Publication date: Friday, 2nd September, 2005
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THRILLING: Members of the Watmon Amone perform the Bwola dance. This is a royal dance done to honour the chief |
--The Watmon Amone Troupe is the most sought-after Acholi group in the city
By Denis Ocwich
and Titus Serunjogi
MIDNIGHT! But no one wanted to go to bed yet. The atmosphere was tense as about 500 people held their breath while gaping down at the lawn in the centre.
A group of Acholi boys was playing thumb pianos and a drum. But all eyes were fixed on Mary Achan, a girl from Watmon Amone Cultural Troupe.
Achan was kneeling on the grass, piling clay pots on her head — one after another the pots formed a frail tower on her head.
We could scarcely breathe as she began rising, gyrating her waist, craning her neck and smiling. The boys plucked away at their pianos triumphantly.
But we scarcely dared breathe, not when the breeze was swaying the pots on Achan’s head. But soon, she was on her feet and, with ease, stepped forward on the lawn sounding the iron bells and gyrating her waist beads.
Suddenly, the crowd raised up a deafening applause, as we all realised that Achan was dancing and winching her neck like a crested crane.
Is it magic? No, it is lokeme, the Acholi folk dance that awed many guests last Saturday at the breezy Ranch on the Lake where retired Prisons chief Joseph Etima wedded off his daughter Julia to Peter Ongom.
The lokeme first grabbed people’s attention at the Table of the Sun Festival at Namboole Stadium in 2002. In addition to the lokeme, there was also the fascinating Larakaraka dance. Long ago, the Acholi liked this courtship dance better when they were half-naked.
Hearing the boys whack away at the calabashes, you get to know why the dance is been called larakaraka. The men churned out a medley of sensuous sounds from the adungu, drums and thumb pianos.
The music would instantly sweep you off your feet.
The night was a fascinating journey through all the various Acholi dances. And it left us with no doubt that Watmon Amone were flag bearers of Acholi culture in the city.
Formed in 1992, Watmon only came into the spotlight three years ago. This was after they trounced all the other tribes from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Congo at the Table of the Sun cultural gala.
Over its 13-year history, Watmon Amone cultural Group has performed in Zanzibar at the Festival of the Dhows countries, they have acted in the Alliance Francaise Documentary Lamokowang and welcomed American President George Bush to Uganda.
Today they are the most sought-after Acholi group in the city, performing at private functions like weddings and anniversaries. Government officials had to book them two weeks in advance for the September opening of Bank of Uganda offices in Gulu.
What’s Watmon’s winning formula?
Whether you come from Masaka, Gulu or America, you will be thrilled by their music.
“We keep to the Acholi cultural music our grandfathers did thousands of years ago,” says Matthew Amone, the founder of the group. “All the music in Bunyoro, Buganda, Busoga and Ankole came from the Luo. I feel bad for the Acholi who live and sleep in the grave.But I’m happy to be keeping our culture alive.”
The 54-year-old Amone has always been passionate about Acholi oral traditions and folk songs.
Born in Pawidi, Kitgum, he first began playing the box guitar (nnanga) when he was in the fields herding goats with his father. His grandfather was a well-known nnanga player and his mother an excellent adungu player (Acholi women pluck at the strings of the adungu with their chins!) Amone imbibed all his mother’s skills and trained his voice on Acholi folk songs.
By the time he was 25 years, Amone never had to do anything else for a living. He was hired to play folk songs at parties. He formed Pawidi Cultural Group in 1987 and went along quite well until the rebels struck.
“They found us in Kitgum and killed all my mates. I was only lucky to reach Kampala alive.”
Having experienced the woes in northern Uganda, Amone readily welcomed any former LRA rebel abductes. Today, he has gathered up 52 of them and given them a better life than that in internally displaced people’s camps.
They perform for about sh300,000 every night, but upcountry trips bring over sh500,000.
“With the money from concerts, the children can have enough to eat, wear and also go to school,” says Amone.
Two of the group’s members have graduated from Shimoni Primary Teachers’ College. Some are studying at the university and others in vocational institutions while Achan is in Primary six.
Amone is also a flag bearer of the bonhomie and sincerity of the Acholi people. A dark, tall and fat figure, he looks stern at first, just like his other tribe mates. But when I visited the group’s home in Naguru recently, I was struck by his garrulous, jocular nature and the smile that has always persevered even when children were climbing all over him. All the members aged between 6 and 25 years called him uncle. He deserved it, from the kindness with which he handled them and how he cared for their needs.
Amone’s greatest wish is to set up a Luo cultural centre.
“But I don’t know whether I will live to see my dream come true,” he says laughing. You can easily see that even behind that smile, the wounds of the Kony war still persist.
Amone’s face beams up as a dancer brings him a crown of ostrich feathers. It is time for the group to practise the Bwola dance for their next party. The group also does dingidingi, otole, acut, nanga, and apiti, all age-old dances of the Acholi.
Ends
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