first, many of the missionar- ies were critical of our music. They would not allow us to stray away from their straight-fashioned melodies. In the beginning, their efforts in teaching us how to sing straight music became a fruitless task."14

With time, individual missionaries realized the importance of maintaining elements of traditional music that would not impede the teaching of European music to a highly musical and diverse group of people. They then began to allow indigenous musical ele- ments to remain in the melody of anthems and hymns. Chakanyuka further explains: "When they realized that we were creatively as- similating their four-part harmony into our musical system, they became less skeptical. Although they may have not intended for us to change the texture of those songs, they eventually recognized that it was easier for them to teach by allowing us to be more creative."15 As the Zimbabwean musicians integrated European four-part har- mony into their musical system, they created distinct expressive forms that were consonant with their cultural aesthetic, and the mis- sionaries' early attempts to suppress indigenous musical character- istics were largely unsuccessful.

During the early 1900s, as the British settlers established themselves throughout Zimbabwe, the attack upon indigenous musical forms and all other aspects of African culture became inscribed into law. The "Pass Laws" and the "Native Registration Laws" were among the most repressive ones imposed by the white settler government.16 As a result of these laws, Africans could not leave their workplace with- out the written permission of their white employer. In response to oppression of indigenous populations, Zimbabwean musicians be- came the agents for the creation of a resistance subculture.

The African American Connection: Musical Activities in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe witnessed during the early 1930s a massive migration of Africans from the rural communities into urban areas. By creating the Land Apportionment Act of 1930, the settler government institution- alized a racially based division of land. This systematic policy forced many Africans to reside on desolate and infertile land. According to Munhamu Utete, a social historian,

Racial segregation in the ownership and use of land was soon in- troduced with the establishment of two 'native reserves.'... These reserves, which set the pattern for the creation of subsequent ones,

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largely sandy and without adequate water and rainfall, could scarcely provide the springboard for African economic survival, let alone development, in colonized Zimbabwe.17

Enacting excessive tax laws and assigning themselves as legal prop- erty owners of the fertile land, the settler government displaced Zim- babwean people and made it virtually impossible for African fami- lies to farm successfully.

During the 1930s many Africans who were denied cultivable land migrated to urban centers in search of jobs. Zimbabwe witnessed a sudden rise of itinerant musicians (omasiganda),18 who traveled throughout the country singing and accompanying themselves on homemade guitars. Responding to new realities and surroundings, many musicians drew upon and transformed the traditional sounds of the past into a contemporary urban tradition.

The widespread diffusion of American urban blues in Zimbabwe during the mid-1930s coincided with the advent of gramophone records. Zimbabwean musicians learned their skills by emulating art- ists on gramophone records, and in the late 1930s many musicians acquired their skills by listening to recorded tapes featured on radio broadcast programs. The opportunity not only to listen, but to listen repeatedly to this music, deepened the Zimbabweans' appreciation of African American music and, consequently, increased their desire to understand the blues. Guitarist Jacob Mhungu, an early omasigan- da, spoke of his exposure to African American music:

We heard on the radio that blacks in the United States were playing a form of music called the Blues, so we tried locating blues records to adapt to our style. Many of us Zimbabwean musicians began our careers by imitating the blues musicians from the United States. Af- ter recognizing that many people here enjoyed what we were do- ing, we started entertaining people in the townships. Record com- panies from as far as South Africa would come here to record us.19

Omasiganda played on the streets and in public train and bus ter- minals. They paralleled the rural blues musicians in the United States described by Eileen Southern in The Music of Black Americans: A His- tory (1997):

The early anonymous singers of the blues were often wanderers, sometimes blind, who carried their sorrowful songs from one black community to another, some of them sauntering down the railroad tracks or dropping from freight cars, others coming in with the packet boats, and yet others coming via the dirt road, having caught a ride on a wagon or in a later time, on a truck. They sang their songs in the railroad stations, on the street cor-

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ners, in eating places, in honky-tonk night spots, and even on the trains. They also could sing happy blues for community social affairs, dances, and picnics.20

Similar circumstances caused both Zimbabwean and African Ameri- can musicians not only to move into the cities, but also to create new forms of musical expression.

In urban areas throughout Zimbabwe, whites controlled the pow- er structure, yet economic growth depended entirely upon African labor. Many musicians lived in overcrowded townships (situated on the outskirts of the city), a location similar to the African American ghettos. The total lack of power that many musicians felt in urban areas resulted in their need to explore alternative musical paths.

Early African American influences upon urban Zimbabwean culture emerged during the late nineteenth century via black South African musicians who introduced minstrel shows throughout major cities in Zimbabwe. Minstrel shows had originated in the United States during the 1830s with white American actors who wore blackface makeup- using burnt cork or black shoe polish to darken both face and hands- to create stereotyped images of African American life and culture.21 Singing, dancing, and telling jokes, these white actors portrayed Afri- can Americans as "senseless, illiterate, and irresponsible." During the 1860s astute white businessmen organized and advertised African American troupes, calling them "authentic" minstrels.22

Several of these African American troupes (dressed in blackened- face like their white counterparts) toured globally during the late nine- teenth century, several making extended tours through South Afri- ca.23 The popularity of this form of entertainment in South Africa during the 1880s led to the formation of South African minstrel troupes that traveled to Zimbabwe and presented parodies of tradi- tional African life. By the 1930s minstrelsy had become one of the most popular forms of theatrical entertainment in Zimbabwe.

In the United States, on the other hand, minstrel shows were trans- formed around the turn of the century into vaudeville productions. These productions likewise influenced the Zimbabwean musical tra- dition. Vaudeville featured performers as individuals, rather than a col- lective performance of musicians in specialty acts. Inspired by the American example, groups such as the Bantu Actors and the Epworth Theatrical Singers emerged in Zimbabwe during the early 1940s. Zim- babwean historian Joyce Makwenda describes these changes:

Vaudeville productions became variety shows featuring different segments of comedy sketches, dancing, acting, singing, and all types of entertainment. In order to break the monotony on stage,

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beauty contests became a main feature. Although the beauty con- tests highlighted women actors, singers, and dancers, the entire show generally centered itself around male performers. We nev- er imagined painting our faces because each performer wanted to be seen in order to gain prestige. One man even commercial- ized Coca-Cola by eating three loaves of bread in five minutes and drinking a coke to clear his digestive system. These shows catered to entertainment, and musicians were trying in all means to please the township audiences.24

Many young African women and men who were central to vaude- ville productions in the 1940s later became important leaders in Zim- babwe's musical history.25

Heavily influenced by African American group singing during the late 1940s, the formation of jazz vocal groups (consisting of five to six singers), popularly known as amakwayas,26 gained prominence in townships throughout Zimbabwe. Forming the nucleus of urban musical entertainment, accompanied by an upright bass player, two electric guitarists, and a drummer (using only snare drum and cym- bals), these groups superimposed their own vernacular languages (Shona and Ndebele) over African American blues lyrics. This hybrid form of African and African American music became known as "township jazz,"27 a term adopted from South African musicians. Ul- timately, these groups provided a source of inspiration and an aes- thetic framework for urban vocal music in Zimbabwe.

During the early 1950s women in Zimbabwe began to pursue ca- reers as solo artists. Unlike many women in other African countries where African American music was less well known, Zimbabwean female musicians toured extensively and gained prestige in the mu- sic industry: "To the young Gay Gaieties Jazz was but a way of life. They sang the Jazz of the Townships and crooned those blues which make American Negroes great.... Their voices and lithe movements sent out a continuous stream of electrons to the gents of the audience.... Thus the Gay Gaieties were pioneers of Jazz."28 These early female musicians explored the performance path for African women in Zimbabwe and created a prominent role for the place of women in show business.29

By the mid-1950s township music had become popular not only in Zimbabwe but also in the surrounding central African countries of Malawi, Zambia, and Zaire. By combining their own traditions with African American cultural models, the Amakwaya groups ultimately created a distinctive style of township music, transferring African American idioms into an African expression.

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Another major impetus for the diffusion of American music in Zim- babwe was the touring of popular African American r&b and jazz musicians, who began performing in Zimbabwean cities during the 1950s. Louis Armstrong, a premier innovator of early jazz in the Unit- ed States, toured southern Africa and performed in Zimbabwe in 1957. Greatly inspired by the Zimbabwean township jazz that he heard there, Armstrong returned to the United States and later taped the song "Skokiaan," which was originally composed and released by the Zimbabwean saxophonist August Musarurwa.30 The song's title re- fers to Skokiaan (a home-brewed liquor served at tea parties in the townships). Prevalent during this period, and similar to the speak- easies in the United States, Zimbabweans organized "tea parties" as a disguise for rent parties, in order to raise funds for families who lacked appropriate income. In somewhat the same way that Ameri- can speakeasies allowed the consumption of liquor during Prohibi- tion, Zimbabwean tea parties were an occasion in which hosts served their guests cups of Skokiaan rather than tea throughout the night. The white authorities made countless efforts to ban such gatherings, but police raids proved fruitless.31

Musarurwa's recording of "Skokiaan" had received high ratings in the United States in 1954, seven years before Armstrong's version. Al- though the Armstrong version became more popular, Musarurwa's transnational hit was one of the first foreign releases of African town- ship music in the United States, demonstrating the reciprocal musi- cal influence between the continent of Africa and the Americas.

African Nationalism, Music, and Education With the rise of African nationalism during the late 1950s, Zimbabwe- an musicians (both Africans and coloureds)32 defied racial segrega- tion by organizing multiracial concerts. Vocalist Pat Travers states:

In order to persuade whites that all Africans, regardless of color, are human beings of the same stock, we decided to break new grounds. Receiving permission from the Group Area Act Com- mission, our band [from Arcadia, a coloured community] orga- nized a concert in the city center and invited Africans, coloureds, and whites. Generally, Africans could not enter downtown clubs, and on certain occasions, we [coloureds] could enter with suffrage. During this concert and before the end of our first set, people of all races filled the club to its capacity. This outright gesture proved that there were no bounds in music. When the Rhode- sian police finally arrived to disperse the crowds, we had finished our show.33

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Jazz concerts were the only places where people of all races could mingle; thus they provided a space for racial mixing in a divided so- ciety. The mere fact that diverse people could associate peacefully posed a threat to the segregated practices of the white minority gov- ernment. Jazz clubs came constantly under surveillance and were fre- quently raided by the policemen.34

Intensifying the erosive quality of racial segregation was the Afri- can Education Act (1959), which provided government-sponsored education for Zimbabweans. Because this law limited African educa- tion to serving only the labor needs of the white minority, it posed no threat to the white working class. Marshall Murphree explains:

A very few Europeans believed that it was in the best interest of the country, and everyone in it, to reduce the social and economic gap between the races, but the majority preferred a type of edu- cation which would inculcate a bare literacy "without breeding inconvenient ambitions," thus ensuring them [the Europeans] a mass of unskilled labour to form the basis of their pyramid.35

The public schools were divided into a three-tiered educational sys- tem for whites, coloureds (mixed ethnic groups), and Africans. Afri- cans were restricted to entrance in coloured school grounds; coloureds were not permitted to enter Rhodesian schools, except for sporting events; Africans were prohibited from entering Rhodesian school grounds altogether unless they were domestic servants.

Most Zimbabweans realized that until the level of their education equaled that of the white minority they would remain oppressed and would never achieve control of their own country. The government's refusal to implement equal education ultimately led to the Zimbabwe- ans' quest for equal rights.36 In such an era of rising political aware- ness, Zimbabwean musicians were no longer willing to be restricted by white authority. This shift in political ideology resulted in a re- conceptualization of music not only as entertainment, but also as a viable vehicle for political expression. As the Zimbabwean saxophon- ist/bassist Simangaliso Tutani recalled:

Looking critically at our surroundings, we began to write songs about freedom, human rights, and education. The Epworth The- atrical Singers became an immediate success after their record- ing of "Education Is Good." Personally, I believe that our direct influence came from the Blacks in the United States, who strug- gled for equal rights during the civil rights movement.37

Similar ideologies, yet different circumstances, had given rise to a different expression of African American music in the United States

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ten years earlier. Bebop and rhythm and blues emerged in the United States during the 1940s when young African American musicians be- came increasingly aware of the social, political, and economic prob- lems that attended the exploitation of their music by white band- leaders. Reacting to the reaping of financial rewards by white musicians who performed and appropriated jazz, African American musicians redirected their musical energies into creating a new style, bebop.

