10 - Singing Songs and Performing Dances with Embedded Historical Meanings in Somalia

Summary

In Gosha villages, the performance of ritual dances is a very important marker of identity. Through initiation, dancers are also introduced to the higher and/or hidden meanings of the dances, which often relate to the history of flight from slavery. This chapter describes two of the dances: massewé, a dance performed by the descendants of the Yao of Malawi and northern Mozambique; and mseve, performed in villages of the Zigula speakers of Tanzania. Embedded in the songs of the descendants of slaves are memories of historical events and information about the socioeconomic conditions and status of the slaves. Mseve is a dance used by the Zigula to aid their flight from slavery. Massewé, by contrast, is a war dance and also an initiation ceremony. In Somalia, massewé songs with embedded historical meanings are played together with other chants that are designed to teach the young.