IT is a Thursday evening in the capital city, Harare.
A well-manicured dreadlocked young musician is playing traditional music while imbibers gulp their favourite beers at an affluent spot in the central business district.
A group of deodorant-smelling beautiful ladies in tight outfits enter the joint drawing the attention of fellow patrons.
Noticing their grand entrance, young musician Vimbai Mhofu and his band members increase the tempo of their music and suddenly the atmosphere is electric.
The young ladies gyrate to the beat while sniffing traditional snuff popularly known as bute in Zimbabwe.
“They are my loyal fans. They follow me everywhere I go,” Mhofu later told NewsDay.
Mhofu revealed that he has witnessed an upsurge in attendance in recent weeks particularly from young ladies.
“Lately, our shows have been packed with mostly young women. Traditionally, we used to attract old men, but things have changed,” he said.
Popular traditional singer Sasha Madhuve said a new breed of women is getting possessed during mbira shows.
“No matter how rich or educated we might be; we need to stick to our roots. Wherever I perform, I have seen people getting possessed and sometimes we move around with elders who then play their part in calming down these guys,” said Madhuve.
“I have also seen a number of beautiful women who genuinely fall into a trance and that is the sign that they still follow our traditional culture.”
With a number of young women embracing traditional culture, Sasha said they deserve love.
“I have realised that some people are a bit sceptical when dealing with people who get possessed but they need to embrace them.
“I also know that these people are sometimes marginalised or discriminated against but we need to show them genuine love.
“You might be shocked that we have many people who get possessed in churches who don’t want to come in the open and get help,” she said.
Mbira or thump piano is a music instrument whose invention is credited to Zimbabwe by Unesco and is regarded as a world heritage.
The young ladies are firm believers in African traditional religion. The women call themselves manjuzu — a Shona term for mermaid.
“I believe I have a mermaid spirit. I used to have dreams where I will be in rivers and I ignored those dreams. I ended up having endless headaches and I consulted some traditional healers who told me I should do rites to appease the spirits. After the rituals, the headaches stopped and my business is booming,” said Emelda Karendo who runs several boutiques in Harare.
Karendo said the rituals were done by a traditional healer in a river. Karendo said she brought wine, rice, cigarettes and chocolates to appease the mermaid spirit.
Prominent Zimbabwean traditional healer Oman Kamwelo Banda, popularly known as Sekuru Banda, has done several initiation rites over the years. He said the mythical mermaid spirit remained one of the cornerstones of the Shona culture.
“Every culture has its beliefs about mermaids or mermen. The mermaid is grouped under the mythological creatures because no one can really prove that they exist,” Banda said.
“In Zimbabwean culture, mermaids are associated with spirits of the rivers. They are more like river goddesses who are sometimes cruel if provoked and can be cruel for no reason.”
Banda added: “Mermaid spirit, ‘shavi’ in Shona, is very different from the ancestral spirit. The mermaid spirit is invited in most cases. Unlike ancestral spirits who are your deceased relatives who come back to assist and heal the family, this foreign spirit is not in any way related to you and can be mischievous if it is not kept in check.
“A ceremony must be held for one to acquaint themselves with the mermaid spirit. Another ceremony to appease the spirits of the river so as to avoid the medium to be taken by other mermaids must also be done.”
Edison Mhaka, the author of the book Mermaids and Mermen-Njuzu Myths among the Shona of Zimbabwe, said while he used the word myth in his book, to the Shona people in njuzu is a lived reality for many.
“The word myth has been given different meanings. In common use, the word has been used to refer to untrue or fictitious stories,” Mhaka said.
“In this sense, myths are defined as stories not based on reality, but people’s imaginations. In this book, however, the term is used with a specialised meaning it has in religious studies. In religious studies, myths have been viewed as sacred narratives that reveal ultimate truth and realities.”
Mhaka added: “To the Shona, therefore, myths are an aspect of reality. The basis of njuzu myths are the lived experiences of the Shona people. To the Shona, njuzu myths are understood in a specialised religious sense which associates myths with reality.
“Thus, njuzu myths are taken seriously by the Shona. Some of the njuzu myths in this book are based on dreams. The Shona take their dreams seriously.
“Njuzu related dreams are therefore regarded by the Shona as part of lived reality. Hence, we find some Shonas who give testimonies about njuzu based on their dreams.”
The young ladies said practising traditional religion was soothing to the soul and results in a peaceful mind.
“Like any other religion, African traditional religion is very satisfying. It is another way of praising the creator just like Christianity,” said Yolanda Gondo, one of the ladies into African tradition.
Zimbabwe music professor Fred Zindi said the recent surge in mbira music lovers showed that traditional religion was still very strong in the country.
“Music is part of religion. One cannot separate reggae music from Rastafari and one cannot separate mbira music from our tradition even Christians listen to gospel music. These ladies are practising their religion in complete form, that is why mbira shows are now being sold out,” he said.