Negotiating identity through music in Zimbabwe: Interrogating some selected Nambya music

Abstract

The Nambya music speaks to the socio-cultural identity of the Nambya people yet it has been jettisoned in music discourse in Zimbabwe. The article critically engages with selected song texts of the previously marginalised ethnic minority to glean the musicians’ use of their indigenous language voices to negotiate issues of identity. The article is qualitative and interpretive, grounded in the constructionist strand of Afrocentricity. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and a review of relevant literature. The findings established that the musicians deploy their voices in communicating beliefs and values of the Nambya people amid many challenges affecting postcolonial societies.