Ngoma

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A family name used by some people in central and southern Africa

proper noun

: Ngoma

The ngoma is an image of this lake/womb, within which swims the crocodile (the king), represented in the drum by two pebbles, mmbe.

Examples

My friend Ngoma is an excellent musician who plays the drums.
Chakacha is seen as a "mainland" women's ngoma (performance, musical genre, dance).

Academic text (2009)
In Kongo, ngoma was used when there was dancing and when ancestors or chiefs were being addressed, but it does not have a ritual named after it.

Academic text (2002)
Mudzunga's performances all center on a drum: in both his first and his most recent performances, a hemispherical drum of the Venda form known as ngoma.

Academic text (2006)
Matemona Sebastio, the guitarist for a band called Ngoma Jazz who moved to Luanda in 1960, described the rivalry in sports-like terms.

Academic text (2004)
In our neighborhood, many families with the last name Ngoma gather for cultural events.
When I met Ngoma at the festival, I learned about his family's traditions.

Surface Forms

Ngoma main

Etymology

Ngoma comes from a word in many central and southern African languages that means 'drum' or 'dance', like the English word 'drum'. A helpful way to remember the surname Ngoma is to imagine ancestors who were drummers or dancers, which is why the name is common in that region.