The words sung by the master are generally grouped in phrases of nine syllables. Phrases of eight, ten, or eleven syllables can be used, but they are the exception rather than the rule: thus out of 475 phrases, 405 have nine syllables, and 33, 33 and 4 have respectively eight, ten and eleven syllables. The entry of the soloist generally coincides with a beat of the alto drum, but one master said it should follow the bass drum. Although it would be logical for the girls to follow the alto drum and the male soloist the bass drum, I did not often hear domba sung in this way, and so give the more usual version in the transcription.

During 1956 and 1958, I collected over 1100 'lines' of the domba song. In this I was assisted by my friends Victor Nkhumeleni Ralushai and Alfred Fhulufhuwani Tshibalanganda, to whom I am most grateful. I transferred the lines to index cards, noting the different contexts in which they occurred. At first, I hoped that by comparing sequences of 'lines' I might be able to find a 'correct' sequence and piece together some long epic poem that would throw light on Venda history. As I discussed the meaning of words and phrases with masters of initiation, I realised that this aim was unlikely to succeed, and that the words should be grouped into independent sequences of between two and five phrases, and sometimes more, or considered as single 'lines'.

I am greatly indebted to the late Swethani Makumbila Nemukula, and to his son, Jack Tshimbiluni, with whom I spent many hours sorting out correct and incorrect phrases and sequences of phrases, and adding more to those which I had already collected. Many of the lines had been sung by Jack himself, but he would sometimes comment on them in this vein: "Did I sing That? That's nonsense: I must have been drunk when I sang it. It should have been ..." Sometimes he was not even sure what it should have been, and complained that I had noted it down wrongly. Other masters, or their assistants, with whom I worked were: Lutanga Masindi, Andies Khangale Ludzula, William Mphidi Tshipolisa and Piet Mabasha. In addition, I had brief discussions with many others, whose performances I heard or recorded.

Since masters did not sing the words in any particular order, I have grouped them roughly according to their topics. The translations are as literal as possible, and explanations are those given by masters of domba. Alternative words are given in brackets, as are extra words which are needed for clearer translation. I have not included individual variations of 'lines' unless they are very common, in which case I have numbered them 4a, 5a, 12a etc. Nor have I included 'lines' that are considered to belong more appropriately to pounding songs or beer songs; different clan praises, similar to Nos. 411 (Ni yo mutumbu tsenene. You are going to eat the corpse of a big cricket.) and 412 (Tshivhula tsha matshokotike, Tshivhula is a wanderer.); incidental and spontaneous improvisations of the master; or all the metrical versions of milayo. Mulayo No. 83, for example, is converted into two solo phrases:

Here I make no attempt to compare the content of the song with similar material from other parts of southern and central Africa, and I draw attention only in passing to words which may refer to events in Venda history. It should be remembered also that if some phrases mean little to the masters who sing them, they mean very much less to the majority of Venda who hear them. The idea of domba, its emotional appeal and its sociological significance, are generally more important to the Venda than its cultural details, which are often vaguely understood.

The 'lines' of the song are grouped as follows: