Transcriptions: The Great Domba Song and Tshilalelo
Domba
The first four characteristic beats on the tenor drum are called tshilondo, and the soloist should not begin until they have been played. The master, or his assistant, or a novice assigned to the task, plays the same rhythm to summon the girls to the khoro fifteen to twenty minutes before dancing is due to begin. More than two initial beats (see bar 1) may be played, but the two final beats always have the same rhythm (see bar 2), which expresses completion of a phrase. Many phrases of the songs of domba end with the same iambic rhythm.
Before launching into the words of each phrase, the soloist usually 'pierces the air' with a cry (see lines 104 and 106), whose entry should coincide with the open beat of the alto drum which completes each total drum pattern (see bars 6, 10 and 19). In Venda Children's Songs (1967b:167-70) I have given the rules which govern these melodic transformations. (This text is included on this Website/CD-Rom as Speech-Tone and Melody.)
The tenor drum enters first, because it is the pace-setter and it 'binds together' the cross-rhythms of the other drums into one total pattern. Moreover, it is the guide for the physical movement of the dancers, whose steps follow its beat. Its player maintains a steady, slow tempo by lifting the drum stick in the air with a movement from the shoulder which brings it out, round up and down on to the skin at the appropriate moment. Beginners ensure a steady rhythm by striking the wooden edge of the drum regularly between each beat: one of these 'wood-beats' coincides with an open beat of the alto drum, and sometimes with an open beat of the bass drum, and the other coincides with an open or 'wood-beat' of the bass drum (see bar 10: the tenor 'wood-beats' are not shown).
The bass drum is in a sense the master-drum, although its variations are limited and its rhythms do not, as in the tshikona national dance, coincide with the dance steps. Although its rhythm is basically the same as that of the alto drum, it is not meant to follow in strict canon. However, in order to keep a steady beat, many players strike the wooden edge of the drum between the essential beats (see bars 7-10).
The number of alto drummers depends on the number of drums and players available, but all should play the same rhythm, and always with their hands. I never saw more than four players, and rarely less than two. The tenor and alto drums are placed on either side of the bass drum; the alto drummers face the centre of the domba circle, but the bass drummer, and often the tenor drummer, has her back to it. I have not given in the transcription all the variations that may be played on the alto drums: for example, in bars 11-12 two 'clear' beats may be played, instead of the 'muffled'/'clear' sequence that is written.
I have indicated the tempo in terms of a dotted crotchet beat, because this is the correct 'pulse' for the domba rhythm. Although the dotted minum of the tenor drum is not written as the first note of each drum pattern, and the chorus and solo parts do not go with it, it should be heard as the main beat, which in fact it is. Alto drummers may reinforce the desired impression of quaver triplets by playing their parts as in Figure 1.
Figure 1. A variation of the rhythm of the alto drum. The 'open' beats are the same as those in the transcription, but the bar lines indicate a different rhythmic stress.
I often heard novices play the domba rhythm as if the basic 'pulse' were a crotchet, but masters insisted that this was wrong and due to the fact that they were finding it difficult to combine the three drum rhythms. In such cases, the rhythm sounded as in Figure 2.
Figure 2. 'Incorrect' version of the domba rhythm which is sometimes heard.
The transcription of the domba song provided here is a condensed version. In actual performances, the soloist sings more than three different word-phrases before the chorus switch from the quiet response (bars 4-5, 8-9) to the multipart singing of khulo (bars 13-14). Khulo is then repeated for several minutes, while the soloist sings many different words (bars 15-18), until both solo and chorus resolve on to a single tone (bar 21), a practice known as u kokodza (lit. to pull, draw, drag).
I timed performances of domba with a stop-watch. The durations of twenty-five performances with the same master at Thengwe in 1958 were:
On the last night of the school, however, the same team sang domba from 0210-0303 hours (53 minutes), 0330-400 (30 minutes) with the arms up, 0405-0422 (17 minutes), and then thavha (see Vhusha Song No. 11) from 0422-0437 (15 minutes).
In general, I found that performances lasted for between 10 and 12 1/2 minutes, but at some schools masters regularly continued for as long as eighteen, and even twenty-five, minutes.
In order to avoid constant use of inverted commas during discussion of melody and tonality, I shall give certain musical terms a special meaning to suit the context of Venda music. Thus,
tone-row = the tones used in a particular song;
mode = a group of tones from which tone-rows appear to be derived;
scale = a set of tones whose relationship is fixed, and from which modes may be derived;
chord = the simultaneous sounding of two or more different tones (two tones an octave apart are therefore called a 'chord');
harmony, harmonic = the chordal aspect of the combinations of voices referring to chords as described;
tonic = the tone-centre of a tone-row, deduced from its musical function;
final and dominant = the first and fifth tone of a mode;
keynote = the chief tone of a Venda scale of reed pipes, etc., as recognised by the Venda themselves.
Khulo is not always exactly as transcribed in bars 13-14, because each individual dancer sings as she wishes, provided she follows the general harmonic pattern of bars 15-18. Even this may vary: in some parts of Vendaland, a different solo phrase (d' - c' - b - a - g) is followed not by a whole tone but by a semitone (c' - b) drop of the chorus, and khulo differs accordingly. However, this is a transformation of bars 15-18, in which the secondary line of melody (beginning with the a of the last chord of bar 18) is treated as the primary line and transposed up a fourth to d'. This is not a straightforward transposition so much as a selection of an alternative tone-row: thus, as is explained by Figure 3, the relationships between tones are different, and the chorus sings c' - b, and not d' - c'. This is an example of a transformation rule combined with rules for harmonic equivalence (see Blacking 1967b:168, 175 and 178) and the interrelationship of tones in modes and scales.
