Description
ABSTRACT
Kilumi dance of the Akamba is a functional spiritual dance, that has existed as long as the Akamba have existed. The dance is very important in the lives of the Akamba, for it can be/is used to provide solutions to various challenges within the community. However, due to western education, urbanization, western culture and Christianity, many aspects of the dance have changed. This is due to the fact that cultural processes change slowly in time, as observers mature, age or die. Though Ndanu ( 2020) stated that the Akamba used the dance to pray for rains, this study found out that the dance is used for many purposes within the lives of the Akamba, and which this study has elaborated. This study encourages more study to be done, so as to discover the diverse functionalism of the dance. This paper examines the changes that have taken place in the performance of Kilumi dance, and also the role of the dance in the modern days, among the Akamba of Kitui county. Content analysis approach was used to come up with the findings. Further, the study participated in several Kilumi dances at Kitui county. The study sampled respondents from five sub-counties in Kitui county, where questionnaire was used to collect data from Kilumi leaders. During the performances data was collected through personal experience. The responses of the questionnaire were Kilumi leaders, who are technically the experts in the dance. The data was audio recorded and later transcribed. Information from publications by other scholars were used to further compliment the field study. The findings indicated that the spiritual Kilumi dance solve spirit related problems among the Akamba, which seems to have undergone changes in the modern
