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John M. Janzen – Theories of music in African ngoma healing

The ngoma ritual gathering is held in the available houses, yards, and streets of those involved, in particular the one for whom the event is staged. In the urban settings these sites become 'situationally sacred'.  That is, the pivotal locations in the rituals are given definition by the actions and words of the participants, but immediately following the event the sites return to their conventional use and meaning.

Particularly, the evocation of the ancestors through song, incense or sacrifice creates an aura of sacrality in a particular place at a given time, however fleetingly.

Such an occasion was the nthlombe in 1982 called on behalf of Adelheid Ndika, senior Xhosa healer of Guguleto, to 'wash her beads' following the death of her mother, so she could continue in practice.

Since healers do not heal themselves in the thinking of African medicine, the event was sponsored by one of her 'sisters' in ngoma. The event was attended by a typically cosmopolitan southern African community of persons of Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho, Swazi, and 'Coloured' ethnic categories.

The 'washing of the beads' for Adelheid was done early in the weekend. To begin, a bucket of medicine was stirred up with a forked stick until it frothed over, while the presiding healer and those present sang.

The stirring and the singing were intended to get the attention of the ancestors so they would grace the occasion with their benediction.

Adelheid's mother was amongst these spirits, and was expected to now be content in her new status as ancestor. Likewise, the event was also a transition for her, or the relationship between mother and daughter, between freshly arrived ancestor and continuing-in-life daughter-healer.

As usual, the 'dirt' of pollution was ceremonially 'thrown out' onto the public street (alternatively it would be taken to the Indian Ocean), so that 'darkness could be replaced by light'. This motif occurs in some of the song texts recorded at this event, especially among the senior healers. Among the sufferer/novices, the songs are more commonly about personal matters. After the purification early on Saturday, and throughout the night from Saturday to Sunday, gathered healers and novice/sufferers turned their attention to doing ngoma therapeutic song-dance.

One of the senior healers led the session of doing ngoma in the main room of the house, together with the gathered sufferer/novices and occasionally others who were 'in therapy' with one of the senior healers but had not yet formally been accepted as novices. This group of a dozen or so individuals was surrounded by other novices, healers, family, friends and the general public who stood and sat alongside the four walls of the room. One of these individuals was the drummer, and the drum, typical in Capetown, was a cylindrical half of an oil barrel, with leather membranes stretched over both ends. One or two drumsticks were then used to beat out the rhythm. Others used metal shakers soldered together containing pebbles or seeds. Yet others joined in with hand-clapping. But the main initiators of the song-dance and the only ones who sang were those gathered in a tight circle in the centre of the room.