Martyrs Choral Festival set for today
The participating choirs are from the Catholic and Anglican churches across Uganda, making the festival both national and ecumenical
Front row: Uganda’s former prime minister Amama Mbabazi (third-right) handing over a sh10m dummy cheque to St Charles Lwanga Rubaga Cathedral Choir winners in the Catholic category during the National Martyrs’ Choral Festival 2025 held at Serena Conference Centre last year.
Today is D-day for the annual National Martyrs Choral Festival organised by Vision Group. The event will be broadcast live on all Vision Group television stations, including Bukedde TV, Wun Luo and TV West.
The event co-ordinator, Max Adii, said registration of the participating choirs is complete and the judges are carrying out the selections.
“We got 30 choirs that expressed interest in participating; they sent in their videos. The judges are currently busy examining and critiquing the musical videos.
They will first pick 14 choirs, from which they will again select the ultimate best six that will participate in the finals, which will be held at Vision Group head office in Kampala, today, starting at 2:00 pm,” he said.
Adii said the event will be held virtually due to public health concerns over Ebola.
“As you are aware, the threat of Ebola caused the cancellation of the Uganda Martyrs Day celebrations at Namugongo, which had been set for June 3. So, we are obliged to strictly observe the standard operating procedures and other guidelines that the Government issued. However, people will follow the function because it will be broadcast live on all our television channels and other electronic and digital platforms,” Adii said.
He explained that the participating choirs are from the Catholic and Anglican churches across Uganda, making the festival both national and ecumenical.
Adii said the main purpose of the festival is to help local choirs and all Christians celebrate the Uganda Martyrs through music.
“As our choirs will be serenading, we shall be enjoying the music, but also reflecting deeply on the lives and heroic deeds of the Uganda Martyrs,” Adii said. He thanked Pepsi and Uganda Christian University for supporting the project.