INTERROGATING MOSES SAKALA’S FUNERAL SONG, ‘CHOBABA’: SOME DISCOURSE INSIGHTS

  • Naomi Njobvu University of Zambia
  • Kelvin Mambwe University of Zambia
  • Hambaba Jimaima University of Zambia
Keywords: Funeral Song, Discourse Analysis, Music, Pain, Death

Abstract

Funeral songs are a type of discourse commonly played or sung by Africans and Zambians in particular, to celebrate the memory of the dead. The songs could also be used to evoke emotive responses. ‘Chobaba’, is a typical Cinyanja funeral song composed and played by Moses Sakala, one of Zambia’s famous musician. This song was composed following the passing on of Levy Sakala, Moses’ once long-time music partner. The main aim of this study is to conduct a discourse analysis of Moses Sakala’s tribute song to his friend titled Chobaba ‘pain’ to show how language is constructed and represented to demonstrate pain, grief, and love. The study also aims at analysing how, by the same token, the song provides emotional release, honour the memory of the deceased, and offer comfort and support to the bereaved. Ultimately, the article demonstrates how funeral songs can capture the essence of the human experience of pain. The analysis identifies four themes, which include pain as a collective experience, pain as a personal struggle, the need for spiritual guidance, and hope and comfort. These themes provide insights into how human beings come to terms with pain resulting from death and how they are able to comfort themselves by invoking spiritual intervention in their experience with pain.

Author Biographies

Naomi Njobvu, University of Zambia
Naomi Njobvu holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. She is currently a lecturer in the Department of Arts, Languages and Literary Studies at the University of Zambia. Her research interests are in Discourse Analysis, Morphology, Syntax, Sociolinguistics, and currently, Musicology. Her recent publications include ‘An Analysis of Thematic Progression Patterns in Zambian Students’ ESL Academic Writing: Evidence of Coherence-Obscuring Patterns’.
Kelvin Mambwe, University of Zambia
Kelvin Mambwe is a holder of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics from the University of the Western Cape. He has been teaching linguistics at the University of Zambia for the past 15 years. Kelvin has contributed book chapters on Bantu linguistics and published a number of articles in the area of onomastics, language and music and discourse. He is currently working on regional dialects in a number of Zambian languages, business and football names including language in music.
Hambaba Jimaima, University of Zambia
Hambaba Jimaima holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics. He is a senior lecturer in the Department of Arts, Languages and Literary Studies at the University of Zambia. His research interests revolve around semiotics, multilingual memory and multimodality, predicated on language production and consumption in the public spaces as expressed in the published works on: ORCID: 0000-0001-7535-2033.
Published
2023-08-09
How to Cite
Njobvu, N., Mambwe, K., & Jimaima, H. (2023). INTERROGATING MOSES SAKALA’S FUNERAL SONG, ‘CHOBABA’: SOME DISCOURSE INSIGHTS. ZANGO: Zambian Journal of Contemporary Issues, 36(1), 97-108. Retrieved from https://vet.unza.zm/index.php/ZJOCI/article/view/1046