Music of Kampala

This week I started working at the International School of Uganda (ISU). I have been helping out Rita in the upper school (middle and high school) music classes. The classroom is a great example of the combination of musical styles in Kampala. There are shelves with guitars, flutes, clarinets, saxophones and trumpets alongside adungus, endingidis and a few drums.

On Thursday of this week, I accompanied Jill, one of the teachers at ISU, to Makerere University. In addition to working at ISU, Jill also teaches dance at Makerere. One of the interesting projects she is working on at the moment is a collaboration between her dance class at Makerere and the Norwegian College of Dance. They are putting on a performance on the 2nd and 3rd of May which I am planning to attend. She also does an annual collaboration with the dance department at NYU.

After she finished her class at Makerere, I went with Jill to In Movement where they were rehearsing for the Norwegian College of Dance collaboration. In Movement is an organization that provides arts education to youth in Uganda. On the same property is ’32º East: Ugandan Arts Trust.’ This organizations goal is to provide resources for the development of an arts community in Uganda. They have several artists in residence and have held several exhibitions throughout Kampala over the years. One of the exhibitions I found particularly interesting was a mobile exhibit called ‘The Boda Boda project.’ Boda bodas are motorcycle taxis that provide a significant amount of public transportation throughout Kampala and other urban centers in Uganda. The project featured 20 artists who each created an installation utilizing a boda boda. The exhibition then traveled around Kampala and was on display in different locations over the course of the 2014 Kampala Contemporary Art Festival.

After returning to the University campus I was able to make an appointment to meet with Professor Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza next week. The week I have been reading the book Ethnomusicology in East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and Beyond which she edited along with Thomas Solomon. The article Professor Nannyonga-Tamusuza contributed to the book is titled What is “African Music”? Conceptualisations of “African Music” in Bergen (Norway) and Uppsala (Sweden). In her study, she focused on how people in Bergen and Uppsala perceive music from Africa and music that is marketed as such. Part of her argument is that “the term ‘African music’ is a brand name, an economic (popularised by the media as commercial product), political, and academic construct” (Nannyonga Tamusuza 204). I interpreted her analysis as a response to the use of the term as way of commodifying musics from Africa as “homogeneous, original, traditional, authentic, romantic, exotic, simple and natural” (Nannyonga Tamusuza 206). I am going to explore some of the sources she cites in her paper and try to provide further insights into this topic.

While on the Makerere campus, I was also able to hear a performance by a class studying popular music. The played an array of American and Ugandan popular music including a cover of Cindi Lauper’s ‘True Colors.’

I also made a trip to the Uganda National Museum. Fortunately the museum is pretty close to where I am staying so I was able to walk there. When I got there the first place I stumbled upon was the Library of the Uganda Society. The Uganda Society was “founded in 1923 as the Uganda literary and scientific society.” The librarian was extremely helpful and found a couple of books on Ugandan music for me. I spent some time looking over a book called African Music from the Source of the Nile by Joseph Kyagambiddwa. The book was published in 1955 so it is fairly old but had a lot of interesting information about Baganda music and had a rather large collection of scores and descriptions of the music. I am looking for a copy of the book online and will hopefully be able to find one that I can get back in the US. I also picked up a copy of Volume 53 of the Uganda Journal which is a publication released by the Uganda Society. There is an interesting article in this edition titled Music in the Sacred Forest of the Rwenzori by Vanna Viola Crupi. The article discusses how the Bakonzo people who live in the region relate to the environment through music and how this relationship has been altered by the designation of the Rwenzori mountains as a National Park.

After spending some time in the library, I made my way to the museum itself. One of the first exhibits I found was a display of the traditional instruments of Uganda. They had all the instruments arranged by type (drums, flutes, horns, bells, harps, etc.) and within each category they presented instruments from different tribes in Uganda. One instrument I am particularly interested in is the agwara from the West Nile region of Uganda. These trumpets are usually in a set of 7, each of which sound a different pitch. Each player plays a specific pattern which fit together to create a song. The Ndere Troupe played a song with the agwara at the performance I went to last week in which they broke the piece down into its individual components. Another really interesting instrument was a clay drum from the Bagisu of Eastern Uganda. I haven’t been able to find out anything else about it but I will continue digging.

