There is no event about which a dance is not arranged in Africa. They greet the birth of a child, marriage, dance to remember the departed … Music and dance are inextricably linked with traditional beliefs.
They are not only entertainment, but one of the main links connecting the African, according to his ideas, with the afterlife, with the spirits of ancestors, with that supernatural world created by imagination and tradition.
Musical instruments, their sounds, movements in dance, dance masks and costumes - all were endowed with magical powers. Thus, in Uganda, drums were associated with members of the royal family, who, as everyone knew, freely communicated with spirits. Some peoples still believe that spirits live in the sounds of flutes.
In the minds of Africans, the dance is a link between the world of the living and the world of the dead, it serves to convey the will of the spirits of the ancestors, vigilantly following the actions of the living. Therefore, the dancer, realizing that it is impossible to joke with the inhabitants of the afterlife, hides his face under a mask, and paints his body with paint.
Each mask performs its own dance with complex figures that show its character and emphasize its good or evil nature. The Nyoro tribe mask was worn in a dance depicting the struggle against the spirit of Kaumpuli. The masks of the Toro people showed a man-eater who was hunting small children.
Masks and costumes focus on the spiritual essence of the dance. The personality of the dancer does not matter, his skill plays a secondary role in comparison with the religious meaning of the movements performed.
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The dancers' faith in the forces that manifest themselves through the mask is sometimes so strong that the performers identify themselves with the depicted spirits and characters and for a while they are wasted. The elders are waiting for this moment. Each in their own way, they begin to interpret the movements of the dancer, into whom the spirit of the mask "possessed".
Some dances are directly related to witchcraft. Such, for example, is the dance of the Acholi people. It is named for a very ancient and powerful spirit called "jock", which can be good or evil depending on the circumstances. It happens that an evil "jock" infiltrates a person, and then it is necessary to call a healer to help free himself from his spell.
The ceremony begins in the evening by firelight. The witch doctor appears in the skins of a black goat, which, according to legends, have magical powers to scare away evil. Assistants gather around him with rattles in their hands and one drummer. For this dance, there is a small special tomtam, which is also called "jock".
There are several "jocks". For example, "jock anyondo" or "birth spirit". If he possesses a young girl, she is seated on a stool, and the skin of a black goat is wrapped around her waist. The song begins, monotonous, with repeated words, rattles and tomtoms sound deafeningly.
Gradually the rhythm accelerates, the girl rises in a trance, her body begins to dance. It is the body, they say, the acoli, for the girl herself does not even suspect that she is dancing: it is the "jock" that is forced to show herself under the influence of magic music.
The faster the rattles knock, the harder it is for the jock to stay in the girl's body. Finally, the long-awaited moment comes: the girl falls unconscious and her body freezes. It was the spirit that left her. The treatment is over and the witch doctor leaves the village.
Of all the jock dances, the most important is the one dedicated to the birth of twins, which is called the jok anyondo gift. In addition, the Acholi believe that twins are born only by the will of their ancestors. The dance, called "jock root," is performed at a sacred place where participants thank their ancestors and perform the rite of offerings.
In Baganda, the ceremonial dance for the birth of twins begins when the twins are brought into the parental home. From this moment, everyone who crosses the threshold of the house must convey all feelings and experiences in a song, even if the guest wanted to drink, he must sing his request.
Then, according to tradition, the twins are taken out into the yard for everyone to see. Ritual drums are already installed at the house.
Relatives of happy parents are divided into two groups and, continuing to sing, they surround “their” drums, trying not to allow someone from the other group to touch them. The struggle continues until the mother or father of the twins succeeds in doing so.
Then the meal begins, accompanied by dances and ritual songs. A witch doctor sits near the newborns, who from time to time sprinkles the twins and the dancing with enchanted water and mutters incantations to drive away evil spirits.
The Africans themselves attribute a mystical origin to dances and music, endow them with the ability to neutralize evil supernatural forces and help humans in curbing the natural environment. And there is a lot of truth in this.
Studies have shown that dance and music, and most importantly, rhythm, have a powerful psychological and physiological effect on a person. Rhythm sets the pace for collective work, relieves fatigue; together with the melody, he leads to an elevated, on the verge of ecstasy, a state in which the negative emotional charge accumulated during the day dissipates, anxiety, fear, feelings melt away.
It is noteworthy that music and dance are an inseparable part of any ceremony. To heal the sick, Africans sing healing spell songs and perform dances prescribed by the healers. According to medicine men, music and dance cure all diseases.
Moreover, only by ear, by the squeak of a child or by the voice of an adult, an experienced healer can determine whether a person is healthy or is gnawing at an illness. And if someone is unwell, the witch doctor takes a tomtam, sings, dances, and - an amazing thing - often the patient really gets to his feet, encouraged by the life-giving rhythm of health.
“Music gives the African additional physical and mental strength. The bembe (Congo) has a guitar - ngonfi, bembe under the scorching heat will quickly go 30 kilometers; without a guitar they cannot master a kilometer”(V. Korochantsev, p. 213)
In addition to the correct, healthful sounds, there are also crippling, deadening sounds. They are well known to Africans. They are also known to modern researchers who confirm the "magical" power of dance, music, rhythm.