Play time: 08:05 minutes. Recorded in Mago, Kenya, March 14, 2014.

Kulonga Tsinyingu

Difena Aseyo

Kale vifuria viala ku dave navutswa kwalonganga tsinyingu. Tsinyingu tsiene yitsio ndio kwatsitsanga mwivanda. Kivanda chalange ni lidoshi lialongwanga ku tsinyingu. Kwatsitsa mu kutsia kuyava lidoshi limwamu ti ma kwitsa ni lidoshi liene yilio hango ligona. Lia kagona ma vuchia mugamba kuvugula lidohi liene yilio kusama na amatsi lidota ma kuvugula kisala kilangwa muhini kutsuka ku amatsi nu kuduyaga lidoshi liene yilio yani lidote. Kwa kamala ma kutanga kuvugula lidoshi liene yilio nu kumina na tsimbuyi tsitula mu; tugina tutula mu kuvike yeyo. Kwatanganga kuvugula lidoshi liene yilio liakadota kutanga kusita; kusitanga kusita litambiha ma kutanga kolonga inyingu. Kwa kalonga inyingu kolonge isiongo. Tsindoho ni mitunji jiaraku dave; ma kutange kolonge tsisiongo. Kwala ni kindi kindu chalangangwa lusitilu; kelomba maridadi ku inyingu yene eyo. Ma kuvuguli kwa kalonga ni kindu imbasa. Imbasa yatula ku musala ma kuvugula kindu chene yichio kuvika mmtasi kandi kikinda cha kwenya kukutiranga lidoshi liene lia kusitanji yili ndi kwakatanga kulinga kwenya kolombe inyingu. ma kutanga kukutila imbasa yene eyo; kukuta kukuta koleng'anyie lusitiru lwene yilwo ndio koleng'anyie halala ive inungi. Kwa kamala kukuta musi, kukuta yigulu. Kwa kamala kuvugula lusitiru lwene yilu ndi, kindu chene kelombanga maridadi, mukono gugimiyi musi na yigu ndi sasa ukutanga nu ukuta inyingu yene yeyo ndio olomba maridadi lusitiru. Kwa kalomba ndio ma kandi wilane olombe munwa gwi isiongo yene eyo ndio kandi olombe kadoshi kene yako olomba wenye wilane kukuta nu kuta nu ubamikitsa olomba munwa yani lliga kuli gwi kifuria; lwa ni wihulange anoho nutsiyi mukidaho nudaha amatsi hugimila. Ma kolomba inyingu yeneyo igwa isiongo. Kwavikanga inyingu yeneyo ku tsinyingu tsinde tsiadikanga (lujo) nakwo kwa kwalongela. Tsinyingu tsiene yitsio utsia uvika yahio ndio egona ho. Vwakachia mugamba inyingu yeneyo umanya utsie kutulitsa ku lujo lwene yilwo kandi ukuti inyuma wa yikaliyange ku lujo yaho ma utulitsa ho utsia ukunika havundu ndio yumili ho. Kandi kifuria badala yi kifuria kwalombanga inyanguluga. Inyanguluga ya madoshi gene yago badala yi kifuria via kalunu yivi. Inyanguluga yeneyo kandi kolombe lidoshi kusite tsa kawaida ndio. Kwa kalomba kandi wilane ukute ni imbasa no oleng'anyia musi ndio kandi uvuguli lusitiru lwolo lwene yilwo kandi usite ku. Inyingu yi tsingutsa ndio, isongo ndio, inyanguluga ndio. Ma kandi vibirihoni vialange ho dave. Kuvuguliku ku lidoshi liene yilio ndio kwenya kolombe kibirihoni; kwa kilanga kidavo. Kidavo chene yicho kandi ukute nolomba; wakusita tsa vulahi lidoshi kandi ulinyovi tsa vulahi kandi olombe nolomba kandi olomba kidavo. Kidavo chene yicho natsio tsisahani tsia kalunu; nacho chakwalila ku. Vivuli vakutela ku tsingutsa tsiu mutere na magaraba nu muduya kulagilila ku vidavo. Lidiku lia kaduka tsinyingu kwakalomba tsimali masitsa gavaga ma kutsie kotenya tsingu. Kwakatenya tsingu nu musala gwalangangwa ikambi; ikambi yeneyo kutsie kutulitse ku magodo gene ma kutenye tsingu. Kwa katenya tsingu na tsinyingu tsyitu tsiakwuma ma kutsi kuvugula tsingu tsiene yitsi kwenya kubange magina ganne kwenya kutsie kuvuguli kwale ku ku magina yago kwale ku tsingu. Kwa kala ku tsingu ma kuvuguli tsinyingu tsiene yitsi ma kutsia kubanga ku. Kubange ku tsiveye tsibnyinge ma tsifwere ku. Ma kandi kuvuguli tsingu tsindi kukuniki ku igulu ma kuvula mulilu kufwana mu tsinyingu yitsio tsishia. Tsiakashia tsimugiha pa. Na musenzeli gwitu yigu kuvuguyi inyingu yitu enene kuduyaji kuvichi mu amatsi mu musenzeri gwitu gwene yigu ndi. Ma kuvugula na kasambu ma kuvugulanga amatsi gene yago ndio kusama ku kwa kihura. Kutulitsa mu tsimugihi pa ma utsivika yaho . Utulitsa utulitsa nu musala mu kijira tsihiyi navika kundulu yeyo ndio na wu musenzeli navugula amatsi gene navika ku. Sasa vakavika yo, inyingu yeneyo nu wakon'onda ku nuhula nekola: nga nga nga nga umanya ihiyi na musenzeli guduchi ku. Na wanyolanga yakola: mbu mbu mbu mbu; guhiyi dave, nu guvisi. Ku tsinyingu tsiene yitsio vahilanga musogoni vandi vatsia vagula tsisiongo vatsila mu amatsi, tsinyanguluga valugila mu vuchima na luvindi yilu ludeka tsingutsa. Nindio vindu via kwatumikila kale ndio.

