By Dr Michelina Andreucci

AS African societies changed as a result of the external forces of imperial conquest and colonisation, followed by independence and globalisation, the role of music and traditional musical culture and instruments have also changed.
The abrupt changes that swept through Africa during colonisation forced pre-colonial societies to adapt to the colonial urban landscape; in many instances the changes disrupted the continuity of culture and traditions as well as the production, distribution and development of traditional musical instruments and the near annihilation of their sounds.
Every aspect of life in sub-Saharan Africa was traditionally expressed through the medium of sound which helps to underscore the divine and eternal value of human life and as a mode of communication.
It was these sounds that identified us as a people and communicated our inter-tribal identities, linkages, commonalities, beliefs and general world views.
Traditionally, African music was less concerned with the ‘aesthetics’ of an instrument, but rather its specific function during ceremonial occasions as well as its use to mark important occurrences and provide moral guidance.
Although many animal horns are played all over Africa, the ‘hwamanda’ is an important ancient traditional instrument of heraldry in Zimbabwe and is the largest traditional aerophone (wind instrument) that produced a sound by vibrating columns of air.
In Zimbabwe, these aerophone instruments include flutes, trumpets, double reed pipes, panpipes and other animal horns, also including elephant tusks.
The hwamanda, some refer to as ‘bhosvo’, is a bugle-like horn.
It was crafted from the spiral horn of the large mature kudu bull (antelope).
The spiral-horned greater kudu derives its name from the indigenous Xhosa language, a word pronounced ‘iqxudu’.
It is from this word that the Boer Afrikaans word ‘koedoe’ identified the species as kudu – tragelaphus strepsiceros; nhoro (Shona) /ibhalabhala (Ndebele).
The kudu is a member of the bovidae family, known as tragelaphus strepsiceros.
It is a large antelope found in much of sub-Saharan Africa whose distinctive bark of alarm is the loudest vocalisation of most other sub-Saharan antelopes.
To play the instrument, a hole was drilled and smoothly carved 10 – 15cm from the tip of the horn, through which air was blown by mouth, through pursed or compressed lips to produce long-drawn out natural bellows.
This non-verbal communication was a clear articulation to the communities in the homesteads about impending danger and a call to arms during times of war or danger.
In central, southern and eastern regions of Africa, the sentinels and guards of paramount provinces and homesteads would blow the hwamanda from a granite hill to warn warriors and villagers of approaching enemies.
The call of the hwamanda became the royal call to arms, the proclamation of victory following a battle and the announcer of important ceremonies, such as weddings, funerals and important births.
The hwamanda was also used for the physical and spiritual therapy of ailing patients by traditional healers during healing sessions to drive out malevolent spirits.
Many traditional elders recognised the sound of the hwamanda as the call for important state meetings, (matare enyika), or announcements of important national news.
There are two sub-species of kudu in Zimbabwe; the greater kudu (tragelaphus strepsiceros) and the lesser kudu (tragelaphus imberbis).
They are found in woodland areas throughout eastern and southern Africa and are identified by their vertical white stripes along their flanks.
While kudu horns have long been prized in Africa for use as musical instruments, honey containers and symbolic ritual objects, kudu numbers are in decline due to people hunting them for their meat, hides and horns, as well as also due to their declining natural habitat, deforestation and poaching, which are seriously threatening this species by extinction.
A kudu-like horn can also be seen in football matches in the shape likened to that of a vuvuzela, where football fans blow it during matches to cheer on their favourite teams.
The use of this instrument, however, is not limited to Africa.
The Scouting Movement adopted the kudu horn in 1907, which officials blow to mark the start of training activity.
Today many scout camps and training zones across the globe make use of kudu horn as a signal.
While the warm, rich sounds from the hwamanda were confronting, emotionally and spiritually charged, they lent a unique, heraldic African tone to formal occasions.
The instrument is still also used in Jewish ceremonies.
At the start of their Holy Seventh Month – Ethanim, which includes the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles, the Israelite nation celebrate and commemorate these occasions with the ‘blowing of the shofar’.
Shofar blasts are also used during penitential rituals such as Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement).
The tradition is said to have originated with Abraham who was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, but instead he sacrificed a ram, which resulted in the creation of the shofar.
According to legend, its deep resonances liken it to the sound of an echo off a mountain.
The Yemenite Jews, having no access to spiralled ram horns brought kudu horns from Africa to Yemen across the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
It is said their timbre, reminiscent of the mountains where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac, is what attracted Yemenite Jews to the elongated spirals of kudu horns, from which they produce Yemenite shofars.
Jewish or Yemenite shofars are made from kudu horns after the natural annual shedding.
Musical instruments from antiquity like the hwamanda, illustrate in many ways the cultural and scientific achievements and the various African technologies our forebears initiated in world heritage.
Reviving the sound and teaching of hwamanda music may piece together the lost notes and sounds of our Zimbabwean socio-cultural sonic heritage.
Rebuilding the sounds, sonic history and oral archaeology of Zimbabwe requires a thorough scholarly investigation into our indigenous antiquity.
It is wrong to assume that the imagery executed by our ancient society now limited by Euro-Western scholars as hunter-gatherers alludes to the theory that our forebears did not have the capacity for industrial design, creativity and technology.
Our various musical instruments invented and developed from organic materials boldly ring out to the world, the genius of Zimbabwean creativity.
Our traditional musical instruments are a great store of history, culture and technology and the humanities.
The language of the hwamanda was definitive and authoritative – when the horn blew the whole community knew what to do.
We can no longer ignore the sound of the hwamanda!
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.
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