...Pasipamire was just another young man,
in the village,
Leading a simple life of peace and harmony,
No troubles on his mind for he was a simple man,
And then Chaminuka came,
And Pasipamire was changed,
And then the spirit came,
Chaminuka was his name,
And everywhere there was jubilation,
A leader had been found,
Chosen by the ancestors...
"Song by Chiwoniso Maraire: Ancient Voices"
The late Zimbabwean songstress, songwriter, and mbira player gave us a magnum opus, a body of work that is timeless. A record that speaks about the heart and soul of the African, she saw the future and came back and gave us the future. Enlightened and awakened the sleeping giant that lay within each African that awaits for the soul to open its window into seeing the world beyond the realm of the mortal man. Paying attention to the lyrics of Ancient voices the track lays the red carpet that speaks about the change in times. Yet the African remains the same, the African does not go extinct, the African adapts the African upgrades, and the African becomes. In becoming like the energy the African heritage does not get eroded, it only morphs itself into another form to meet the demands and needs of the time.
You can take the African out of Africa, you cannot take Africa out of the African. You can try to erode the ancestors, you cannot erode what the ancestors mean to the Africans. As the times evolved with the technology the ancestors or Amadlozi or Midzimu have evolved as well.
In the times when the African is searching for itself, the ancestors respond to the needs of the African. Taking you back a bit tracing the oral heritage of Africa according to the Zezuru oral narrative from the lyrics above by Chiwoniso. The lyrics give us a perspective on the integrity of the people that have been chosen by Amadlozi. To undertake duties of preserving culture, heritage, the rights, and dignity of the African. In the two decades of the twenty-first century thus far the Africans have been on a journey of return. The point of returning to self, a moment of restoring the dignity of the African. In the twenty-first century, there has been a rise of chosen ones, the gifted. One perceives that it is a counter-reaction against the wave of modernity and globalisation that poses a threat to diluting the compass of the African.
Buang Nthabiseng Koneshe arrives on the global podcasting scene with her show called The Modern Healer. The show evokes the conversation into the unknown world of modern healers, a world that is not known to the greater global village. Due to the debilitating effects of colonialism, modernity, and imperialism the African customs have been ridiculed. Observed as if they are demonic and evil, indeed there are aspects that are corrupted by the evil that lurks in the mortal man. The same as Christianity in the vision and understandings of the corrupted mortal man The effects were witnessed through colonisation and imperial expansion. That resulted in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, which was accelerated by the misinterpretation of the bible. That justified the northern hemisphere societies to formulate the laws against their Christian interpretations. Which saw the plundering, and pillage of African societies. Koneshe brings to the podcasting community a unique and enlightened take on the world of modern healers.
Koneshe's podcast is for the curious in mind, the open-minded, the knowledge seekers, and the identity searchers. The podcast is available across every platform and I highly recommend you to listen to The Modern Healer by Buang Nthabeseng Koneshe. Give her podcast an ear, share it with your peers, and have a broadened view that lay beyond your horizon of curiosity.
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