The ultimate goals of social and economic equality that African American and African musicians shared provided the cornerstone for a similar response by Zimbabwean musicians against white authori- ty in their country. The Zimbabwean assimilation of African Ameri- can values became particularly important since status in urban Zim- babwean society depended upon the degree of one's conformity to the Western world. While making this adjustment in the late 1950s, many Zimbabwean musicians began to recognize the affinity between their struggle and that of the African American civil rights movement. Throughout this period, Zimbabwean musicians searched for exter- nal musical forms of American music to express their growing desire for autonomy-their resistance both to oppression and to the Rhode- sian government in general.

Despite the repressive policies of the Rhodesian government, town- ship jazz continued to flourish. During the mid-1960s, however, with the increased and steady imposition of the government's quasi-apart- heid policies, township music became isolated as the white settler government made its final proclamation, its Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from Great Britain.

Restriction of "Township Jazz" and the Flight of Zimbabwean Musicians

The intensification of African nationalism during the early 1960s led to a substantial number of African countries achieving full indepen- dence. Aware of the success of other African countries, in 1965 the set- tler government entrenched its powers and hoped that the British gov- ernment would support it. Great Britain, however, refused to do so.

As a result, the Rhodesian Front Party came to power with a polit- ical platform that opposed social reforms and the immediate grant- ing of equal rights to African people. Accordingly, the Unlawful Or- ganisations Act,38 designed to give the white minority group power to restrict and ban African political parties, was intensified with the introduction of the mandatory death penalty for noncapital offens- es.39 The newly installed government attempted to break ties with Great Britain in an effort to become totally self-governing, particu-

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larly in respect to education, welfare, and the rights of African peo- ple.40 Its first defiant legislative act was passage of the Unilateral Dec- laration of Independence of 1965. Whereas Great Britain insisted on majority rule, members of the white minority (under the leadership of Prime Minister Ian Smith) decided to take matters into their own hands.

Max Mlonyeni, the chief representative of the African National Congress, describes the cruelty of the Rhodesian Front Party: "Liv- ing conditions in Zimbabwe under the power of the Rhodesian Front [1962-79] were much more atrocious than earlier periods. Some of the most horrendous crimes in Zimbabwean history occurred during Ian Smith's regime. The systematic killings of black men, women, and children became the order of the day."41 Steven Chifunyise, Deputy Secretary to the Vice President (formerly the Deputy Secretary for Culture, Ministry of Education, and Culture) similarly recalls the bru- tality of Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front Party:

It's ironic that during the time when Zimbabwe was known as the Federation of Rhodesia, racial tension, as obnoxious as it was, became even more intolerable during U.D.I. [the Unilateral Dec- laration of Independence] when Rhodesians broke allegiance with the British government. I mean those guys simply became ex- tremely notorious by enforcing laws that perpetuated the most evil injustices.42 In response to the escalating racial tension in Zimbabwe, as well

as the government's unprecedented Unilateral Declaration of Inde- pendence, the United Nations imposed sanctions on the country in the form of an oil boycott, a halt of capital exports, and a seizure of all funds in the reserve bank controlled by the Rhodesian Front Par- ty.43 The average person experienced the impact of these sanctions severely during the period of the UDI (1964-80), and the effects were not merely economic hardships. The declaration altered the subcon- scious and, eventually, the cultural behavior of musicians. According to Michael Lannus,

During U.D.I., many musicians were led to believe that every- thing that was glorious and wonderful came from outside of Zim- babwe. That feeling stemmed from the fact that we were seclud- ed from the rest of the world. Cultural ties were cut, cultural links were severed, we began to feel that everything wonderful exist- ed beyond our reach. Everybody who was living in this country began to feel that they were not accepted by the rest of the world.... That is precisely why many Zimbabweans, today, con- tinue to have an inferiority complex!44

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During the years of the UDI, Zimbabweans saw increased sup- pression of their social space due to governmental control of night- clubs, radio, television, and the press. Performance of jazz was confined to beer halls, and the surrounding areas were heavily pa- trolled by armored cars and white constables. Through such con- straints upon personal freedom the white authorities sought to di- minish the creative potential of the performing artists. According to Stephen Chifunyise,

