Ethnographic notes on Kongo musical instruments

African Arts, Summer, 2002 by Wyatt MacGaffey

The uses of ngoma are also those of the long drum ndungu or nlambula, from the verb lambala, "to lie stretched out," because it is played while it lies on the ground, perhaps supported by a stand. This drum is more common in western than in eastern Kongo. "It is used for some minkisi, for judicial hearings and poison ordeals, to summon the people for war, and to announce the arrival in the market of a man who wants to become a slave of the chief" (Nsemi, Cahier 395). (2) Since both ndungu and ngoma were employed to salute chiefs, they might be played in concert with the double iron bell, ngongi, "the bell of kings" (Vansina 1969).

Nkisi Mbenza in eastern Mayombe, where it was associated with chiefship, the cult of spirits of the domain (bisimbi), and the begetters' cult, required all these instruments. The nganga (pl. banganga), or priest, of Mbenza goes into the forest, followed by an ndungu drummer, in search of a manifestation of a simbi, which turns out to be an old hoe-blade. He indicates his success by cries of ecstatic possession; "then the ndungu sounds vigorously, the ngoma and the ngongi-bell, and the banganga respectfully sing, `The simbi, the vision, the priest has seen it!'" When a novice being initiated into Mbenza enters the ritual enclosure, he leaps into the air and then stands upon ndungu to be painted with red and white marks. The priests dance, adding to the rhythm with their rattles (bimpambu) and iron bracelets (nkwangu) (MacGaffey 1991:58-62). Ndungu is painted red with clays and camwood "to make it look good"; the drummer and the dancers may also be daubed with red, if the party is really going well (na nza!).

The ngongi is associated above all with official announcements; this double bell is heard when the chief travels, "when he wants meat and sends messengers to collect the chief's tax," when a judicial hearing is to begin, and when the chief dances before announcing his verdict. It says, Kyangenge ngulu dia, kengongo-kengo, meaning that a pig will be paid over and everybody will eat well. A small number of ngongi are made with only one bell. Unlike similar bells in coastal areas from Ghana to Gabon, they are not surmounted by carvings or otherwise decorated, but can still be objects of prestige (DjeDje 1999:277-83).

A text from Mukimbungu in central Kongo says that no one but the the chief of the Nanga clan could sound the bell, which it calls munkunku (from kunka, "to salute respectfully") and says is "a very expensive instrument." It is reported of the chief Nsekoso Pwati in Mayombe that during his reign "he caused to be forged an ngongi that was more admired than that of any chief in the region, since it was a remarkable size, maybe two meters long" (MacGaffey 2000:201). There is an example around this size in the Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin (no. 33940). Welding the flanges of such a bell would challenge the skill of any smith. In at least one chiefship, a single bell was among the medicines buried in the nkisi nsi, the medicated shrine of the domain (MacGaffey 2000:169). Large judicial minkisi such as Mangaaka were treated as though they were chiefs, even carried in litters, and therefore sometimes wear miniature ngongi as earrings, a mnemonic of the respect due them. In the hands of a skilled player, ngongi can make remarkable music, but not such as is regarded as the voice of the dead; and whether single or double they were not filled with medicine as minkisi or amulets.