Venda People - Music and Dance

Music and Dance

Various rituals are particular to the Venda and certain aspects are kept secret and not discussed with westerners, however, it is known that the python dance, conducted at the female coming of age ceremony (iconic to the Limpopo region) is usually where the chief chooses a wife.

Girls and boys dance fluidly, like a snake, to the beat of a drum, while forming a chain by holding the forearm of the person in front. Once a wife has been chosen a set of courtship and grooming rituals take place over a number of days.

The tshikona is traditionally a male dance in which each player has a pipe made out of a special indigenous type of bamboo growing only in few places around Sibasa and Thohoyandou (which are rarely existing). Each player has one note to play, which has to be played in turn, in such a way as to build a melody.

The tshikona is a royal dance, each sovereign or chief has his own tshikona band. Tshikona is played at various occasions for funerals, wedding or religious ceremonies, this can be considered as the Venda 'national music / dance', which is particular to Venda in South Africa.

The tshigombela is a female dance usually performed by married women, this is a festive dance sometimes played at the same time as tshikona. Tshifhasi is similar to tshigombela but performed by young unmarried girls (khomba).

The Mbila is played in the north of South Africa and more particularly by the Venda. It can be described as a keyboard made out of a piece of wood, which is the resonator, and with metal blades (made out of huge nails hammered flat) which are the keys.

While the Mbila is still widely played in Zimbabwe, in South Africa it is only played by a few old people, who sadly notice that most youngsters are uninterested in their own culture and let it die. The playing of the Mbila is one of the most endangered Venda traditions. The Venda style of playing Mbila is quite different from that of Zimbabwe or Mozambique.

Drums are central in Venda culture and there are legends and symbols linked to them. Most sets of drums are kept in the homes of chiefs and headmen, and comprise one ngoma, one thungwa, and 2 or 3 murumba.

Drum sets without the Ngoma may be found in the homes of certain members of the tribe, such as the doctors who run girls’ ’circumcision’ schools. Drums are often given personal names. Drums are always played by women and girls, except in possession dances, when men may play them.