This week I also made some additional observations regarding the soundscape. All over the city I had been hearing this wonderfully rhythmic hooo hooo hoo-oo hoo hoo that always made me want to dance. I was able to look through a book of East African birds that I borrowed from Cathy (the friend I am staying with) and discovered that it was the red-eyed dove that was making the call. I have been having difficulty getting a good recording of it but I will include one once I can.

I have also begun to hear, in addition to the roosters and other birds I hear every morning, a Muezzin calling for morning prayer from one of Kampala’s mosques. I’m not sure exactly where this mosque is but I’m sure I will stumble upon it while wandering around the area.

 

Here are a few songs that I have listened to over the past week:

Bwendifa – Ndere Troupe

Audio Player

 

Abedo kena kena – Ndere Troupe

Audio Player

Once I finally arrived at the airport in Entebbe, I made my way through customs and collected my luggage. I then took a taxi to the house I am staying in for my first two weeks in Kampala. It was already dark when I landed but I still tried to take in as much as I could on to drive to Kampala.

As we progressed along the Kampala-Entebbe road, I was able to catch glimpses of the Friday night nightlife. Along the road there were many clubs, restaurants and many other locations playing music. As we drove, I would hear just a small clip of sound from each one. Coincidentally, the room I am staying in is right next to a club. However, three of the first songs I heard before I went to sleep (I was way too tired to try and go out after the trip) were ‘We Found Love’ by Rihanna, ‘Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)’ by Shakira and ‘Drunk in Love’ by Beyoncé.

One of my first observations on the next morning was how different the soundscape is here. In addition to the club next door the night was filled with the sound of barking dogs. The morning was filled with a variety of beautiful bird songs as well as the sound of roosters welcoming the new day with a cockadoodledoo.

The earth here is also distinct. It is a deep brick orange that contrasts beautifully with the luscious greens of the vegetation. Amongst the trees and other plants I have also caught glimpses of various birds including a vibrant flash of red and blue swooping briskly from one tree to another. I plan to find a book on the flora and fauna of Uganda so I can learn more about what I am seeing. There is also a balcony overlooking the beautiful garden of the house I am staying in. I hope to spend some of the sunny afternoons reading and birdwatching from there.

Even though I have been here a few days I am still getting the feel for navigating the city. Part of the difficulty is that the streets aren’t organized on any easily discernible grid. This however is understandable as the city is built entirely on hills so the roads tend to curve up and around the hills.  Kampala was originally built on 7 hills and was the center of the Baganda kingdom. It has now spread onto the surrounding hills as well. I am staying with a family friend, Cathy, on Kololo Hill. Fortunately, this is close to both Makerere University and the National Theater.

On my second day in Kampala, Cathy introduced me to her friend Denis. Denis first showed me two shopping centers in walking distance from where I am staying just in case I need to pick up anything while I am here. From there we walked to the National Theater and took a look around. At the National Theater I was able to get a list of scheduled events which will definitely be convenient during my stay. From there we walked to a taxi stop and took a Matatu (minibus) to the Shell station in Bugolobi. From there we walked a short distance to Gattomatto and Jazz Ville. These are two venues that Denis said would be good for hearing live music while I am in Kampala. From there we took another Matatu to another venue called Zone 7 in a neighborhood called Nakawa. Next we went to Ntinda to go to the Ndere Center to see the Ndere Troupe perform.

The Ndere Center was a wonderful experience. The NdeMolly, another of Cathy’s friends, met us there. She is a dancer and was able to explain the dances, music and musical instruments. The dancers performed dances from all over Uganda as well as a few dances from Rwanda and Burundi. One of the goals of the Ndere Troupe is to promote unity through the inclusion of dance and music styles from a diverse group of people.

A passage from Waiting by Goretti Kyomuhendo highlights the diversity of cultures found throughout East Africa. The narrator of the story is from a district of Uganda called Hoima. The majority of the people in Hoima speak Nyoro which is the language of the Banyoro people. In this passage she is talking to one of her friends about the Tanzanian army that is passing through their town while attempting to drive Idi Amin’s army out of Uganda:

“But what about their own languages? I mean, the languages of their tribes?”
“They don’t speak them.”
“Then how can they tell what tribe someone belongs to?”
“I’m sure it must be difficult since everyone speaks the same language. Maybe they can tell by their names, you know, just like here; people from different regions have different names.” (82)

The language the Tanzanian soldiers speak is Kiswahili. Kiswahili is primarily a Bantu language from the east coast of Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and northern Mozambique). However due to the cultural integration with Arab trader it also contains a large Arabic influence. Kiswahili is considered a lingua franca for much of East Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi. In Kampala a large percentage of the population speaks English as it is the official language of Uganda. However, walking around the city it is easy to hear a wide variety of languages including Luganda (Kampala was originally the center of the Baganda Kingdom) and Kiswahili.

