ABOUT MAASAI CULTURE
The maasai are an indigenous ethnic group in Africa of semi-nomadic people settled in Kenya and northern Tanzania due to their distinct traditions, customs and dress and their residence near the many national game sparks of East Africa, the maasai are among the foremost African ethnic groups and are known internationally because of their links to the national park and reserves.
Language-: Maa, a language derived from Nilo-Saharan, related to Dinka and Nuer. They also speak the official languages of Tanzania, Swahili and English.
Maasai society is firmly patriarchal in nature, with elder Maasai men sometimes joined by retired elders, determining most major matters for the Maasai tribes. The Maasai people are monotheistic, and their God is named Engai or Enkai. For Maasai people living a traditional way of life, the end of life is virtually without a formal funeral ceremony, and the dead are left out in the fields for scavengers. Burial has in the past been reserved for great chiefs only, since it is believed by the Maasai that burial is harmful to the soil.
Traditional Maasai people’s lifestyle concentrates on their cattle which make up the primary source of food. Amongst the Maasai and several other African ethnic groups, the measure of a man’s wealth is in terms of children and cattle. So the more the better. A man who has plenty cattle but not many children is considered to be poor and vice versa. A maasai myth says that God afforded them all the cattle on the earth, resulting in the belief that rustling from others tribes is a matter of claiming what is rightfully theirs, a practice that has now become much less common.
MAASAI MUSIC AND DANCE
Traditionally, the maasai music comprises of rhythms rendered by a chorus of vocalists singing harmonies, all the while the olaranyani (song leader) sings the melody. The olaranyani is usually the person who can be best sing that song. The olaranyani starts singing the namba of a song and the group responds with one unanimous call in acknowledgment. Women recite lullabies, hum songs and sing music that praises their sons.
One elision to the vocal creation of Maasai music is the function of the horn of the Greater kudu to summon morans (initiates) for the Eunoto ceremony (a coming of age ceremony). The ceremony usually lasts ten or more days. (And the singing and dancing around the manyattas involve flirting). Young men will line and chant and the women stand in front of them and sing in counterpoint to them. Contemporary Hip Hop musicians from northern Tanzania are now incorporating traditional Maasai rhymes, chants and beats into their music.