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Ancient industrial psychology through song and dance

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By Dr Michelina Andreucci

“IF trees are to be cut, one must sing; without the song the blade is blunt.”
This West African proverb explains how song was used in the agro-industrial realm of African communities to psychologically alleviate the rigors of labour.
For centuries, Zimbabwe has had its own integrated industrial psychology in the form of music and dance, where traditionally dances have a developmental, preventive or rehabilitative function.
Contrary to the reverence of individualism and the construction of separateness in the Western social fabric, the integrated and communal attributes of African performance is reflected in the way in which they perceived and experienced music and dance.
Dramatic as well as dynamic dance and song were used to interact with and establish harmony within the community group as well as with the environment.
The various songs and dances were composed and performed according to the social and economic situation (contextual) out of which they developed.
There is the well-known case in Zimbabwe of the Eastern Highlands Tea Estates, where the managing director held frequent traditional music and dance ceremonies (dandaro), to resolve various problems being experienced in the working community and restore harmony with the workers and environment. He was able to turn around the ailing company.
What roles can traditional dance and music play to boost morale in today’s workplaces and can music and dance assist in redressing the collective apathy in today’s ailing work milieu in Zimbabwe?
In many parts of Africa, singing, dancing and even assonance have traditionally been used to re-establish harmony and connect with the environment and with groups of individuals.
The longstanding understanding was that singing and dancing facilitated and even transformed some physically taxing and tedious work into a more amenable task through synchronised rhythmical movements and song, transforming necessary tedious activity into a recreational occasion.
The rhythmic movement was fundamental to collective work efforts.
Songs and movement were, and continue to be, physical and psychological strategies to ensure production efficiency and effectiveness; highlighting the ergonomic function of music in facilitating ease of labour
A united song would help to synchronise the collective movement of hoes, thus helping workers to maintain the same work rhythm.
The descending and ascending hoes were the rhythm markers; forcing the group to work at a certain regularity and to wait for everyone to pause and stretch.
Although over time, many traditional forms and practices in African music and dance have changed, the basic inherent principles and values associated with performances have remained intact and a significant barometer of how societies have had to marshal, adapt and reshape existing cultural resources and construct their own notions of mutual social integrity and spirit.
For instance, indigenous miners working on the South African mines sung the well-known song, ‘Shosholoza’, in order to help synchronise the movement of the picks through rhythm; which later spawned other well-known forms such as the ‘gumboot dance’, the revolutionary ‘Toyi-toyi’ chant and Johnny Kleggs’s modern-day ‘Nqguzu’ articulated in his video ‘Scatterings of Africa’.
The song pleased the mind, thus diverting it from pain.
Shona workers had a way of turning laborious work into an almost enjoyable task.
Hard labour in the fields was rendered less arduous and oppressive through singing songs; the rhythm of the songs corresponding and harmonising with the pace and tempo of the work.
Often conflicts were also resolved through a bira or dandaro ceremony, in which traditional songs and dances are used to call up the ancestral spirits of the land to assist in collective problem-solving.
The cathartic dandaro ceremonies assisted communities and families to cope with difficulties, fears, uncertainties, illness and other problems by identifying the causes and the corrective action to be taken.
Likewise, when severe illness or tragedy afflicts an individual, family or the community, a Shona bira is performed.
The ritual provided tangible resolution to problems to restore effective functioning.
Whether or not these dances are remedial or rehabilitative depends on the extent or seriousness of the problem addressed.
Traditionally, African culture has relatively conservative norms regarding direct expression of feelings and emotions, with a high degree of inter-personal sensitivity.
There exist many interdictions regarding direct confrontation with others.
Traditional social norms prevent direct confrontation, complaints or criticisms of others.
A great deal of leeway and sanction for criticism was traditionally allowed to be expressed through music and dance.
Thus music and dance provide a socially-sanctioned vehicle for self-expression.
They were also tools for education and socialisation
In Zimbabwe, the ‘jakwara’ dance ceremony was a traditional millet threshing dance, which was specifically adapted to encourage people to sing out any criticisms they had about anyone else. The rules were that any criticism had be left at the Jakwara and never spoken of again.
Traditional beer was served during the highly stressful jakwara period to enable the people to have fun while working hard.
The men moved in an anti-clockwise circle, swishing their legs back and forth to keep in the millet, while the women beat the millet with long sticks.
This allowed for free verbal expressions, providing an outlet for aggression and criticism while allowing for humour, which in a way helped to manage the stresses associated with the harvest season.
The remedial and rehabilitative qualities of Zimbabwean dances are also evident in the ‘chinyambera’ ceremony performed before or after a hunt.
When performed after an unsuccessful hunt, the chinyambera ceremony was held to remedy low morale that may have resulted from its failure thereby giving strength to hunters by seeking to find out why the hunt failed.
The dissemination and attainment of knowledge in most traditional African societies was an informal process where learning came about mostly through the social wisdom of proverbs, idioms and riddles and by observing, imitating and experiencing.
Song, dance, drama, storytelling and folktales were the primary mode through which enculturation took place in African societies.
Songs educate children about a variety of topics.
The song, ‘Pfulumbwe’, for instance, taught Shona children about the agricultural year.
Traditionally, in most African cultures, because human beings were not perceived to be alienated from the environment, song and dance also played a key role in solving environmental problems.
For instance, the song and dance rituals of ‘mhande’ and ‘mukwerera’ were used for rain-asking ceremonies that were important events in planning for the forthcoming agricultural season.
Unquestionably, modifications to traditional forms of expressions have remained inspired by a cultural symbolic re-arrangement of social realities rooted in traditional dances.
If music and dance have the potential to provide motivation in the workplace today, particularly among indigenous workers, it should make an interesting challenge to business organisations and workplaces if empowerment, co-operation, participation and interpersonal creativity are to be strategies for the nation’s economic turnaround.
As indigenous people, we sang and danced our troubles away!
Dr Michelina Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian researcher, industrial design consultant lecturer and specialist hospitality interior decorator. She is a published author in her field.
For views and comments, email: linamanucci@gmail.com

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