Echoes of Tribal Culture

Drumbeats roll, thick pulses of sound bouncing off dirt, cement, and tin. Plastic jerry cans vibrate with the pounding rhythm of calloused hands. Echoes of tribal culture fill the sanctuary.

A peculiar instrument dances between a boy’s thumbs and index fingers. Its body consists of a flattened tin can, pierced through and through with tiny holes. Its gut is filled with stones of particular shapes and sizes, along with a very specific type of goat droppings. This is a noisemaker like no other. (“Just be sure not to get it wet,” the boys tell us.) As it shakes, the people find their “moves” for the song. Arms swing back and forth, feet shuffle from side to side, fingers snap, heads bobble, and shoulders dance.

The voices of the tribesmen scale high and low with incredible ease. Toposa men take delight in the rapid ascent and descent of soprano and bass-level tones. Their male vocal range should be the eighth wonder of the world.

A small group of young men stands at the front of the church, a new song rising from their lips. Its lilting tune provides a perfect background for the message being carried.

“Choose who you will serve. Choose who to serve! I will trust God alone.
Choose who you will serve. Choose who to serve! We will do the work of the Lord.
Choose who you will serve. Choose who to serve! We will follow the Lord’s path.”

Congregants perk up with the sound of a new song in their mother tongue. Little children strain their ears to catch all the words. They mouth the lyrics softly as the boys repeat the chorus again and again.

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Oral cultures claim singing as a prominent art form, being a means of both learning and leisure. In Toposaland, however, singing is not just prominent but primary. We’ve learned this firsthand as our Story circles have become more and more centered around the art. Whereas April and I thought we could open the time with worship and prayer, beginning the Story and discussion time within a half hour or so, the young men had a different schedule in mind. Though they were eager to hear the Story, they could hardly contain their enthusiasm for worship, singing for an hour or more before finally winding down.

One night, after discussing the Story of Elijah vs. The Baal Worshippers and introducing the challenge presented in Joshua 24:15, the boys became excited at the thought of writing a song to help them remember. We witnessed the inspiration of the Spirit in their hearts as, literally, within moments a new song (the one written above) was birthed in their midst. They liked the words and tune so well that they began exclaiming, “Hey! This is a very good song!” We prayed and thanked God for it, then asked the boys to teach the song to the school kids the following morning. With eager anticipation, they agreed to do so.

When we gathered for Storying a couple nights later, one of the boys whispered, “Longoko is making songs. Will you look at them?” They handed us a crumpled piece of notebook paper on which were painstakingly written seven short excerpts from the book of Psalms. Longoko had done his homework with an English Bible, choosing verses which he believed the Toposas would really like. He soon began singing for us two of the songs for which he’d already composed melodies. The group was ecstatic, quickly picking up the tunes and joining in.

A few days passed and, on a weekday afternoon, a young girl came to our door with another piece of paper in her hand. “Douno and Lopua have written songs,” she told us. “They want you to look at them.”

That night, we asked the boys to teach us their songs. Lopua introduced his:

“Jesus died on the cross because of my sins. 

Jesus, the Son of God, the Son of Man.  

Jesus, my Savior! Jesus, my Savior! 

Jesus Christ, Mighty God. 

No one is above You, Mighty Lord.”

His melody was beautiful, having a distinctly tribal “swing” to it. The song would lodge itself in our heads that night and follow us until…this very evening, in fact, at which point we still find ourselves singing and humming it at random. :)

We are sincerely praising God for giving several of the young men the passion and ability to write songs. Our prayer is that these songs will be a vital instrument for sharing God’s Book with the villagers, for memorizing Scripture, and for recalling to mind certain Stories and Biblical events from which we can all continue learning. Pray with us that the eyes of the young men will continue opening to the importance of writing Scripture songs in their mother tongue as a vehicle by which to transport the Gospel.

“God is giving us the power to write these songs! We are thanking Him daily.” – Lopua

Young men showcase another art form of their oral culture - Drama.
Pictured above is a scene from the Story of Peter and John out of Acts 3 and 4.