Rev. Dr. Elias Munshya

By Rev. Dr. Elias Munshya

Abstract

This article examines PK Chishala’s Impumba Mukowa, one of Zambia’s most socially and culturally layered kalindula songs. Drawing upon the linguistic, ethnographic, and moral dimensions embedded within its verses, the discussion explores how Chishala’s composition becomes a vehicle for transmitting matrilineal consciousness, mourning, and moral instruction among the AbaUshi people of Luapula Province. Through close textual interpretation, the song is read as both a lament and a lesson in identity continuity amid kinship fracture.

1. Kalindula as Oral Sociology

Kalindula music, long associated with popular entertainment, is equally a form of oral social commentary. Within the AbaUshi cultural matrix, it functions as a means of encoding social law, moral instruction, and communal memory. PK Chishala’s Impumba Mukowa exemplifies this function. Beneath its rhythmic cadence lies a deeply reflective account of family breakdown, matrilineal inheritance, and the contested meanings of belonging. The song’s central theme — the plight of children rendered homeless after their father’s death — mirrors the lived realities of kinship and succession in matrilineal societies across central and northern Zambia.

2. “Wali kungeba” and the Pedagogy of Belonging

At the heart of the song is the mother’s repetitive instruction to her children: “wali kungeba”. In the Bemba-Ushi linguistic field, this verb signifies continuous teaching and explanation over time. The mother does not merely tell; she nurtures through repeated remembrance. Her message — “tuli Ng’uni sha mulomo” — establishes identity and moral grounding. The expression “Ng’uni sha mulomo,” literally “birds with long beaks,” carries figurative associations with eloquence, courage, and sharpness of speech. It signals a clan lineage that values voice and verbal mastery.

Through this repetitive teaching, the mother safeguards her children’s consciousness of their matrilineal identity. Among the AbaUshi, as in most Luba-Lunda-derived communities, a child belongs to the mother’s clan. The father contributes paternity and provision, but the social identity — the ubwina — flows through the maternal line. Thus, the mother’s teaching is both genealogical and moral: it grounds her children within the clan’s cultural geography and moral order.

3. The “Cimuni” as Symbol of Alienation

The song introduces tension with the mother’s warning: “Mukaye kuli cimuni wenu”. “Go and live with your cimuni.” In everyday usage, cimuni refers to a quarrelsome or malicious relative, often one who delights in undermining others. Within this narrative, cimuni symbolizes the hostile aunt — the father’s sister — who becomes the oppressor of the orphans. The mother, anticipating their suffering, cautions them to remember their identity: even if they must live with cimuni, they must never forget that they are “Abena Ng’uni sha mulomo.”

When the father dies, the children indeed find themselves in the custody of this aunt. The maternal forewarning proves prophetic. The cimuni enslaves them (“cimuni ansangula umusha”), insults them deeply (“cimuni wa nshikula”), and forces them into constant labour (“cimuni wancitila mwana cilinda ibala”). These lines illustrate how kinship can transform into a site of servitude once maternal protection is lost.

4. Inequality and the Irony of Matrilineal Privilege

A striking image emerges in the line “kulya uko bacita abana babo nga basungu”. Literally, “her children are treated like white children.”  This expression highlights the visible inequality within the same household. The aunt’s biological children live comfortably, excused from domestic labour, and treated with privilege. The orphans, by contrast, are reduced to servitude.

This social contrast is not merely about class but about matrilineal privilege. In the matrilineal framework, the aunt’s own children are heirs to her clan and therefore secure within it. The orphans, however, belong to their late mother’s lineage, which gives them no inherent claim within the aunt’s household. Chishala’s song exposes the irony of this system: while it provides belonging and inheritance through the maternal line, it can also leave children exposed when that maternal connection is severed. The question lingers, if the aunt’s own children were to lose her, would they too become vulnerable before their father’s relatives?

5. The Father’s Words, “Ni tata wa twebele fwebene”

The father’s voice appears briefly yet meaningfully. The children recall: “Ni tata wa twebele fwebene.” Their father had merely told them (watwebele), unlike their mother who taught them (wali kungeba). The distinction between these verbs is crucial. The mother’s teaching is iterative and nurturing; the father’s is declarative and final. He had advised them that should he die, they should seek refuge with his sister at kwa Matanda — a locality under Chief Matanda, one of the ten Ushi chiefdoms ruled by the clan of Abena Mumba. Yet, this paternal instruction leads to alienation rather than refuge.

This dynamic captures the dual inheritance crisis within matrilineal societies: while maternal identity is secure, paternal protection remains conditional. Once the father dies, the children are effectively outsiders to his clan unless embraced by his sister. The aunt’s rejection thus represents not just cruelty but a structural reality of matrilineal kinship.

6. The Silence of the Ng’uni: “Tondolo tumfwe efyo bakotwamba”

The line “Tondolo tumfwe efyo bakotwamba” (Let us keep quiet and listen to what they say about us) — is among the most poignant in the song. It reveals the children’s resignation. The abena Ng’uni, the clan known for its eloquence, now fall silent. Their birthright as “birds of speech” is suspended by suffering. Chishala crafts here a tragic inversion: those defined by their verbal strength are reduced to voicelessness. Yet their silence is not submission; it is observation, endurance, and the gathering of moral insight.

7. Themes and Cultural Implications

The song’s multi-layered themes reflect both personal and collective concerns.

Matrilineal Identity: The song affirms the principle that belonging is traced through the mother. The mother’s role is to nurture and preserve this consciousness.

Loss and Displacement: The death of the father results in both emotional and social exile. The children’s cry for rescue is at once spiritual and existential.

Social Inequality: The contrast between the aunt’s own children and the orphans dramatizes structural inequity even within kinship networks.

Moral Endurance: Despite the mistreatment, the refrain “tuli Ng’uni sha mulomo” reasserts dignity and resilience. Identity survives oppression.

Impumba Mukowa is more than a kalindula ballad; it is an ethnographic text. It records how the AbaUshi understand kinship, morality, and endurance in the face of loss. PK Chishala transforms grief into pedagogy, and personal tragedy into a mirror of social structure. His composition reminds listeners that oral music in Zambia is both art and archive — a living record of how communities teach, remember, and survive.

The mother’s voice, “wali kungeba,” remains the enduring moral axis of the song. Through it, identity is preserved, and cultural memory is carried forward — long after fathers, aunts, and cimuni have faded from view.

The Author: Rev. Dr. Elias Munshya is a Kalindula enthusiast. He is a diplomat, lawyer, minister, and theologian. He holds eight earned degrees and currently serves as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary for Zambia to the Republic of Angola.