Category: The Black Star Collection
Creator: FARNWORTH, William
Event Date: n.d.
Medium: gelatin silver print
Dimensions: approximately: 8 x 10 inches; 20.32 x 25.4 cm
Accession Number: BS.2005.060450

Inscriptions:
Recto, [no inscription]; Verso, handwritten: Nyasaland; handwritten: E; handwritten: 10; stamped: [star shape] / Credit: / from BLACK STAR / GRAYBAR BUILDING, NEW YORK; stamped: Please credit photo by: / WILLIAM FARNWORTH / P.O. Mlanje, Nyasaland; typed label: 10. The caravan of choralists and dancers. These singers / and dancers are composed from the Malawi Amazon League. / The songs they sing are chants or round-a-lays, all / with a political twist. Usually counting the days to / when Africans will rule themselves, and the white / masters are gone. These chants are known as / ‘phata-phata.’ All African dances are graceful, / and take the form of pattern dancing, (a mild form / of square dancing.) with several climaxes / with leaps in the air, with a thumb raised in / triumph. Usually the musical accompaniment is a drum, / usually beaten by youngsters, and police type whistles. / Great play is made with the hands, as in 15 a symbolical / washing of the hands and arms. Washing away the cares / and tribulation of the African race. / Most of the dresses of the women in the Malawi Amazon / League are long and flowing, showing a distinct Asian / trend; stamped: A.R.T. FILMS / BOX 8252, C’WAY TELEPHONE 23974 / 47 NORTH AVE, SALISBURY; handwritten: B.S.

Credit Line: The Image Centre, Black Star Collection.
Black Star Subject: MALAWI / NYASALAND
Retouching: N