Viyezgo: Vimbuza from Mzimba South
1000Hz Records (38 mins)
Vimbuza is a ceremony of the Tumbuka people of Malawi, where people become healed through trance and the possession of spirits and ancestors. The vimbuza is facilitated, of course, by music and dance – and ritual leader Amaliya Kabila and her group are known as its most frenetic, agile practitioners.
When this album starts, you’re immediately there. No build-up. We’re right in the middle of the event, blood already pumping, drums already thumping and with the spirits of the elders being introduced to those present. Here, there are 21 people creating noise and passion and buzz: three drummers lead the rhythms bolstered by all manner of percussion while the rest of the participants sing and shout and chat and dance.
This music is not made for records, and the vimbuza ceremony is not for alteration by producers – everything here is the real deal, including the spirit possessions of Kabila and her students. The recordings are good, but we can only guess what the atmosphere would have been like in person. Although we only get the smallest glimpse into an all-night ritual, there is a visceral, solemn joyousness to the occasion. It sounds as if electricity is in the air.