Akazehe

Akazehe[a] (also known as agocoya[1] or, regionally, akayégo[b] or akahibongozo[c]) is a traditional Burundian form of chanted extended musical greeting, sung exclusively by and between women.

[4][5] The polyphonic form is practiced among rural women as a quotidian greeting between pairs of friends or relatives, irrespective of time or occasion.

[4] Within Burundi, akazehe is generally understood as conversational rather than musical, with the practice (whose name derives from the Kirundi root -zehe, meaning to chat) typically referred to in terms of speaking rather than of singing.

Akazehe begins with embrace, continues into extended dialogic chant, and ends with the squeezing or shaking of hands.

The rhythm of the akazehe is complex, with complete melodies forming from segments sung in rapid, overlapping enunciation,[4] across a narrow range of notes.

[4] When the women part at the end of the chant, they may now meet each other's eyes and smile, laugh, greet each other in other conventional ways (such as by shaking hands), and chat.

Cultural officials and teachers in Burundi attributed the decline to public health measures discouraging unnecessary physical contact during disease outbreaks such as COVID-19 and monkeypox, as well as a perceived lack of promotion in schools.

School teacher Annonciate Baragahorana observed that akazehe was primarily practiced by women living in the central plateaus of the country, with the province of Ngozi specifically noted as a place where the tradition persists.