Jari Mukaranga - Shona Folk Song

Jari Mukaranga

Jari Mukaranga is a folk song about a conversation between a man, who has many wives, and his first wife. In a polygamous union, the first wife or the most senior wife is supposed to be accorded a status of a Queen (Hosi) who deserves respect from the husband, junior wives and all the children. On the other hand, the most junior wife (Mukaranga) is expected or suspected to be the one the husband is romantically and sexually attracted to most.

Jari, is a checked blanket (pictured below) that was a very classy and famous blanket in Rhodesia. In Zimbabwe, I would hazard to say that only two blankets, the Puma and the Two-In-One have come close to the popularity and respect that a Jari had. Why would a blanket be so important? Blankets are very important in the Shona Culture. In some cases, they have a spiritual value. They are also an indication of someone’s standard of living, although researchers miss including “number of blankets” in their surveys. We will discuss more about blankets in future articles.

Image: Courtesy of Laurel Leaf Farm

In the song, the Hosi named Matichiveyi, is complaining that her husband bought a Jari blanket for the junior wife but did not buy one for her. The husband comforts his wife by reminding her that she is special to him as she is the one who “removed him from boyhood”, while he “removed her from girlhood”. He promises to buy her a Jari and in addition, buy her some grocery items. Then towards the end of the song the mood of the conversation  changes to sexual advances as husband and wife seal and celebrate the end of the conflict!

This folk song can be sung as a lullaby or where a number of people are doing some manual work that needs some rhythm such as winnowing, pounding, shelling, weeding etc. The lead singer sings one line and the backers also respond with one line.

Lyrics

L:                     Kwakutengera jari mukaranga ko ini Hosi?

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Ndokutengera jari mukaranga ko ini Hosi?

Backers            Jari mukaranga

L:                     Kuzotengera jari mukaranga ko ini Hosi?

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Nyarara mukadzi wangu

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Wakandibvisa mugota

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Ndichikubvisa munhanga

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Jari racho ndinotenga

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Zvinhu zvose ndichitenga

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Apa kasaga koupfu

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Apa kasaga keshuga

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Apa kadimbu kenyama

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Apa karofu kechingwa

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Apa kagodo kesipo

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Mukadzi wangu ndiwo jari

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Murume ndini hari

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Nyarara Matichiveyi

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Mukadzi chimbomira

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Ndere ndere ndere

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Amai sadza nehwahwa

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Nhai imi vaJari

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

L:                     Murume wacho ndiHari

Backers:           Jari mukaranga

Lyrics from AC Hodza,

#OurCultureOurHeritage

Kutanda Botso

In the Shona culture, it is gross abomination to grossly offend your  parent or grandparent. In the same culture, an offence against your mother or  maternal grandmother is rated more serious than one against your father. For example, if you push away your father, this is not as serious as pushing away your mother or grandmother.

It is believed that you will experience a litany of misfortunes if you happen to offend a parent and do not make things right by the offended parent. These misfortunes are  called Botso. The offences that rate botso usually involve humiliation of a parent such as physical and verbal abuse, rape, committing adultery with a stepmother or stepfather, having sexual relations with your parent’s partner, stealing your mother’s mombe yehumai (heifer given to a mother when her daughter marries or any cattle that the heifer subsequently issues) and so on.

The misfortunes can be anything from loss of money and property,  the propensity of being abused by others including strangers, mental illness, imprisonment and so on i.e. things that generally  humiliate and bring shame to an individual. It is only after consulting traditional or faith healers that the person is informed that his misfortunes are as a result of prior humiliation of his parent. In other words, that he has botso.

The prescription to the problem of botso is called ‘kutanda botso”, which literally means chasing away the botso. The process of kutanda botso is designed in such a way that it becomes the final humiliation of the offender, to make right the humiliation suffered by a parent because of his previous actions.

The good news is that, in the deliverance process, the community takes an active role in assisting the offender. If an offender, let us call him Maguchu, was prescribed “kutanda botso” as a solution to his problems, he approaches the Chief of the area for assistance. The Chief then calls his subjects to a meeting to inform his them that Maguchu has to go through  “kutanda botso” for committing such and such an offence. He gives  instruction that everyone should assist Maguchu.

