: Mozambique - Information related to Intangible Cultural Heritage
- Date of deposit of instrument: 18-10-2007
- UNESCO Regional Officer for Intangible Heritage: Yoshida, Reiko
Following information is provided for easy reference, but has no official status. For comments or to update information, please contact the regional officer concerned via ich@unesco.org.
Since November 2008, the Representative List contains 90 elements of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Proclamation 2005: "The Chopi Timbila"
©Commission National de la République de Mozambique auprès de l’UNESCO
The Chopi communities live mainly in the southern part of Inhambane province in southern Mozambique and are famous for their orchestra music. Their orchestras consist of five to thirty wooden xylophones, called timbila, of varying sizes and ranges of pitch. The timbila are finely manufactured and tuned wooden instruments made from the highly resonant wood of the slow-growing mwenje (sneezewort) tree. Under each wooden slat, a resonator made out of calabashes is fastened, tightly sealed with beeswax, and tempered with the oil of the nkuso fruit, giving the timbila their rich nasal sound and characteristic vibrations. The orchestras are composed of timbila masters and apprentices of all age groups, with children playing next to their grandfathers.
Each year, several new pieces are composed and performed at weddings and other community events. The rhythms within each theme are complex, so that the player’s left hand is often executing a different rhythm from that of the right hand. Lasting about one hour, performances feature solo and orchestra themes, using varying tempi. Closely connected with the music are particular timbila dances that are performed by two to twelve dancers in front of the orchestra. Each timbila performance includes the solemn m’zeno song, performed by dancers, while musicians play softly and slowly. These texts, full of humour and sarcasm, reflect contemporary social issues and serve to chronicle community events.
Most experienced timbila performers are old. Although several timbila masters have started to train young musicians and have also included girls in their orchestras and dance groups, young people are increasingly losing contact with this cultural heritage. In addition, deforestation has led to the scarcity of the wood needed to produce the particular sonority of the timbila instruments.
Proclamation 2005: "The Gule Wamkulu"
©Malawi National Commission for UNESCO
Multinational ICH element: Malawi - Mozambique - Zambia
Gule Wamkulu was a secret cult, involving a ritual dance practiced among the Chewa in Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique. It was performed by members of the Nyau brotherhood, a secret society of initiated men.Within the Chewa’s traditional matrilineal society, where married men played a rather marginal role, the Nyau offered a means to establish a counterweight and solidarity among men of various villages. Nyau members still are responsible for the initiation of young men into adulthood, and for the performance of the Gule Wamkulu at the end of the initiation procedure, celebrating the young men’s integration into adult society.
Gule Wamkulu is performed in the season following the July harvest, but it can also be seen at weddings, funerals, and the installation or the death of a chief. On these occasions, the Nyau dancers wear costumes and masks made of wood and straw, representing a great variety of characters, such as wild animals, spirits of the dead, slave traders as well as more recent figures such as the honda or the helicopter. Each of these figures plays a particular, often evil, character expressing a form of misbehavior, teaching the audience moral and social values. These figures perform dances with extraordinary energy, entertaining and scaring the audience as representatives of the world of the spirits and the dead.
Gule Wamkulu dates back to the great Chewa Empire of the seventeenth century. Despite the efforts of Christian missionaries to ban this practice, it managed to survive under British colonial rule by adopting some aspects of Christianity. As a consequence, Chewa men tend to be members of a Christian church as well as a Nyau society. However, Gule Wamkulu performances are gradually losing their original function and meaning by being reduced to entertainment for tourists and for political purpose.
