Tufo is a traditional dance

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

 in Northern Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

. The dance is performed by groups of women and is found in Maputo

Maputo

Maputo, also known as Lourenço Marques, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was famous for the inscription "This is Portugal" on the walkway of its...

, the provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula

Nampula Province

Nampula is a province of Mozambique. It has an area of 81,606 km² and a population of 3.985.285 . Nampula is the capital of the province...

 and the Island of Mozambique

Island of Mozambique

The Island of Mozambique lies off northern Mozambique, between the Mozambique Channel and Mossuril Bay. It has a population of around 14,000 people and is part of Nampula Province.-History:...

. Of Arab origin, the dance is performed to celebrate Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic festivals and holidays. The dance is traditionally performed by dancers moving just the top halves of their bodies and accompanied by songs and tambourine

Tambourine

The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....

-like drums.

History

The origins of tufo are unclear, although on the Island of Mozambique, legend has it that the dance began at the time when the prophet

Prophet

In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...

  Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

 migrated to Medina

Medina

Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...

. He was welcomed by his followers with songs and dances praising Allah

Allah

Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...

, accompanied by tambourines. Since the prophet approved of these dances, they continued to be performed at religious festivals. Tufo probably arrived in Mozambique in the 1930s, brought by a tradesman from Kilwa

Kilwa Kisiwani

Kilwa Kisiwani is a community on an island off the coast of East Africa, in present day Tanzania.- History :A document written around AD 1200 called al-Maqama al Kilwiyya discovered in Oman, gives details of a mission to reconvert Kilwa to Ibadism, as it had recently been effected by the Ghurabiyya...

 called Yussuf. The name probably derives from an Arabic

Arabic language

Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 name for the tambourines used in the dance, ad-duff. This word became adufe or adufo in Portuguese

Portuguese language

Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...

, and then tufo.

The dance has also been heavily influenced by the matrilineal Makhuwa culture. Despite its Muslim origins, tufo has spread beyond the communities and context of Islam. Although still performed at religious feasts, tufo songs may also contain social or political themes.

Performance

Historically tufo was performed by both male and female dancers but now men usually only dance on rare occasions. Tufo dance groups comprise 15–20 women and are accompanied by four men or women on flat tambourine-like drums. All of the dancers sing although there are usually lead singers. Traditionally, tufo dancers danced while kneeling down, rhythmically moving the top halves of their bodies. More recently tufo choreography has evolved such dancers may stand and move their whole bodies about.

Tufo songs are transmitted orally and may be composed by one of the dancer's or by the group's poet. They are usually in the Emakhuwa language but may also be in Arabic or Portuguese. The dancers must wear matching scarves and capulanas, which are a kind of sarong

Sarong

A sarong or sarung is a large tube or length of fabric, often wrapped around the waist and worn as a kilt by men and as a skirt by women throughout much of South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and on many Pacific islands. The fabric most often has woven plaid or...

made from brightly-coloured printed cloth. Each dance requires a new capulana to be worn.