Singing in a Strange Land: Echoes of the Singing Tradition of Migrant Mineworkers of the Copperbelt in Zambia

Abstract

The official Bemba hymnbook of the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) Inyimbo sha Bwina Klistu ( Inyimbo ) is a compilation of 234 hymns and prayers translated into the Bemba language that was first produced in 1964. 1 In this essay, I account for Inyimbo as an outcome of the agency of migrant mine workers whose life-changing experiences during their migration and settlement on the Copperbelt in the 1920s inspired the birth of a singing tradition that remains today. The African evangelists and European missionaries at Mindolo, Kitwe, translated the hymns that (in)formed the corpus of Inyimbo . 2 While retaining original western forms, the hymns reflect local cultural symbols and musicality in their use. Despite the “ canon ” of Inyimbo remaining the same for more than fifty-five years, oral liturgical innovation is evident.