Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must) last weekend held the second edition of its festival in Thyolo which brought on board several activities including traditional dances as part of promoting and preserving the country’s culture.
With several festivals on the weekend including Mulhakho Wa Alhomwe at Chonde in Mulanje and Blantyre Arts Festival at Kamuzu Upper Stadium in Blantyre, Must Cultural, Research and Innovation Festival reached out to its own audience including students and staff.
Apart from performances, there were also presentations presented by different speakers during the festival, which also acted as part of the celebrations for Must’s 10th anniversary.
Director of Bingu School of Culture and Heritage, who was also the festival’s chairperson, Atikonda Mtenje Mkochi said despite not attracting enough numbers, the event lived up to its billing with the audience being treated to different activities.
One of the unique features this year included pounding songs and poetry as served by members from Mangazi Village. Renowned writer and former minister Ken Lipenga described the pounding songs and poetry as a well established tradition not just among the Alhomwe but throughout Malawi.
He hailed Must for inviting the people from the banks of Chimvu and Nansadi rivers to the festival and for assuring them that the ideas of their ancestors will always find pride of place in their intellectual corridors. Writing on his social media page, Lipenga said “these songs are not always innocent but they are often a means of asserting feminist power using caustic sarcasm”.
Lipenga goes on to say that if Antigone in Sophocles’ famous play had known some pounding songs, she would have used them to hit back at King Creaon’s chauvinistic pronouncements, and that play would have ended differently.
“If you have some personal weaknesses that the women in your village become aware of (e.g. laziness, or some issues of the bedroom variety) and you see women gathering to do some pounding nearby, you are better off taking a walk to avoid the psychological torture of hearing what songs they will be singing,” Lipenga said.
He went on to say that these days, diesel-driven and electric maize mills have replaced pounding. “In time maize pounding, and the songs that go with it, will be things of the past. This will, of course, be good for our toiling women. It will also be a great relief for men with weaknesses,” Lipenga concluded
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