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Introduction
On September 19, 2005, chiefs throughout Zimbabwe hosted a government-sponsored National Bira Ceremony to bring communities together in the name of national unity under the spiritual authority of President Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government. The bira is a Shona ceremony of ancestral spirit possession typically accompanied by either mbira music or drumming. The call for a National Bira was an official attempt to recapture the spiritual approval that legitimized the Second Chimurenga (the war that led to Zimbabwe's independence and majority rule in 1980) and employ indigenous music to do so. This bira was also reminiscent of the pungwe, an all-night event of recruitment and indoctrination during the Second Chimurenga that was, in the words of Kennedy Chinyowa, "a bira in disguise" (2001:14).
As acting headman in Muzite in the Chipinge District near the Mozambique border, Rodwell Muzite didn't have the authority to host a bira, but as perhaps the only area leader who publicly supported Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF, he met no official resistance. That afternoon, hundreds of Muzite residents met at the headman's home, ate and drank homebrewed beer, and watched the best local muchongoyo team, Muzite Mukuyu, which was guaranteed to elicit an enthusiastic response. Muchongoyo is a presentational dance/drumming genre highlighting sequences of stomps and acrobatics to impress audiences at communal events or competitions. It is the most popular Ndau dance in Zimbabwe.1I attended the event with the former headman, Vhukani Muzite, who was my guide to local politics and history.
It was an enjoyable if strange event. For the Ndau in Muzite, there is no such thing as a bira and no communal ancestral ceremony; thus the foreign nature of the bira, combined with antipathy in the community toward Robert Mugabe, made it awkward and confusing. Few residents of the Chipinge District have ever supported Mugabe or ZANU-PF. After losing control of ZANU, the Ndau politician Ndabaningi Sithole eventually founded his own political party, Zanu-Ndonga, which drew backing exclusively from the Ndau community.2Despite this, the crowd at Headman Muzite's home was enthusiastic in their enjoyment of the dancing. Their attendance and joy at a state-imposed ritual event revealed a great deal about official attitudes toward the political utility of...