The quality of music in beer halls was obviously not as competi- tive and as good as before, when jazz musicians were perform- ing in concert facilities, because musicians couldn't play artistic music. In the beer halls musicians functioned mainly as a mech- anism to keep people dancing. Composers were really not rec- ognized in this environment, because in these beer halls nobody cared to listen to the lyrics or music.... Because of the govern- ment's restrictive policies, the only base where these musicians could make it was to go into these beer halls. And, it was not a very lucrative situation.45

Bandleader Paul Lunga recollects, moreover, that patronizing beer halls during this period could be a life-threatening experience:

Beer halls were heavily patrolled by armored cars. Outside ev- ery club was a riot squad. So even if they had you inside there, if you were in the pub and you started singing something that perhaps may or may not be revolutionary, they [the policemen] would come in for you and pick you up, or perhaps shoot you if they desired to do so . . ., depending on who was assigned as the commanding constable for that particular evening.46 Curfews and restrictions on group meetings were among the many

limitations to freedom imposed not only upon jazz musicians, but upon all Africans during this period. By 1966 the government had reinforced the Vagrancy Act of 1960, which allowed the police to ar- rest any African found in downtown Harare after 7:00 P.M. without proof of employment or "adequate" means of support. Only whites were permitted to walk downtown after curfew hours. Failure to ad- here to regulations resulted in arrest or other punishment. African musicians were particularly victimized by this legislation, for it pre- vented them from performing in major clubs. Guitarist Jacob Mhun- gu recounted many experiences relating to the Vagrancy Act:

In those days when I walked down the streets, I felt as though I had a race tag stapled to my forehead. Even on stage while per- forming at major hotels, we had to play behind the curtains,47... so as not to offend the racist sensibilities of white people. Even more

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demeaning, we were severely attacked by white police constables during broad daylight if we took the chance to walk on the side- walk near a white person.48

Eventually, white bands from Zimbabwe and South Africa, who performed their versions of rhythm and blues, replaced African jazz musicians in most downtown Zimbabwean clubs. Musicians (both African and coloured) could no longer work in the downtown areas, despite their previous popularity. Such changes on the Zimbabwean musical scene had other consequences as well. Stephen Chifunyise maintains,

U.D.I. destroyed our entire jazz community.... Women in the past came out with their husbands and families to enjoy the entertain- ment. However, U.D.I. has since destroyed the entire family-con- cept and the family audience. It therefore made performing less accessible to African women, since the minority government man- dated African musicians to perform only in beer pubs, while leav- ing concert halls and theaters open to whites only.49

Ultimately, the repressive legislative policies of the Rhodesian Front Party caused many groups to disband,50 forcing musicians to choose from among slim options: join the liberation struggle or emigrate. Many chose to leave Zimbabwe, including Jacob Mhungu, who re- called, "I left because of the intolerable social conditions here in Zim- babwe. So I decided to move to Zambia. Within two weeks, I man- aged to find employment... performing in major hotels throughout the country. It was not until after Independence that I returned to Zim- babwe."51 Pianist Christopher Chabuka also discussed reasons why he left Zimbabwe during the late 1960s:

I left this country because I began to feel that there were so many things we could not experience that were barred against us be- cause of U.D.I. It wasn't simply equated to an issue where things were denied to us because people were trying to change things for our benefit. We were excluded from every possible opportu- nity. We never had a chance to experience life in even the sub- dued manner we had been accustomed to before U.D.I.52

According to Dr. Gibson Mandishona, the director of the Central Sta- tistical Office, Zimbabwean musicians contributed to the growth of jazz in other countries throughout the African Diaspora during this period:

During U.D.I. there was a vacuum, a deprivation of all the peo- ple who played jazz music. While there was a partial evacuation here, on the other hand, these very same people pioneered jazz in respective countries where they were traveling. In Zambia, it

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was the [Broadway Quartet] which brought jazz there. In Ethio- pia it was Chakanyuka and his group. I remember in Uganda, too, there was a Zimbabwean who went there during that time who started a jazz band. And Timothy Sikova organized a jazz group in Botswana.53

