Ngoma

The tuning of the horns seems to be entirely hapharzard and is controlled by the fortuitous length and shape of the horns employed. The smaller boys played the shorter horns and the larger boys the longer horns. The bass horns needing more breath to blow them. This is a very wild kind of dance, with everyone dancing madly in a mob. The step is a short staccato, jigging step to and fro, very simple. Noise seems to be the main object and the dust thrown up by their feet in the alluvial soil of the river valley almost obscured the tight knot of dancers. The celeste caused by the treble pipes in deafening to an observer, but too high pitched to record. The names of the 7 drums from smal to large were:- 1) Gogogo, 2) Kingaridi, 3) Chamutanda, 4) Muntunda, 5) Mujinji, 6) Pininga, 7) Pati. The first four are played with sticks and the three others with hands. They are all the same basic shape being an almost square cut rectangular cylinder for a body and a hollow pipe of wood without foot for a base. They are all sung across the shoulder or held between the thighs for playing. Ngoma dance with Nyele end-blown antelope horn and set of Ngoma drum