The Bullroarer Atlas

MINE2026-085 - ethnographic attestation

Luvale / Solochi Village

Zambia - Solochi Village, Chavuma - former Zambezi District, North-Western Province - South-Central Africa

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Representative—not this record’s object: a bullroarer collected at Blantyre, Malawi.
Representative—not this record’s object: a bullroarer collected at Blantyre, Malawi. © National Museums Scotland (A.1899.94) Image source

ndumbamwelela English translation

Source term: bullroarer

ndumbamwelela: Luvale bullroarer name; plural vandumbamwelela. The translated notes gloss ndumba as “lion.”

At Solochi Village in August 1983, two ndumbamwelela broke into the women’s Mukanda dance with a growl said to imitate a lion. The dancers stopped, cheered, and answered with shrill cries: the sound announced that the boys’ initiation camp was about to begin. How the roar was made remained one of Mukanda’s carefully guarded secrets.

This is the sound of a 'bullroarer,' called ndumbamwelela. Ndumba means lion, and the instrument is said to imitate a lion's growl. It announces to the villagers that mukanda will soon begin.

Ken'ichi Tsukada, Zambia: The Songs of Mukanda, track 1 notes.
Object
Bullroarer recorded sounding in a pair; construction not documented.
Function
Announces to villagers that Mukanda will soon begin; the notes compare its sound to a lion's growl.
Map confidence
high - Chavuma town anchor for Solochi Village; the booklet names Solochi but no reliable public village coordinate was located.
Source location
Track 1 notes, booklet p. 7 (Editor's Note p. 14)

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