Bemba songs and hymns

Hugh Tracey recorded these Bemba songs in 1957 at mining compounds in Northern Rhodesia, now known as Zambia. Several of the songs are accompanied by the mumamba mbira, placed in a bell-shaped resonator with the open part facing the player. The musician’s wife rhythmically taps the resonator (Tracey 1973).

Track Listing

101	Tondwe kasobele ku bulaya (Honey-bird, go tell the people in Europe that I and my family are on our way back) Edmond Cileshe and his wife	02:58
102	Maitumbe (Rapture) Edmond Cileshe and his wife	02:52
103	Mailo nkaya (Tomorrow I'll be going) Edmond Cileshe and four friends	03:52
104	Iteyanye (Be prepared) Members of the Christian Mission to Many Lands	02:05
105	Munendo na munendo (Christian travellers) Members of the Christian Mission to Many Lands	03:11
106	Shiwifulunganye ifunde (Thou shall not interfere with the law of the Sabbath) Bancroft Seventh Day Adventist Choir	02:38