Wolaytta Chanting Program

From SPARK

Brief Summary

Even with the entire New Testament available to the Wolaytta people, eighty per cent are nonreaders. Since it was difficult to keep their interest when the taped recordings were played, chanting was used to help refocus attention, help listeners memorize Scripture portions, and secure the Word of God in their hearts. Chanting, in either the solo or group version with tunes and chants they know and love, has helped the Wolaytta to learn, remember, apply Scripture, and share it within their communities.

Introduction

The entire New Testament has been translated into the Wolaytta language. The taped version is available to nonreaders. That is about eighty percent of the population.

These recordings help listeners memorize Scripture portions. Each cassette contains some short readings. Before the people lost interest, the audio recording changed from reading to chanting. Chanting is usually a sing-along type in which the people sing an antiphonal response to the chanter. The chanter sings only the words of the text. The repeated response of the people is a phrase that applied the message to their lives.

When the chant finished, the people were ready to listen to more readings. The pace changed again. The people joined a taped soloist who is chanting a memory verse four times in a familiar Wolaytta song form. The tune helped put the words in their minds. The listening and singing of God’s word continues.

Chanting helps the people memorize important Scripture portions. The chanted portions, that the listeners repeat, emphasize the truth.

Solo Chanting

The Wolayttas have two types of chanting. There is the solo version and the group-participation version. We use both types in preparing Scripture cassettes. We have used the solo-version chant to separate the singing and readings. This helps refocus the attention of the listeners. A singer will often chant a Scripture verse over and over in a familiar Wolaytta form. This secures the Word of God in their hearts and minds. It is reinforced by tunes and chants they know and love. The people recall these tunes and chants throughout the day.

We do not use the solo-version chant for long sections. The group-participation version chant is more interesting to the people. It is effective for separating readings from the chants. It helps the people to relax so that they can pay attention to the readings again.

Each singer has their own style. It is good to use the style and form of music that is liked by the people in the churches. It is important to use singers who are respected by the Wolaytta. Because the Wolaytta group and solo chanting use Scripture from the text as well as any other lyric, we give the passage to the singer. He or she sings it over a few times to understand the reading of it. Then the singer makes up the tune. We record it with others joining in. The singers do it in their own style. The variety is interesting. Nationals help choose what part of the script is reading and what part is singing. Using different singers to sing different parts adds interest and variety.

Group-Participation Chanting

The group-participation chanting is either an antiphonal response or a sing-along type of response. The antiphonal response type has one part that is repeated over and over while the singer sings the main part of the chant. This part can be changed during the chant as it continues from one subject to another. Sing-along chants require that the audience listen carefully so that they learn the changing response that they are to sing. The chanter sings a section. The audience repeats the last part of this section. The prophecy of Joel in Acts 2 would go something like this:

Chanter: “In the last days it shall come to pass”

Audience: “Come to pass, come to pass”

Chanter: “Upon all flesh of my Spirit I will pour out”

Audience: “Of my Spirit I will pour out, pour out”

Chanter: “Your sons and daughters, they shall prophesy”

Audience: “They shall prophesy, prophesy.”

The chanting has three different forms.

1. In the first form, the people sing the last part of the section sung by the leader. They have to concentrate on the words they are to sing after the leader. It is a good way to make them listen to what is being sung!
2. In the usual Wolaytta chant, the leader gives them the entire part they are to sing. It is usually a couple of syllables. It repeats the subject of the passage, or applies it to their lives.
3. The third form is more melodic. It contains a longer message or application. For example, in the story in Acts of Ananias being sent to Paul, the people sing, “As God sent Ananias, so he sends you and me.”

Chanting that alternates with reading of the Scripture, keeps the people’s attention. There is no conversation going on when the chant is being sung. The people listen for the part when they are to sing with the singers on the tape. The rhythm of singers on the tape inspires Wolaytta listeners to sing along with them.

I took the tape player to a neighbor’s house for a group to listen. The elderly father had been in bed because of an injury from a fall from his mule. When I greeted him, he weakly gave me his hand and greeted me with, “Peace.”

As we listened to the taped book of Acts, he laid there listening to the readings. When we came to the chants, he sang along. But when we came to one chant in which the people participate, the old man sat up, pulled his shawl around him, and joined in with the others.

Because the crowd enjoyed that chant so much, I played it again for them. On the second time through, the old man listened for the part he was to sing.

Listening to oral Scripture in their homes is common in the Wolaytta culture. The people are not yet book-oriented. They sit around the fire in their homes, passing on lore and teaching orally. The cassette player has been a great help to family and neighbors gathering to listen and learn.

Scripture Chorus

The Scripture Chorus is the modern way of singing choruses in Wolaytta. It uses Amharic indigenous hymns as a pattern. This Scripture Chorus has a guitar accompaniment on the cassette. The Scripture is sung over and over. The young people learn them quickly and sing them.

The choruses are usually written by one girl or a group of girls. They read the Scripture and then develop a tune for that text. They create a tune and rhythm that matches the words. A few girls make up these tunes and then choose the best one. One girl learns to sing it, and then she records it.

Traditional chanting is usually done to tunes that are not so melodic and are made up as they go along. The tune follows the pitch of the words. They are sung by people as they walk, work, or attend church. The only reason for using this new melodic form for choruses is because the Wolaytta young people are accepting this form, not because it is more melodic.

Cassette Bible Study

The Wolaytta church has organized cassette Bible study groups in the communities near the church. Three or four families use the materials on Monday, others on Tuesday, and so on through the week.

The Wolaytta program requires a church to buy a subscription to the cassettes. The tape player is included with the cassettes. They must also buy literacy helps and copies of Acts and Luke. Because many people in the church have contributed to this, they are all eager to hear what they helped buy.

Only One to a Church

The players are powered but by a built-in generator that works by turning a handle. Gospel Recordings International has produced a sturdy, economical one.

Many were disappointed that we had to limit each church to one player. One man asked if his church could buy another. “Many who came to our group and have been saved,” he told me. Many were baptized. Backsliders have returned to the Lord. We need another player.” Another man from the same church begged to buy one with his own money. “I live up toward the mountain.” he said. “Around us are many unbelievers who still worship the mountain. A weekly study is not enough. My neighbors are believing in Jesus. Please!”

Repairs

Repairing the tape players is another problem. The Wolaytta churches hired a man to take charge of giving out and repairing the tape players. He supervises district inspectors, who are hired by their districts to keep the Bible study groups meeting, and check that the church is maintaining their players. They can make simple repairs at that time. If he is not able to repair it, they take it to the central repair shop at the Wolaytta Church headquarters in Soddo.

Additional information

As of August 2008 Faith Comes By Hearing was seeking funding for producing their program for Wolaytta.