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Ngoma Memories: How Ritual Music and Dance Shaped the Northern Kenya Coast

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Rebecca Gearhart
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Abstract:

This essay integrates ethnographic data collected between Mombasa and the Lamu archipelago in Kenya into the growing body of scholarship on Swahili music and dance (ngoma) traditions. The analysis underscores how the Swahili have used ngoma events to stake claims to higher positions on the social ladder, negotiate difference, create socioeconomic security networks, establish and mark group identity, connect to the spirit world, and pass through various stages of the life cycle. Through a rich array of historical accounts by visitors to the coast, whose texts complement oral histories of coastal residents, the importance of ngoma in the Swahili-ization of the East African coast becomes apparent. A comprehensive understanding of the part ngoma organizations have played in the recreation and re-creation of Swahili society is possible only when one factors in the contributions made by residents of the northernmost portion of the “Swahili coast.”

Résumé:

Résumé:

Cet essai incorpore des données rassemblées entre Mombasa et l'archipel de Lamu au Kenya au corps de la recherche existante sur les traditions de la musique et de la danse (ngoma) swahili. L'analyse souligne la manière dont les Swahili ont utilisé des évènements ngoma en vue de réclamer un réajustement de leurs positions sur l'échelle sociale, négocier leurs différences, créer des réseaux de sécurité socioéconomique, établir et signaliser leur identité de groupe, se connecter au monde spirituel, et effectuer le rite de passage à travers les différentes étapes du cycle de vie. A travers un éventail riche de récits historiques de visiteurs de la côte, dont les textes complémentent les histoires orales des résidents de la côte, l'importance de la tradition ngoma au niveau de l'imprégnation de la côte est africaine par la culture swahili devient apparente. En vue de comprendre de manière globale le rôle que les organisations ngoma ont joué dans le renouveau et la renaissance de la société swahili, il faut prendre en compte les contributions apportées par les résidents de la partie la plus au nord de la côte swahili.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , December 2005 , pp. 21 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2005

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