When Animals Sing and Spirits Dance, Gule Wamkulu: The Great Dance of the Chewa People of Malawi - SIGNED

Boucher, Claude; Gary J. Morgan, ed., additional text. When Animals Sing and Spirits Dance, Gule Wamkulu: The Great Dance of the Chewa People of Malawi. Oxford: Kungoni Centre of Culture and Art, 2012, first printing. Signed by Morgan on the title page: “Tsalani bwino [travel safely], Gary Morgan.” Hardcover with dust jacket, 23cm by 28cm, xxviii, 275 pp., heavily illustrated in color. New copy with only faint signs of shelf wear. From the jacket flap: “When Animals Sing and Spirits Dance is an introduction to the diversity and drama that is the gule wamkulu, the ‘great dance,’ of the Chewa people of Malawi. Covering 200 characters bedecked in mask and costume or woven structure, the book reveals not only the physical variety of the characters but also analyzes their songs, dances, and often codified messages that are delivered through word and action. It is through the dancers of the gule wamkulu that the ancestors communicate with the living and give instructions on how to abide by the code of moral conduct, the mwambo. It is also through the great dance that we can glean intimate insight into the values and worldview of the Chewa.” (os) Dust jacket present. First Edition.