NEW BUT OLD DISCOVERIES: THE INDINGALA AND THE MWINOGHE.

INDINGALA.

Indingala is a highly emotional and expressive dance perfomed by the Nyakusya and Ngonde of Karonga and Chitipa districts. It is also performed in Tanzania where the Nyakusya and Ngonde lived before immigrating to Malawi.

Indingalabis a special drum which was used for sending a message about the death of a chief,  a presence of dangerouse animals or an attack by enemy tribes in the neighbourhood. Therefore, stong men would rush to the scene armed to defend their village. If the message was about the death of a chief, a fight would break out. This used to be the case because they suspected a foul play and customs demanded that a chief must be laid accompanied by a number of his subjects.

Indingala therefore developed as a warrior dance out of this practice.

But nowadays, it is a peaceful dance in which people participate to express their emotional feelings; either to release tension or simply just to relax.

 Sometimes indingala groups compete with each other. When it is performes for entertainment, women and children are allowed to participate. The men wear a long piece of cloth aroind the waist and adorn decorations of beads. They paint their bodies with clay and use flywhisks when dancing.

 There is very litle singing in Indingala otherwise the only music is provided by three drums and circles.
The dances throw their bodies in different directions gracefully and majestically. In Indingala, it is important to keep the movements of the arms and legs co-ordinating.

MWINOGHE
In the Chidukwa dialect, the word Mwinoghe literally means "Let us enjoy ourselves thoroughly". Mwinoghe is an instrumental dance that popular among people especially school children in Chitipa district of the northern regionof Malawi. It has been derived from a ceremonial dance of Karonga district called " INDINGALA" which was originalky performed by men brandishing flywhisks during  either the enthrallment of a chief or feast over dead maruding lion.

Mwinoghe is a relatively descent dance having been modified from Indingala beteen 1953 abd 1955. In its original form, Mwinoghe was performed during inter-school competition of trditional dances as a form of entertainment for distinguished guests in schools. These days it is also danced on days of I ternational significance like the annual independence annivesarry celebrations.

 The Mwinoghe has been developed to its present form and made popular since the attainment of independence. The main percusion instruments used in the dance are one big drum called "ING'INA" and two smaller ones called "TWANA" but sometimes a whistle is used.
The dancers line up in two straigh lines, boys on one side and an equal number of girls on the other. While the girls continue dancing in a standing position with their hands raised up, the boys squat down wiggling and twisting their bodies, all to the rythm of the instruments.

Mwinoghe is therefore a celebration dance.