Common land on the Swahili Coast which was seasonally utilised by different East African peoples, is still seasonally cultivated by Bajuni seafaring-farmers, who primarily inhabit the islands. Their cultivation of inalienable fields on the mainland is initiated by vave – an agricultural ritual – which in the past regulated rights to farming land anew every year according to poetic prowess. Vave is annually enacted in the randa and vave performative modes, always on majamvi mats in the open air. The opening verses of any vave song, e.g. that of vave a kichanga (vave song of the round mat), allude to the creation of the world as a process of laying out a mat.
Voice: Vave community 2010
Video documentation: Jasmin Mahazi
Video editing: Rebeca Ofek