“Zaranyika,” performed by Tute Chigamba. From the album Yangu Ndega.
My wife really loved “Zaranyika.” When we played that song, you would see VaChihoro take her clay pot and fill it with water. She went outside, because our tap was outside. So she would go to the tap to draw water, fill up her pot, place it on her head, and dance. She didn’t use a ring, she just balanced it directly on her head and danced. She would kneel down, and dance on her knees. She would dance kneeling, approach, and present the pot to the mudzimu ancestor.
So then Irene said, “Oh, I would like to take this, and put it in the dance we are doing with the group.” Then she started training the younger children how to balance a pot full of water. So that is where it came from, from that song, “Zaranyika.” That is the song for placing a pot on one’s head. Now, it has spread all throughout Zimbabwe. Wherever there is a political event, you see women balancing pots on their heads, and going to place them in front of the Presidents. Yes, so that is where it came from.