There are in our existence spots of time,
That with distinct pre-eminence retain
A renovating virtue, whence—depressed
Or aught of heavier or more deadly weight,
In trivial occupations, and the round
Of ordinary intercourse—our minds
Are nourished and invisibly repaired;
A virtue, by which pleasure is enhanced,
That penetrates, enables us to mount,
When high, more high, and lifts us up when fallen.

-from The Prelude by William Wordsworth

 

Alain de Botton highlights the preceding section of The Prelude by William Wordsworth in The Art of Travel. De Botton explains that “we may see in nature certain scenes that will stay with us throughout our lives and offer us, every time they enter our consciousness, both a contrast to and relief from present difficulties. [Wordsworth] termed such experiences in nature ‘spots in time’” (de Botton 151). I have a vague memory of one such spot in time from when I still lived in Uganda. I was about 5 years old and I accompanied my father on a work trip. On the way we stopped by a section of rapids in the Nile and I can still recall that image (although probably embellished by time) of the swiftly moving waters.

Bujagali Falls, Uganda

Much like nature, music has the ability to create these ‘spots of time.’ We often use music as a means of communicating a message where words would not be sufficient to convey our true meanings and intentions. Wordsworth wrote to a student in the summer of 1802 that “’a great Poet…ought to a certain degree to rectify men’s feelings…to render their feelings more sane, pure and permanent, in short, more consonant to Nature’” (Wordsworth qtd. de Botton 145). I have often found music and dance to have a similar effect on me.

Wordsworth proposed that nature could “dispose us to seek our in life and in one another ‘whate’er there is desirable and good’” (de Botton 144). I have often found this to be true. Spending time in the forest usually allows me to clear my mind of much of the clutter that often develops when I am steeped purely in urban life. I wonder what the results would be if we were able to make our urban environments more harmonious with the natural environments that surround them. I am inclined to believe that this would help improve both the living conditions within the city as well as the creative capacity of the city’s community.

De Botton states that “if we are to accept (even in part) Wordsworth’s argument, we may need to concede a prior principle holding that our identities are to a greater or lesser extent malleable, changing according to whom—and sometimes what—we are with” (de Botton 145). This is another claim that my personal experience (although I do not wish to claim that my experiences speak for everyone or even anyone else) seems to corroborate. The people we spend time with, the music we listen to, the visual art we see, among the many other interactions we encounter in our lives all have an effect on our identities and the way we perceive the world.

Wheat Field with Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh

De Botton also discusses the ways in which Vincent van Gogh was able to change perceptions of a place through his artwork. By selecting the features he accentuated in his paintings, van Gogh was able to draw the attention of the viewer to those aspects of a scene which he connected to the most. This in turn has made viewers of his artwork more receptive to similar scenes in the natural world. De Botton goes on to say that “art cannot single-handedly create enthusiasm, nor does it arise from sentiments of which nonartists are devoid; it merely contributes to enthusiasm and guides us to be more conscious of feelings that we might previously have experienced only tentatively or hurriedly” (de Botton 209). Experiencing works of art can help open our eyes to new ways of looking at the world.

While I am in Kampala I hope to explore some of the ways in which the art created there inspires new ways of seeing. In addition to the time I spend in the city, I am going to spend some time in the many natural landscapes of Uganda. The works of art I see in the city will help inform the way I view the natural landscapes and in return the natural landscapes will help inform the way I experience the works of art.

I want to end this post with one of my favorite poems by Wordsworth:

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

 

Works Cited:

Botton, Alain De. The Art of Travel. New York: Pantheon, 2002. Print.

Wordsworth, William. “The Prelude.” The Complete Poetical Works. London: Macmillan and Co., 1888; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/145/. 4/7/2015.

