Monk ReviewsThe Kachamba Brothers' Band By G. Kubik [in German] Vienna, Osterreichesche EthnologischeGesellschaft, 1972, Acta Ethnologica et Linguistica No. 27, 90 pp. no price indicated.The Kachamba Brothers' Band Recorded by G. Kubik [in Chewa and English] Vienna, Osterrei-chesche Ethnologische Gesellschaft, 1972, Acta Ethnologica et Linguistica, Phonographica No. 1,12" L.P. record, no price indicated.In these two publications, a book and ac-companying record, Gerhard Kubik is present-ing the results of research in central Africanpopular music. Serious studies of popular musicare infrequent, and this work is a significantaddition. The publication of book and recordtogether is an ideal format for presenting atype of music which may be unfamiliar to thereader-listener. Studies of music have generallybeen presented in the form of a book withmusical examples or else a record with ex-planatory notes. In this set the book and therecord are fully complementary.One drawback is that the record has beenissued without any indication on the jacketthat there is a book to go with it, probablybecause the record appears also to have beendesigned for the pop music market in Malawi.This study seeks to understand the position ofthe Kachamba Brothers' Band and their musicin relation to modern music in south-east Afri-ca in general.The first two chapters of the book presentthe background of the band giving biographicalinformation of the players. It is formed basic-ally by Daniel and Donald Kachamba, playingthe guitar and the pe-nnywhistle respectively.In performances other people join them playingthe one-stringed bass and rattles. Daniel learnedto play the guitar in Salisbury. In Malawi theband played in bars or else as street performers,which is not unlike former African likembeminstrels. Kubik found them in 1967 playingin the streets of Blantyre and recorded themat that time. When he returned in 1972 hefound they had separated, but he got them to-gether, made recordings, and later arranged forthem to perform with him in East Africa andEurope. Unfortunately most of the research hasbeen done only with these musicians themselves,and there is little on the social context inwhich they would normally perform.Chapter Three deals with the band and itsplace in the music of Southern Africa. Kubikfeels that modern Malawian music combinessomething of the South African style as wellas the style from Zaire. This brings out aninteresting problem in ethnomusicology. TheZairean guitar style is plucking strings indivi-dually, whereas the South African style ismainly strumming. The music on the recordsounds like the latter, but the performer hastold the ethnomusicologist that he conceptua-lizes the music in separate voice lines, morelike the Zairean style. The conceptualizationof the performer and the sound as heard by thelistener is not always the same. The instrumentsof this band are the same as those popularin South Africa in the 1950s, especially thoseused in kwela. Kubik says that the Malawianmusic is based on Simanjemanje (modern Afri-can rock), but the more expensive instrumentsare not available in Malawi so they use themore readily available instruments.125The fourth chapter deals with the repertoireand origin of the music. Daniel Kaehambahas composed some of it, but much of it isadapted from records, even to phonetic repro-duction of foreign texts. The compositions aremostly topical songs, often with highly symbolicmeanings which are not understandable to theoutsider.The musical instruments themselves are des-cribed in the fifth chapter. The pennywhistle(called kwela-flote in German) is adapted byexpanding the mouth hole and putting the lipover part of the labium (sounding hole) whenplaying. The guitar is adapted by removingthe number five string. Daniel Kaehamba usesa variety of tunings, with secret names forthem so they cannot be copied by someoneelse. In addition to rattles, the one-stringedbass is often used. This is a rather large boxwith a pole on one side of it. A string isstretched from the top of the pole to the box,and it is plucked when playing the instrument.Chapter Six contains specific notes aboutthe material on the record, including the ChewaKwanongoma College of Music, BulawayoUniversity of Indianatexts and English translations made by DanielKaehamba himself. The fifteen songs are mostlytopical, dealing with love and troubles. Oneis in praise of President Banda. Eight songsare in Chewa (one of which is mixed withShona), two are in English and three are Zulu,learned phonetically. Several types of musicare given Š Sinjonjo, Double-step (Simanje-manje), Twist, Limbika, Shake-Shake andLumba (Rhumba). The songs are placed onthe record in the order they were recorded, butnone of the 1967 recordings are included.The strummed guitar and the string bassare heard in all of the songs. The songs havethe strong pulsing beat which is so popular inurban African music today, but there is littlesyncopation. The one-stringed bass has somelively and interesting bass lines in some of thesongs. Just listening to the record does notgive a clear idea of why Kubik considered thisgroup particularly interesting or important. Theacademic interest of the book overshadows themusical interest of the record.O. E. AXELSSONJ. KAEMMERIndians in Uganda and Rhodesia: Some Comparative Perspectives on a Minority in AfricaBy H. H. Patel Denver, University of Denver, 1973, Center on International Race Relations Studiesin Race and Nations, 5, i, 35 pp. US$2,00.The author has written a thought-provoking,but admittedly preliminary, inquiry which hepresents in two main parts. The first portiondraws a community profile, concerned inter aliawith early history, segregation and discrimina-tion, and land and trade policies; the seconddiscusses Indian political activity. He avoidsfirm conclusions, but remarks that 'the largelyapolitical Indian usually has been galvanisedinto political action for his own interests' Šexcept in his response to developing Africannationalism. He comments also that Indians inRhodesia enjoy what many perceive of as beinga precarious existence.The fundamental issue the paper raises iswhether or not a broad community profile canbe drawn to cover Indian experience in Ugandaand Rhodesia. I believed that this could be doneuntil I read Patel's study; for it demonstratesthat the variable factors are so numerous thatno cohesive form can be achieved because thecircumstances in which the two communitiesdeveloped have been so completely different.It is the early years which are crucial, andtoo little weight is given to them in this paper.Indians penetrated into Uganda when theBritish were weak, whereas they entered Rho-desia under the cover of Chartered Companystrength. The British in Uganda had to allythemselves with segments of society in Bugandaand then negotiate with neighbouring politicalunits, a situation which led to the preservationof African rights through a series of agreements.The 1900 Uganda Agreement, by which Bu-ganda maintained a separate identity until theremoval of the Kabaka four years after the126