The direction of the tails of notes in bars 13-14 b-f indicates different phrases which individual novices sing, to make up the total sound of khulo. In bars 13-14a, girls may sing any one of the accented notes alone, or one of the sequence of notes accompanying yowee, or one of the accented notes and a sequence. They have no difficulty in singing the ascending intervals of sevenths and tritones, because they are guided by the concept of the total pattern. The use of the yodel and a similar application of the principle of individuality in community have been described by Dr Nicholas England (1967) for Bushman music.
The improvisation of additional parts (u bvumela: see bars 15-18 c, d and e) is a feature of all Venda music and it is subject to two main rules: tones sung must be harmonically equivalent to those of the basic chorus melody, and those selected should emphasise the general tonal and harmonic progression of the music. Apart from this, the patterns of u bvumela are subject to the singers' vocal range and a general tendency to prefer contrary, rather than conjunct, motion.
The sound of khulo, and even the technique of production, is a vocal transformation of the music of tshikona, the national reed-pipe dance, in which twenty-four or more pipes, tuned to different tones of a heptatonic scale, are played in consort in hocket style.
The patterns of both khulo and tshikona are achieved by a combination of two descending modes, derived from the same scale and arranged in a similar rhythmic sequence of seven chords in such a way that each tone (except c' in bars 15a and 17a) has two tonal companions. Thus an impression of shifting tonality is conveyed. It is interesting that although a tritone chord is inevitably sounded by instruments in tshikona, it is avoided by voices in khulo (see the second chords of bars 15a and 17a and bar 13a-f), although they use the tritone as a melodic interval (see bars 14b and f, and 16e and 18e).
The Venda are not articulate on the subject of tonality, but they do recognise a keynote (phala) in their sets of reed-pipes, and they call the tone above this thakula, 'the lifter', because it acts rather like a leading note in European music and carries the melody back to the keynote. If we compare the sequence of domba chords with that of tshikona (see Figure 3a and b) where phala and thakhula are named, we may with some confidence calculate Venda estimations of tonality. Thus phala and thakula should be found respectively in the first chord of bars 15a and 17a and the last chord of bars 16a and 18a.
Like Beethoven's First Symphony, domba begins on the 'dominant' (thakhula): the soloist establishes the secondary tonality, and the chorus resolves it to the primary tonality (phala). Later, when khulo is introduced, each two-bar phrase begins on the tonic and ends on the 'dominant', exactly as in tshikona. The symmetry of the drum pattern emphasises the first, third, fourth and sixth beats of the alto drum, which correspond with the first, third, fourth and seventh chords. The importance of these chords is further emphasised by the general pattern of u bvumela improvisations (bars 15-18c, d and e), which sound astonishingly like the slow gongs in Indonesian gamelan. The emphasis on the primary (phala) tonality in the chorus and in u bvumela makes each entry of the soloist, in the secondary (thakhula) tonality, all the more penetrating and powerful, so that it is an effective musical representation of the sexual entry of the male which it symbolises.
However, khulo is not simply a transposition of tshikona, to suit human voices: it is a selection from the same scale resources, using similar musical processes. The transcriptions of khulo and part of tshikona (transposed) in Figure 3 reflect the pitch of singers and reed-pipes at Thengwe. If khulo were a transposition of tshikona, there would be no tritone to avoid in the second chord, but there would be one in the sixth chord (see Figure 3c). However, khulo does have to avoid a tritone in its second but not in its sixth chord. The transformation is therefore not one of transposition, and Figure 3 shows how it comes about.
Variations in the exact pitch of the pipes and voices do not affect the process. We may regard the fixed pitch of the reed-pipes as a constant factor, so that different modes may be selected by choosing any tone of the reed-pipe scale as tonic. The Venda regard phala as the keynote of a set of reed-pipes, and because of the rule of harmonic equivalence its chief companion is the tone a fifth below. This tone may be selected as the final of a mode, and may have a similar tonal function to phala, even though it is not called phala. In tshikona, this G-mode (B in Figure 3) is a secondary, harmonic companion to the primary D-mode (A in Figure 3). But in khulo it has been selected as the primary mode, possibly because of its greater suitability for vocal range. When, in khulo, the G-mode is accompanied by a secondary mode a fifth below according to the rule of harmonic equivalence (C in Figure 3), it follows that the tritone will occur at a different point in the sequence of chords. Since the music is vocal and not instrumental, the tritone is avoided.
Although the position of the tritone and the patterns of the modes are significant in determining the different chord sequences of tshikona and khulo, they are not relevant at the broader harmonic level emphasised by u bvumela: the harmonic sequence in Figure 3f is exactly the same for both tshikona and khulo. What is more, the tones used in this sequence provide the opening tones of tshilalelo, and the mode for much Venda pentatonic music. In other words, tshikona and khulo are founded on harmonic principles which also apply to a much wider range of Venda music.
I cannot explain why g' should be chosen as the final tone of domba (see bar 21), or why it should be so prominent in u bvumela, except that it sounds right, and bars 20 and 21 of the solo part present a typical Venda cadence. It may be that g' is so near to the actual pitch of the keynote (phala) of the reed-pipes that it is felt to be the true tonic. In all other respects, however, it is the secondary tone of the tonic chord, of which d" functions as primary.
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