Malawi Museums moves to rescue endangered performing arts

As part of government’s efforts to safeguard the country’s endangered traditional performing arts (songs, music and theatre) among the Sena, Yao and Chewa communities, Museums of Malawi is recording and collecting the endangered traditional arts.The project is being funded by the United States Embassy.

Experts have since welcomed the project as timely and significant to resurrecting the country’s dying culture.

Project officer Lovemore Mazibuko said the project was conceptualised upon realising ation that traditional music, songs and theatre are not being practised in the past.

“This confirms our fear that slowly Malawi is losing an important aspect of its cultural heritage,” said Mazibuko.

He attributed the eroding of culture  to people’s perception, particularly the youth, who have developed interest in foreign music and dance.

“Already, there are very few people out there who can perform traditional music and songs; and their associated musical instruments.

“Malawi’s performing arts are thus under threat of disappearing,” said Madzibuko.

He further said Malawi is facing a huge loss of valuable information on the country’s national heritage.

“This project is aimed at redressing the situation by making sure that the various aspects of Sena, Yao and Chewa performing arts are properly identified, documented and archived for future generations,” he said.

The project’s objectives include documenting the traditional songs, music and theatre, producing 120 videos of the elements which will be put on 12 DVDs (each DVD containing 10 videos). Then an exhibition on the collected traditional music and dance will be organised at Chichiri Museum in Blantyre.

Apart from that, there will also be live performances during which selected practitioners from the participating communities will be brought to perform at Chichiri Museum during the launch of the exhibition.

“This will be part of knowledge transmission to the younger generation and the city folks,” said Mazibuko.

Dr. Robert Chanunkha, dean of the department of arts and heritage at Malawi University of Science and Technology (Must), said Malawi needs to invest in arts and culture to save the country from losing its identity.

“The fear of losing some forms of traditional music, songs and theatre in the country is greater; hence, documentation is needed to prevent their extinction. Performing arts form an integral part of culture,” said Chanunkha.