Thus, while African American music and township jazz were forced to become less prevalent in Zimbabwe during the mid-1960s, Zimbab- wean musicians were developing and introducing these musical tra- ditions in other African countries. By 1965 a majority of the renowned jazz musicians had left Zimbabwe, leaving a void in the country's musical life, or, in the words of Andrew Chakanyuka, creating an "era of silence":

Every single jazz musician that I can recall left this country dur- ing that period [UDI]. A country without musicians is bound to create an era of silence. If we had stayed, we would have been forced to continue playing in beer halls, some of which I call "negative nothings." And this all came about because of white racism. Imagine, white racism in Africa? Black people were afraid to go out to clubs, so attendance was off. The young people were running away to be trained in guerrilla camps for the Liberation War. To be a jazz musician, you must be a traveler, and you go to where people are willing to listen. So by the grace of God, and having an opportunity to get out of this country, I went to Eu- rope and, fortunately, I reaffirmed my own identity.54

Epilogue Since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, other African American- and Carribbean-derived musical forms have emerged as entertain- ment for public consumption in that country. Reggae music, which had briefly played on Zimbabwean radio stations during the 1970s, became one of the prevalent styles of Zimbabwean culture after in- dependence, when Jamaican musicians were finally allowed to trav- el and perform in the country.55 Exposure to Jamaican musicians in southern Africa inspired Zimbabwean musicians to form reggae bands and blend their music tradition with Jamaican styles.

Since the mid-1980s hip-hop culture and rap have received great attention from young Zimbabwean musicians, and this has clearly become a concern for that government's cultural officials.56 Perhaps these officials are critical and suspicious of foreign forms of music that seem to threaten local musical practices, in response to long years of missionary repression of traditional Zimbabwean music. These offi- cials also feel that Zimbabwean musicians are now too much under

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the sway of other musical traditions, to the detriment of their own tradition, and that they should make a greater effort to maintain and develop regional music genres.57 Gabriel Machinga argues, however, that Zimbabweans should enjoy music from outside the country and should explore, at the same time, the values of their own music tra- dition to build new ideas.58

While many commercial styles of popular music moved to the fore- front of Zimbabwean musical consciousness immediately before and after independence, the audience for American music remained lim- ited to a small class of Zimbabweans, expatriates, and visiting for- eigners who frequented the jazz bars, nightclubs, and hotels in down- town Harare. Since the late 1980s, however, jazz has begun to grow in popularity, attracting enthusiastic audiences from all classes and age groups. Many musicians study abroad and bring ideas back home; coupled with what is already in Zimbabwe, they help to foster new explosions of creative energy.

In conclusion, two African jazzmen, Jethro Shasha (a Zimbabwe- an) and the late Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (a Nigerian), address the issue of the transatlantic reciprocity of African and African American mu- sic. The drummer/percussionist Jethro Shasha maintains that Zimbab- wean musicians are heavily influenced by African American musical styles because of the aesthetic framework found in the creative ex- pression of jazz:

Like African Americans, we Zimbabweans can attest to the fact that a good musician cannot possibly create until he [or she] learns to develop the melodic and rhythmic features of the mu- sic. African American music in the United States has an aesthet- ic framework in which Zimbabweans can relate. The creative free- dom in jazz is very important for our musical development.59

According to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, "I had been using jazz to play African music, when really I should be using African music to play jazz. So it was America that brought me back to myself."60

NOTES

The research for this study was sponsored by a Fulbright Fellowship (1992-93), whose support I gratefully acknowledge. I wish also to thank the many musicians and col- leagues in Zimbabwe who gave of their time, knowledge, thoughts, and suggestions during the course of my field research.

1. Zimbabwe was colonized by the British statesman Cecil Rhodes (the leading offi- cial of a newly installed British South Africa Company). In 1923 the early white settlers passed a referendum establishing a self-governing colony and renaming the region South- ern Rhodesia. The term "Rhodesia" represents the epitome of oppression; therefore, be- fore 1980, while Zimbabwe was officially the Republic of Rhodesia, Africans collective-

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ly referred to their country as "Zimbabwe." Thus, I use the term Zimbabwe throughout the text. After overthrowing the Rhodesian government in 1980, African people reclaimed their country as "Zimbabwe."