Maguchu’s family and friends then dress him in torn clothes, give him a sack and send him on his way with instructions to come back in a month’s time. Maguchu  then goes around the district, begging for food, places to sleep and handouts of millet or rapoko or sorghum for brewing beer. His life for that month is similar to that of a begging vagrant.

The community, as instructed by the Chief, helps Maguchu but  after setting young children to jeer at him. Some throw more old and torn clothes at him. The community must not hurt him but just jeer at him. When Maguchu moves around the district, a stranger can mistake him for a vagrant or a person with mental illness and yet he does not have those problems.

After a month, Maguchu  returns home with his sack full of millet, rapoko or sorghum which is used to brew beer. Friends, not his family, brew the beer in a nearby forest. People come to celebrate his return. His friends then wash him and cloth him in brand new clothes that the friends would have bought for him.

His misfortunes will be over.

Therefore, if you see someone looking like a vagrant or have a mental illness, it is not always that they are in the process of “kutanda botso”. It is also a misnomer to say that someone who is facing misfortunes “ari kutanda botso” because “kutanda botso” is the deliverance part and not the misfortune part. The correct expression is “ane botso”, that is if you know that the person offended a parent.

Kutanda botso is an organized process of deliverance from botso or misfortunes. The beauty of the custom is in how the community comes together to assist the offender.

If you happen to offend your parent beyond limits, the best thing is to appeal for help from their siblings, aunts and uncles. They will intercede on your behalf and the matter will be resolved amicably before botso is visited upon you.

#respectyourparent

#hounourthyfatherandmother

Kuenda Mbire the Song and Original Lyrics

Kuenda Mbire

Background

Legend is that, in the old Mbire Province of 16^th Century or even before, that includes the present day Hwedza, there was a small venomous snake that was only found in this area. The venom was so poisonous that  if it fell on green wood or grass, it would dry up immediately. If it bit an animal, the latter’s hooves, teeth and horns would fall off within 24 hours. The Hwedza Mbires were famed for making war weapons such as spears, axes (gano) and arrows, on account of the fact that the Hwedza Mountains were full of iron deposits. The Nembire (Chief of the Mbires or Mwenembire) anointed his weapons with paste made from the venom of the little snake. The effect of the stab or cut from weapon was the same as the bite from the little snake. If ever you offended Nembire, you had nowhere to hide.

Kuenda Mbire, the song was sung by the Nembire’s enemies.

Today, Kuenda Mbire is a spiritual song that can be sung to invoke ancestral spirits, although the song, has been recorded by different artists, for purely entertainment purposes.

 Lyrics

Lead (L)           Kuenda Mbire, kuenda Mbire

                        Baba iwe Moyo

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ho-o iye!

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lead (L)           Kuenda Mbire, Vakomana iwe

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ho-o iye!

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lead (L)           Kuenda Mbire, Vasikana iwe

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ho-o iye!

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lead (L)           Ndiende mugomo monditevera

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ndikwire mumuti mondipotsera

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ndiende mugomo monditevera

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ndikwire mumuti mondipotsera

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ndipinde muguru, mahwekwe nemhungu

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ndipinde mubako, mondigovha

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lead (L)           Kuenda Mbire, Baba iwe Moyo

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ho-o iye!

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lead (L)           Ndoendepiko kusingasvikike?

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ho-o iye!

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lead (L)           Ndidoti mugwenzi nemago ndure

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lead (L)           Kuenda Mbire, Baba iwe Moyo

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ndichiti muchuru ndarumwa nenyuchi

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ndipinde mudziva mahwekwe negarwe

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lead (L)           Ndipinde mugonera mondidzivirira

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ndipinde mumvura mondipindira

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lead (L)           Nditizire murugwezhwa ndarumwa nenyoka

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ho-o iye!

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lead (L)           Ndozivepiko, vakomana iwe?

Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo

Lead (L)           Ho-o iye!

 Backing (B)     Ho-o hehwo, kuenda Mbire

Lyrics from Aaron C. Hodza (1974)