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ISSN: 1570-0178Volume 3, Issue 3 ( 9 July 2001) |
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Le pouvoir
se mange entier
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In the broadcast the camera now sweeps
the village and the main road while the chief leaves the scene. There is drumming
and shouting and the village audience is carried along. Before members of the
television crew have managed to calm them down the actors, in a way using the
situation, embark on Scene Two: As they walk away from the court the "villagers"
comment on the chief's speech. The first exchanges are covered by the general
din. When, on the recording of the filmed performance, the dialog becomes intelligible
again we are in the middle of a revolt. However, there is much commotion and
little "text." What the exchanges may have been like we can reconstruct
by turning again to the June 26 rehearsal. On that occasion it became clear
that there are some dramatic problems with the scene. The plot does not provide
for a concrete incident or occasion that would make the rebellion plausible.
Instead, "contradiction" and "criticism" are invoked, not
as a description of what happens, but as motives. To translate this into action
and dialog required some discussion and several starts. Tala Ngai takes on the
role of the principal trouble maker.
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1. Tala Ngai: banduku
wee/ |
1. Tala Ngai: You, my
relatives. |
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2. Tala Ngai: shee hatumuelezea
kusema vintu vingivingi/ tunamulelezea asema kintu hiki... kimoya/ |
2. Tala Ngai: We did not
tell him to mention a lot of things. We told him to speak only about this
one... one thing. |
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3. Tala Ngai: kama utaanza
kulala na njala weye: est-ce que inamuangaria sultani? |
3. Tala Ngai: ...if you
begin to go to sleep hungry, is that the chief's business? |
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4. Tala Ngai: unasikia
njala/ ile saa: yua inaisha kuingia/ mutakulya bukari ao hautakulya? |
4. Tala Ngai: If you feel
hungry at the time when the sun has set are you going to eat your bukari
or not? |
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5. Kalwasha: angarie:
angarie baba/ |
5. Kalwasha: Look here.
Look here, baba. |
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6. Tala Ngai: anaanza
kusema na mambo ya busiku/ |
6. Tala Ngai: He begins
to talk about that business with the evening. |
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7. Tala Ngai: njo kusema:
hatutaimba tena tu mimbo: tunapigaka tena kengele hapana? |
7. Tala Ngai: That is
to say, we are not supposed to sing a song anymore, or ululate? |
| [Mufwankolo now intervenes with directions, then the recording resumes] | |
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8. Tala Ngai: asema kama
mugeni anakuya munapashwa kumuangaria mu ntumbo: hapana kumuangaria mu
nsula/ njo kusema yee anamikabulaka chakula kupatia bageni? |
8. Tala Ngai: He tells
us: when a visitor comes you must look at his belly, not at his face.
Does that mean the he [the chief] will distribute food among you to give
to the visitors? |
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9. Tala Ngai: munaitika
hii mambo anasema? |
9. Tala Ngai: Do you accept
the things he tells you? |
| [Now the other two notables, Bwana Cheko and Masimango, arrive; greetings are exchanged, there is ceremonial handclapping] | |
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10. Feza: inafaa mbele
kumiulizako hii mambo wa sultani alitoka mu kusema hapa: mwee munaona
nje? [Bwana Cheko and Masimango laugh] |
10. Feza: First I must
ask you about the things the chief brought up in his speech here. What
do you make of it? |
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11. Feza: kweli? ni ile
alisema sultani na mwee munaitika mwee? |
11. Feza: Is that so?
Do you accept what he said? |
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12. Feza: kama minapenda
kavumu kaloko: mi nitaenda kutosha wapi ingine ya kutolea ile mugeni anakuya
huku? nitaitosha wapi? mwee haba: hamuna bantu bazuri/ kama ulikuwa sawa
Tala Ngai huyu... |
12. Feza: I am all for
it that we get a little bit of a good reputation but where am I going
to get [the food to give] to the visitor who arrives here? Where am I
going to get it? Come on. You [to Bwana Cheko and Masimango], you aren't
decent people. If you were like this Tala Ngai... |
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13. Kalwasha: acha kwanza:
acha kwanza mama/ munyamashe mwee wote? |
13. Kalwasha: Hold it,
hold it, mama. Be quiet, all of you. |
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14. Masimango: mwee bababa:
banduku yetu.... |
14. Masimango: You, men,
our relatives.... |
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15. Masimango: sultani
alisema bintu bya: binyewe ya kabaila bintu hibi: bitatu/ |
15. Masimango: The chief
named three things in this order: |
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16. Masimango: kama wee:
bana: bana: banakamata bibi yako: unakamata bibi yako makozi: utapenda? |
16. Masimango: If you,
if they, if they take your wife, if you catch your wife fornicating, are
you going to like this? |
| [Here Mufwankolo intervenes again with some directions] | |
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17. Kalwasha:... ah sultani
njo muloshi wa kwanza.... |
17. Kalwasha: Ah, the
chief is the first sorcerer. |
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18. Feza: [to Tala Ngai]
chefu Muteba/ anasema muzuri: bintu biko hii bitatu sultani alisema
binene/ alafu ile ya jua ya kutoka huku ile: ilo njo kama inakuwa mwekunda
mwee bote mu nyumba? |
18. Feza: Chief Muteba
[=Tala Ngai] put it well as regards the three points about which the chief
talked at length. But this business about the sun that came up here --
when it turns red, all of you should be inside? |
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19. Bwana Cheko: hakusema
vile/ |
19. Bwana Cheko: He did
not say this. |
Now all talk at once and leave the
scene; Mufwankolo gives directions for Scene Three.