2. The Shona people, who constitute the main language group (75%), are descen- dants of the Munhumutapa and Chanagamire Empires of early Zimbabwean history; the Ndebele (20%) are descendants of the Zulu people of South Africa; the coloureds (0.5%) are descendants of mixed-ethnic groups; and the whites (1.5%) are descendants of the early European settlers from Great Britain. Other groups such as the Tonga, Ven- da, and Shangaan comprise a small segment (3%) of the African population (Cause- way, Harare: Central Statistical Office, 1993 Census).

3. Abbey Lincoln, "Who Will Revere the Black Woman?" in The Black Woman: An Anthology, ed. Tony Cade (New York: Signet, 1970), 80.

4. Patrick O'Meara, Rhodesia: Racial Conflict or Coexistence? (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1975), 193.

5. Quoted in I. M. Fletcher, David Livingstone: A Short Portrait of the Great Mission- ary-Explorer (London: Manchester, 1974), 312-13.

6. Nathan Shamuyarira, "The Bible and the Gun," in Basil Davidson's Africa: A Voy- age of Discovery, videocassette (EMPAK Publ., 1984), 57 minutes.

7. Emmanuel Ribeiro, interview with author, Oct. 19, 1993 (Bloomington, Ind.). 8. Thomas Westgate, "A New Era," International Church Missionary Gleaner 40 (Feb.

1913): 56. 9. This statement is corroborated in extensive interviews with senior musicians-

e.g., Andrew Chakanyuka, Dumisani Maraire, Jacob Mhungu, and Simangaliso Tut- ani.

10. Simangaliso Tutani, interview with author, Mar. 5, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 11. Dumisani Maraire, interview with author, Nov. 4, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 12. The instrumentation of a Bira ensemble may consist of several musicians play-

ing mbiras (a set of tuned metal keys mounted on a wooden soundboard and placed within a gourd, which represents the resonating chamber); the hoshos (hand rattles made from dried shells filled with pebbles and attached to a small stick); and the ngomas (drums of various sizes).

13. Louis Mhlanga, interview with author, Jan. 2, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 14. Andrew Chakanyuka, interview with author, June 2, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 15. Ibid. 16. For a discussion of these laws see, e.g., Claire Palley, The Constitutional History

and Law of Southern Rhodesia, 1888-1965, with Special Reference to Imperial Control (Ox- ford: Clarendon Press, 1966).

17. Munhamu Utete, The Road to Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Settler Colonial- ism, National Liberation, and Foreign Intervention (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1979), 12-13.

18. Predecessor of the Zimbabwean jazz musician. 19. Jacob Mhungu, interview with author, Apr. 9, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 20. Eileen Southern, The Music of Black Americans: A History, 3rd ed. (New York:

Norton, 1997), 332. 21. Robert Toll, Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-Century America (Lon-

don: Oxford, 1974). 22. Southern, The Music of Black Americans, 232. 23. For discussions of African American troupes in South Africa, see Josephine

Wright, "In Retrospect... Orpheus Myron McAdoo-Singer, Impresario," Black Per- spective in Music 4, no. 3 (Fall 1976): 320-27, and Veit Erlmann, African Stars: Studies in Black South African Performance (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991).

24. Joyce Makwenda, interview with author, Nov. 15, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 25. Kenneth Mataka (pianist and vocalist who established the Bantu Actors), Lina

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Mataka, Sonny Sondo, Dorothy Masuka, Moses Mphahlo, Faith Dauti, Susan Chenje- rai, Victoria Chingatie, Sylvia Sondo, and Kassim Chabata (interviews with Cha- kanyuka and Makwenda).

26. The Shona word amakwaya is derived from the English word "choir." It refers to new groups that originally sang religious music in missionary schools and later de- veloped a rhythm and blues style, emulating the same genre of African American pop- ular music.

27. For a full discussion of South African urban art forms, see David Coplan's In Township Tonight! South Africa's Black City Music and Theatre (London: Longman, 1985).

28. E.F.C. Sithole, "Women Set the Ball of Jazz Rolling," African Daily News, Jan. 11, 1958.

29. For an entire historical discussion of Zimbabwean women musicians, see An- gela Impey, "They Want Us with Salt and Onions: Women in the Zimbabwean Music Industry" (Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, Bloomington, 1992).

