Suburbs of Kampala near the International School of Uganda

This week I continued my work at the International School of Uganda (ISU). Surprisingly enough I was able to teach a lesson on ‘The Grid’ to the Grade 9 class I am helping with! We also did a listening activity and listened to ‘It’s Gonna Rain’ by Steve Reich, ‘Kanon Pokajanen’ by Arvo Pärt and ‘Itz Not Rite’ by DJ Rashad.

On Thursday, I got to see the International Schools Music Festival which took place at ISU. In the morning, the junior school (elementary school) students from 9 international schools from the Kampala area, went to different music workshops. In the afternoon, all the different schools gathered together for a the performances. The performance began with a song by a Ugandan a cappella group called Sauti ya Afrika. After Sauti ya Afrika’s introduction, each international school performed a piece that they had prepared for the festival.

After the individual performances, the students from all of the schools collectively performed ‘Street Songs’ by Carl Orff. This was the result of the workshops they had participated in during the morning sessions. The ensemble included choir, recorders, xylophones and traditional drums.

Lake Victoria from Ggaba Market

I started off Saturday by taking a matatu from Kololo (where I am staying) into downtown Kampala. I spent some time just walking around and observing the city. While Kololo is still part of the city, it is a slightly more residential area. The downtown area however is a slightly overwhelming environment. While walking around I encountered the sights, sounds and smells of heavy traffic amidst tightly packed buildings seemingly filled to the brim with shops.

After walking around for a while and grabbing a bite to eat, I made my way over to the Old Taxi Park to find a matatu that could take me to Kansanga, where I was heading to see a concert in the evening.  The book I have been reading this week, Abyssinian Chronicles by Moses Isegawa, describes the taxi park and its relation to Kampala in the following two passages:

“The seething, kidney shaped bowl functioning as the taxi park had originally been a volcanic hill. During the last active phase two things happened: the hill shattered, creating this valley and the surrounding valleys were transformed into the seven round-topped hills at the core of the city of Kampala” (Isegawa 83).

“The volcanic fire dormant below and the solar fire blazing from above, the relentless surge of vehicles and all the souls on parade here, turned this vessel of cobwebbed fantasies, this cocoon of termite ridden ambitions, this lapper of blood and chewer of flesh, into the most fascinating spot in the whole city” (Isegawa 84).

These two passages are set during the early period of Idi Amin’s dictatorship in the early to mid 1970s. While things have changed significantly since then, the image of a “relentless surge of vehicles” still rings true. Unfortunately upon arriving, I found out that the Old Taxi Park doesn’t have matatus that go toward Kansanga. One of the difficult things about transportation in Kampala is that there isn’t a method of public transit that is easy to navigate. I was eventually able to make my way over to Usafi Market where the matatus towards Kansanga depart from.

Once in Kansanga I went to the International University of East Africa for a dance performance titled ‘Come Together.’ This was a collaboration between the Makerere University Department of Performing Arts and the Norwegian College of Dance. One of the most interesting aspects of this performance was that it was primarily composed of Beatles songs. The majority of which were covers. Most of the songs were played from recordings but a few were live covers by Ugandan musicians from Makerere University. These live covers were my favorite parts of the performance and featured a guitarist, a traditional drummer, a cajón player, a vocalist and two dancers. The rest of the dances combined contemporary and modern dance with some traditional Ugandan elements.

Suzan Kerunen at Blankets and Wine

On Sunday, I went to a festival in Kampala called Blankets & Wine at the grounds of the Uganda Museum. The first artist to play was Suzan Kerunen. She is from the Alur tribe in the West Nile area in the north of Uganda. Most of her lyrics were in Alur with a little bit of English here and there. The band incorporated Ugandan instruments such as the adungu (type of harp), endingidi (single string fiddle) and drums alongside guitar, bass, keyboard and a drum kit. Here is a video of her performing one of her songs a few years ago:

The next band to perform was called Janzi Band. They used similar instrumentation but sang primarily in Luganda and English and incorporated a bit Kiswahili. They had a definite reggae influence and played covers of several reggae songs in addition to their original material. Eric Wainaina followed their performance. He is a musician from Kenya who has gained a lot of popularity throughout East Africa. He sang primarily in English and Kiswahili. The final performance was by a Ugandan duo named Radio & Weasel. They aligned more with my view of typical Ugandan pop music and I could hear a dancehall influence in their songs. Their lyrics were predominantly in Luganda and English.

This combination of varied instrumentation and languages is definitely one of the characteristics of the music of Kampala that has stood out to me the most. As I continue my journey, I will attempt to further explore these diverse elements.