In the filmed performance, the dialog, as far as it is comprehensible from the
recording, follows the pattern set during rehearsal. At first, several actors
take turns to recall the major points of the speech obviously in order to incite
disagreement. There is no argument, simply enumeration greeted by angry exclamations
such as bongo, that's a lie, or hapana, no way. Then one of the
actors takes the line of social contestation.
| 1. Tala
Ngai: ...mambo ingine na miye/ mweye munaweza kuitika/ mutoto ya muntu
asema/ asema muntu asikwende kulimbalimba ku nyumba ya benyewe/ Actor: bongo/ ... .................... |
1. Tala
Ngai:...and I have something else; you can listen. It was said that
a person may not go around to some one else's house. Actor: That's a lie. ........................ |
| 2. Feza:
chefu eko nasema hivi: busiku bukiingia: mama: kama jua inakuwa mwekunda:
asipigie bukari/ ni bya kweli? Others: hapana/ bongo... .................... |
2. Feza:
This is what the chief said: When the evening comes and the sun turns red,
the women is not to prepare food. Is this true [acceptable]? Others: No way, it's a lie. ........................ |
| 3. Tala
Ngai: asema kama mugeni anakuya: umuangarie mu tumbo/ kama iko vile:
hatunamupeleka kwake? Others: kweli/ Tala Ngai: kama mugeni anakuya tunamupeleka wapi? Others: kwake/ .................... |
3. Tala
Ngai: He said, when a stranger comes, look at his belly. If it is to
be like this, should we not take the stranger to him? Others: Right. Tala Ngai: When a stranger comes, where are we going to take him? Others: To his [the chief's] place. ........................ |
| 4. Kalwasha:
yee ule chef: alafu ile: kwanza ile yee alisema: minasema: weeye
endake kulima mashamba/ oh sheye tukalime paka mu mashamba/ yee iko nakulya
bukari kwake ku mulango: shee tuko nakwenda kuikala paka ku mashamba/ bilonda
bitoka mu mikono... Others: hapana.... |
4. Kalwasha:
Oh, that chief! But above all he said: You go work the fields. Oh, we are
just to work in the fields! He has his meal at home while we go and stay
out in the fields. Sores come out on our hands.... Others: No way. |
Then Bwana Cheko, who had left the scene earlier in the chief's company, comes back and tries to calm the villagers by addressing them formally with an exchange of greetings. They respond, but when he tries to remind them of the chief's speech general dissent breaks out again. Once more they comment on his orders point by point. The people of Kawama village join the general shouting and merriment. Meanwhile there is a change of scene. Some of the actors who play the villagers leave.
1 An unusual
negative form (hatakuwapo would be regular) which in Katanga is often
cited as an example for ki-Union Minière, i. e. characteristic
of the dialect spoken in the workers' camps. It may be one of the few grammatical
"survivals" of Kikabanga ("Kitchen Kaffir," or Fanagalo,
which used to be the workers' language until World War I).
2 A Luba term for notable, see Van
Avermaet and Mbuya 1954: 360.
3 This is the local Swahili form of Bemba chisungu,
the girls' rites of puberty (described by Audrey Richards
1956).
4 Muyamaa means "friend, buddy". The derivation
is not clear; possibly from ba-mu-jamaa, "those in the family, members
of the same family".
5 A typical Shaba/Katanga Swahili form. ECS has nsya
for "small antelope" (Lenselaer 1983: 366).
In Katanga the term is kashia (in French -- as a loanword -- as well
as Swahili and Luba, see Van Avermaet and Mbuya
1954: 236). The prefix ka has tu as its plural form, hence tushia,
"antelopes".
6 Pombomfuko is a small rodent considered a delicacy.
It is often sold stretched and dried, resembling dried fish. I have been unable
to identify either term or animal.
7 A term, apparently not known in ECS, meaning "successor"
(see Lenselaer 1983: 321).
8 Here and in the following verbforms Kalwasha uses nu
instead of the expected mu or mi as pronominal affix. This is
one of the many ways in which he marks his speech as old fashioned, with much
interference from a local language.
9 For comical effect, Manyeke uses the Lingala verb for
"to be", -zala.
10 Chinywa, that is, kinywa with a local
accent, means "language".
11 Kalwasha's speech is elliptic; a translation is impossible
without adding some of the connections between parts of his statements that
are implied but not expressed.
12 Kalwasha throws this into the debate just for the sake
of annoying Bwana Cheko. It is clear that he is on the side of those who criticize
the chief.
13 This is a current proverbial expression. Hiding food
from (possible) visitors violates the rule of hospitality.
Lenselaer, Alphonse. (1983). Dictionnaire swahili-français. Paris: Editions Karthala.
Richards, Audrey. (1956). Chisungu. London: Faber and Faber.
Van Avermaet, E. and B. Mbuya. (1954). Dictionnaire kiluba - français. Tervuren: Musée Royale de l'Afrique Centrale.
[Scene 1 -The law of the land]
[Scene 3 - The case of the thief]
[Scene 4 - The hunter's visit]
[Scene 5 - The case of adultery]
[Scene 6 - Revolt in the fields]
[Scene 7 - The chief takes control - Order reestablished]