Sinhanha Campbell Mvalo, (a) Comments about storytelling and (b) an ibali

Time: 2 pm Storyteller: Sinhanha Campbell Mvalo / Born in East London, October 1, 1908 / Born at St. Luke's Mission in the district of East London / A Ndlambe ("pure Xhosa," he states) / Primary education at St. Luke's Mission (Sub-A to Standard VI) / St. Matthew's College, then into the teaching procession (1st, 2nd, 3rd years) / Appointed principal teacher of Tyityaba English Church School / Taught there for three years / Gave up teaching: "too monotonous" / Became a clerk-interpreter for a solicitor's firm / Remained there nine months / To East London, again employed as clerk-interpreter for a solicitor's firm, for ten years / Then to the Department of Native Affairs, as a Bhunga clerk, in East London, for three years / Appointed principal of the Gompo Institute, looked after delinquent children, nine months / To SANTA Settlement, worked with tuberculosis patients / To Rhodes University, to do research on the lives of African people, in the Institute of Social and Economic Research, seven years / To East London again, then to the Transkei in the early 1960s, has been in Umtata ever since / Has lived in Umtata for seven years / Finished his project in 1962; then to SAPA, has been with SAPA for the past five years / His family is presently in East London; he lives alone in a location outside Umtata Part A-- Commentary: / Discussed storytelling, questioned by Scheub / Discussion conducted in English / The comments were cut short by a business matter that Mr. Mvalo had to attend to Part B--Ibali Time: 9 am Storyteller: Sinhanha Campbell Mvalo Yesterday (July 30), he wrote three-fourths of the ibali down; for the taped session, he indicated that he preferred to read what he had written rather than tell the ibali from his memory / The first part of the ibali was read; then, he informed me that he did not have sufficient time yesterday to write the entire ibali down, and I prevailed on him to tell the rest of it from his memory. What had been a stilted, artificial performance to this point suddenly became animated and colorful, no longer tied to the written word. Mr. Mvalo became relaxed, effusive, demonstrative. Suddenly, gesture and facial expressions became integral aspects of the performance: what had been a mere reading now became a lively performance. / Mr. Mvalo informed me that this ibali was from his memory, as it had been related to him by one of the twenty-five men who survived (the others, he said, were destroyed by lions). It is, he said, a genuine ibali: it actually happened long ago. So far as he knows, this ibali has never been recorded. / He told some parts of the story outside, and I took some cinema film of his performance. A small audience had gathered to watch the filming- younger men, clerks, insurance salesmen. After the filming, these young people informed me that, while they had heard iintsomi and amabali...