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Dances across the boundary: Banande and Bakonzo in the twentieth century

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 3; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17531050902972998

1753-1063

S Facci,

Philippine History and Culture

Abstract Abstract Banande and Bakonzo, in the Rwenzori area, have a similar language and a similar music. They consider themselves as descents from the Baiyra, who lived in the western part of Uganda in pre-colonial times. At the end of the nineteenth century the colonial boundaries between the British Protectorate of Uganda and the Belgian Congo divided the Banande (Congolese) from the Bakonzo (Ugandan). This article focuses on their dances. Comparing data from field research done among both Banande and Bakonzo, it underlines similarities and differences in repertoire and style. An important group of ritual dances, linked to the cycle of life (birth, circumcision, funeral), is still shared by the two populations, while others are not. Some historical factors are important in the persistence or the absence of dances linked to the pre-colonial possession cult, Kubandwa. Internal factors were also an important element in the evolution of dances connected with political power. Post-colonial national educational politics have also played their part in promoting specific dances rather than others. In many cases the variance in choreography, motives, styles and body attitudes are consequences of the recent uncommon and unshared history of creativity and artistic influences, which the Banande and Bakonzo experienced during the last century. Keywords: BanandeBakonzocultural boundariesmusicdancedance and historydance and identity Notes 1. Definition in Amselle Amselle , J-L. Logiques Métisses. Anthropologie de l'identité en Afrique et ailleurs . Paris : Éditions Payot & Rivages , 1990 . English ed .: Mestizo Logics. Anthropology of Identity in Africa and Elsewhere, trans . Claudia Royal . Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press , 1998 . [Google Scholar], Mestizo Logics, 1. 2. Blacking Blacking, J. 1987. A Commonsense View of all Music, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar], A Commonsense View of all Music, 60. 3. Sachs Sachs , C. 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They stay here and there with their friends, and on their arrival, those who are able to receive the sacraments, confess and receive Holy Communion: Not all are able – unfortunately! – to receive the Sacraments. Down there, far from the succour of missionaries who can visit them only two or three times a year, mingling with the pagan masses, they return to their sickening polygamy," drawn from (anonymous) "Echos de Béni," L'Afrique Ardente 4 (1932) (my translation from the French). 29. Sister Relindes, interview, August 2007. 30. On the Konzo endara and its symbolic values, see Crupi Crupi , V. "The Role and Functions of the Endara Xylophone among the Bakonzo People." In Rwenzori. History and Cultures of an African Mountain C. Pennacini and H. Wittenberg , 253 84 . Kampala : Fountain , 2007 . [Google Scholar], "The Role and Functions of the Endara Xylophone." 31. On the value of the endara as an instrument of identity for the Banande, see Facci Facci , S. , and S. Nanyonga-Tamusuza . 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