30. "Skokiaan" was performed and taped by Louis Armstrong and the All Stars in 1957-58 and later released on the album I Love Jazz in 1962 by Decca, DL 4227. Au- gust Musarurwa originally recorded "Skokiaan" with Gallo Record Company in South Africa (1950). "The song became an instant hit, and Msarurgwa became a household name through Zimbabwe" (Joyce Makwenda, "Skokiaan Still Popular," Harare Sunday Times, June 21, 1992).

31. Makwenda, interview with author. 32. Intense segregation resulting from the Colour Bar Act limited the rights of Euro-

African children (coloured) and protected the rights of white children (Rhodesian). Coloured children held a peculiar position in Zimbabwean society since many Euro- pean fathers chose not to move the child into their private homes, nor did many fa- thers visit the African reserves where the mothers lived (Mary Parsell, personal com- munication, June 30, 1992).

33. Cited in Joyce Makwenda, Zimbabwe Township Music, 1930s-1960s, videocassette (1991), 90 minutes.

34. Paul Lunga, interview with author, Oct. 29, 1992 (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe). 35. Marshall Murphree, Education, Race, and Employment in Rhodesia (Salisbury: As-

sociation of Round Tables in Central Africa [ARTC], 1975), 35. 36. Parallel circumstances and events sparked the advent of the American civil rights

movement in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. 37. Simangaliso Tutani, interview with author, Mar. 5, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 38. An act designed to give the authorities power to restrict and ban political par-

ties. For an in-depth analysis of the enactment of legislative laws in Southern Rhode- sia from 1888 to 1965 see Palley, The Constitutional History.

39. Vera Gowlland-Debbas, Collective Responses to Illegal Acts in International Law: United Nations Action in the Question of Southern Rhodesia, Legal Aspects of Internation- al Organization (Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva) 11 (Dordrecht, Netherlands: M. Nijhoff, 1990).

40. Although the 1923 referendum allowed the settlers to become a self-governing colony, they were not independent of Great Britain's rule.

41. Max Mlonyeni, interview with author, Feb. 11, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 42. Stephen Chifunyise, interview with author, May 17, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 43. Ken Flower, An Intelligence Chief on Record: Serving Secretly, Rhodesia into Zimbab-

we, 1964 to 1981 (London: John Murray, 1987). 44. Michael Lannas, interview with author, Oct. 14, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 45. Chifunyise, interview with author. 46. Lunga, interview with author. 47. "Playing behind the curtains" was an underlying theme in many of my inter-

views of older musicians.

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48. Jacob Mhungu, interview with author, Apr. 9, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 49. Chifunyise, interview with author. 50. Among other musicians who left Zimbabwe because of these restrictive laws

was the entire Broadway Quintet, under the leadership of tenor saxophonist Siman- galiso Tutani, which became the United National Independent Party Band for newly independent Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia). Zimbabwe's most renowned male vocalist, Sonny Sondo (member of De Black Evening Follies and the leader of the leg- endary City Quads), moved to Zambia and never returned. Alex Nkata, impresario and innovator of the Zimbabwean modern guitar style, left Zimbabwe and established a jazz group in Zambia. Guitarist Andrew Chakanyuka moved to Europe and returned only after Independence in 1980. Dorothy Masuka, known to many as "Auntie Dot," and to jazz circles as the "First Lady of Song," left the country, returning sporadically to perform at major jazz festivals.

51. Mhungu, interview with author. 52. Christopher Chabuka, interview with author, Mar. 3, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 53. Gibson Mandishona, interview with author, Aug. 7, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 54. Andrew Chakanyuka, interview with author, Apr. 23, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 55. The Independence celebration showcased reggae artist Bob Marley as the fea-

tured performer. 56. Chifunyise, interview with author. 57. Mandishona, interview with author. 58. Sunday Mail: Zimbabwe Herald Newspaper, June 27, 1993, A13. 59. Jethro Shasha, interview with author, Feb. 4, 1992 (Harare, Zimbabwe). 60. Cited in Edmund John Collins, "Jazz Feedback to Africa," American Music 5, no.

2 (Summer 1987): 189.

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