Molding pots

Long time ago there were no cooking pans, but we used to mold pots. We used to go to the river. The river had mud for modeling pots. We used to go and dig the clay, then you come with it at home and you leave it to stay for one night. The following morning we used to take the clay, then we apply water on it, then we take a log and apply water on it also then we hit the clay to soften and make it smooth. After that we used to press the clay to make it finer, by removing the hard particles. We remove the stones and keep them aside. We used to roll the clay, and then we start to make the pot.

After making a small pot, we used to make a big pot for putting in water. We didn't have buckets. We used to make big pots. We had something called "lisitimu" which was being used to make patterns on the pot. "Imbasa " was made from a tree, we used to take that thing then we put water on it that we want to use for making the pot. We used to roll the clay using the "imbasa" we used to mold it together, to become fine. After finishing we used to scratch inside and outside. After that we used to take "lusitimu" And make the decorations. One hand is holding from inside and the other one is making the patterns outside. You are making decorations using "lusitimu" after making it like that then you begin to make the opening of the pot. You make the clay then you make an opening like that of the cooking pan. That is the place that you will be using to lift the pot at the river or use it for holding the pot. Then we mold it into a big pot for water. We used to place the pots on top of the broken pieces of pot. You place it there, and leave it there the whole night.

In the morning you remove the pot from the broken piece, you scratch at the place where it was placed, then you keep it somewhere for it to dry. Instead of cooking pan we used to make something called "inyanguluga" we take the clay and roll it as usual. Then you scratch it with "imbasa" as you balance inside then you tae your "lusitiru" and make the shape, you do the same to the pot of vegetables, pot for water, cooking pot. There were no plates.

We take that clay; we want to make plate out of it. We used to call it "kidavo" you scratch as you make it. After rolling it well, you make an open surface. That open surfaces are the ones that we call plates these days. That is what we used to eat from. Our parents used to put vegetables called "mutere, magaraba" and bean stew, and then we eat from those plates. The day comes and we have finished making pots, we then go to look for firewood. We look for firewood, then we get a tree called "ikambi" we remove the barks and take the tree as firewood.

After getting the firewood, we dry them. Then we take four stones and put the firewood on top of them. And then we put the pots on top; we put more firewood on top of the pots and light up the fire. And the pots are heating now. When they are heated, they tend to appear red in color. Then we take our huge pot, hit it then we put in water.

We then take some leaves and we sprinkle water using the leaves on top of the pots. We take them and they are red in color, then you put them aside. You remove them from the fire using a stick because they are very hot. After that, when you hit it, you used to hear that it produces this sound "nga nga nga nga" and you now know that it is heated and if it produced this sound "mbu mbu mbu mbu" it's not heated, it is raw. They used to take those pots to the market, some used to buy the huge pots and they put in water. There are some that were used for baking in maize flour and the small ones are used for cooking vegetables. Those are the things that we used long time ago.