Wordsworth, William. “The world is too much with us.” The Complete Poetical Works. London: Macmillan and Co., 1888; Bartleby.com, 1999. www.bartleby.com/145/. 4/7/2015.

 

Image Sources:

Bujagali Falls, Uganda

Wheat Field with Cypresses by Vincent van Gogh

Seeking a better view by Ronex Ahimbisibwe

“Carriage, take me with you!  Ship, steal me away from here!  Take me far away.  Here the mud is made of our tears!” (Baudelaire qtd. in Botton 46)

Whenever we put ourselves in new places or circumstances we expose ourselves to new ways of thinking. We provide ourselves with the opportunity to look at things from a new perspective. The first chapter of The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton is titled ‘On Anticipation’. I have spent the last several months anticipating this trip to Kampala. De Botton writes that “we are familiar with the notion that the reality of travel is not what we anticipate. The pessimistic school, of which des Esseintes might be an honorary patron, therefore argues that reality mus always be disappointing. It may be truer and more rewarding to suggest that it is primarily different” (Botton 11). I hope that this difference between my expectations and reality will help me to develop new ways of looking at the world.

It is hard for me to pinpoint exactly what my expectations for this journey are. Even though I am extremely excited about the trip and my project, I am not sure how I am going to feel when I get there. The fact that I am returning to the place I was born after so many years also presents its own set of expectations, anticipations and questions. How will what I see compare to my limited memories? How will my visions and preconceptions of Uganda match with the reality?

There is also the chance that I will arrive and be faced with the same questions de Botton asked himself in Madrid: “What am I supposed to do here? What am I supposed to think?” (Botton 106). However, l am hopeful that I will be able to avoid sinking too far into those anxieties by arriving, as de Botton suggests, with specific questions and curiosities in mind.

To illustrate this idea, de Botton tells the story of Alexander von Humboldt, a Prussian naturalist and explorer. Humboldt traveled to South America deepen his understanding of the natural world. De Botton proposes that Humboldt didn’t have to deal with such questions because “everywhere he went, his mission was unambiguous: to discover facts and to carry out experiments towards that end” (Botton 106). De Botton also tells the story of Humboldt’s excitement upon discovering a fly at an altitude of 16,600 feet on Mount Chimborazo in Peru. De Botton writes that “Humboldt’s excitement testifies to the importance of having the right question to ask of the world” (Botton 117). I hope that throughout the process of planning for my own research and exploration I have found questions to ask that provoke a similar sense of excitement and eagerness to that which inspired Humboldt on his travels.

Another section in The Art of Travel is titled ‘On the Exotic.’ The word exotic has often made me slightly uncomfortable (although this is dependent upon the context of its usage). It is often used in a way that creates a sense of otherness among people. De Botton’s description of his time spent in Amsterdam explains some of the reasons we may find differences between other cultures and our own particularity exciting. One of his arguments is that “what we find exotic abroad may be what we hunger for in vain at home” (Botton 77). This concept of the ‘exotic’ appeals to me as a way to help improve the global society by taking note of what systems work in certain areas and looking for way they might be adapted to work in other environments. However, there are other ways in which the idea of the ‘exotic’ can be potentially damaging.

In The Teeth May Smile But the Heart Does Not Forget, Andrew Rice tells the story of John Hanning Speke who is considered the first European to arrive in Kampala. He explains that Speke “returned to Victorian London to describe the exotic kingdom to a fascinated public. Soon after, the first Protestant and Catholic missionaries arrived, and they quickly set about dividing the Baganda along sectarian lines, competing to win converts away from indigenous beliefs and Islam, which had arrived via trade routes a generation or so before” (Rice 8). Here the idea of the ‘exotic’ was used in way that promoted colonialism and the imposition of the explorer’s religion. While my own project doesn’t have potential ramifications on quite the same scale, I still believe it is important to be mindful of how I both engage in and present my work. Keeping these ideas in mind I believe this journey will expose me to a multitude of new and inspiring ideas.

 

Works Cited:

Botton, Alain De. The Art of Travel. New York: Pantheon, 2002. Print.

Rice, Andrew. The Teeth May Smile but the Heart Does Not Forget: Murder and Memory in Uganda. New York: Metropolitan /Henry Holt, 2009. Print.