The ManicaPost
Friday Lessons with Sir Shelton Mwanyisa
Greetings learners, parents and guardians!
Welcome to your Visual and Performing Arts weekly lessons brought to you by your favourite newspaper, The Manica Post.
Learners are expected to have an exercise book and a pen to write the work given as exercises.
Parents or guardians are encouraged to assist learners with special needs.
In our previous lesson we focused on classification of musical instruments such as hosho, mbira, piano and chipendani.
We identified idiophones, aerophones, chordophones and membranophones and I am sure you are now able to identify and classify the musical instruments.
This week we look at the role of music in different historical periods.
You are expected to be able to:
(i) Identify three historical periods in Zimbabwean history .
(ii) Explain the relationship between music and historical events.
The history of Zimbabwe can be divided into three distinct historical periods also called eras.
The word era refers to a period in history.
The three historical periods considered in Visual and Performing Arts are pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial.
The word pre- means before and pre-colonial therefore means the period before Zimbabwe was under the British colonial rule.
The word colonial means during British rule from 1890 to 1980.
Zimbabwe was under British colonial rule for 90 years.
Post means after and therefore post-colonial means the period after Zimbabwe attained its independence.
During the historical periods stated people sang songs for various reasons.
Pre-colonial songs were sung for people to express themselves and to show how they related to each other.
Songs were sung to educate the young, comfort the bereaved, ask for rain and on joyful occasions.
When the British colonised Zimbabwe, the role of music changed.
The colonial period can be divided into the First and Second Chimurenga periods.
Reasons for singing songs were many, including the following:
The songs were sung to attack the colonial system.
Some songs were sung to unite the freedom fighters fighting the colonial regime.
The songs also encouraged the freedom fighters to continue fighting under difficult conditions.
Some songs educated the people about the liberation struggle.
Thomas Mapfumo and Cde Chinx are some of the musicians who sang liberation songs during the Second Chimurenga. An example of a chimurenga song is ‘Mbuya Nehanda’.
Post-colonial songs were composed after independence.
The songs were sung to celebrate victory after gaining independence. Examples include ‘Ndarangarira’, ‘Maruza imi’ and Cde Chinx’s ‘Nerudo’.
Your exercise for today is to answer the following questions:
(i) State the three historical periods of Zimbabwe.
(ii) What does pre-colonial mean?
(iii) Explain two roles played by music during the pre-colonial era.
(iv) What was the purpose of composing and singing songs during the colonial period?
(V) Other than Thomas Mapfumo and Cde Chinx, name two other musicians who sang songs during the Second Chimurenga.
(Vi) Project work: Write the lyrics of any colonial or post-colonial song.
