It is a grand fanfare in Germany as a Ugandan choir flexes it out with 168 others at the Harmonie Festival 2024. 

The music competition brought together 169 Catholic choirs from 35 countries, which descended on Lindenholzhausen, Limburg, a community Catholic parish, about 70km from Frankfurt. The four-day international competition began on May 9 and will end on May 12.

One of the choirs performing during the festival.

The Franciscan Choir, which sings during the 11 O’clock mass at Christ The King Parish in Kampala, is the only one from Africa which was invited to the competition. And indeed, the choir members were very conspicuous as the only black people in a sea of white choristers. Their Kiganda songs and drums wowed people who gathered around them to try out the Maganda dance.

The host, the Harmonie Lindenholzhausen Choir, has been hosting this competition every six years since 1981. The Franciscan choir has been participating in the festival in the seven years it has been hosted. 

Other countries include Costa Rica, US, Bulgaria, Finland, Austria, Iran and Ukraine. There is also Latvia, Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Armenia, Turkey, Philippines, Hungary and Romania. The choirs were clad in spectacular uniforms, unique styles and colours.

Franciscan choir

The Franciscan choir attracted big audience applause and thrilled the audience with a kiganda dance, drumming and xylophone. The choir director, Ambrose Kizito, said this is the fifth time the choir is participating in the competition. But for his reign as director, the second.

“2017 was my first time to come here with the Franciscan Choir. I didn’t have a proper idea of what was needed to win. This time we are better prepared and we shall take home the prize,” he said.

The overall winner takes home Euro5,000 and winners in each category, Euro2,500.

The choir which hosted the Franciscans, Harmonie Lindenholzhausen, was founded in 1906 and has 75 active members. It has visited 10 countries in Europe, an America. In Africa, they have been to Egypt. Its director, Jurgen Fasbender, expressed a wish to visit Uganda and Kizito said he would be thrilled to host him.

Earlier, the Mayor of Limburg, the District town under which Lindenholzhausen falls, Dr Marius Hahn, welcomed the Franciscan Choir to Germany and quoted a famous poet, Ernst Theodor Amadeus as saying: “Where language ends, music begins.”

Fanfare

Beautiful is the word I shall use to describe the fanfare at the event. The public gathered at 8:00am and remained vibrant and cheering as the choirs sang till 9:30pm. The competition was hosted in a very large tent with a grand raised stage and an audience of about 1,000 people.

The second big tent was for food and refreshments. Many of the choirs, which were not expected on stage soon, joined inside this second tent and started singing common songs in the Catholic church. It was great fun. Beer, Germany’s trademark, was flowing and that had a frenzy effect on the general ambience.

Earlier, the prelate of Limburg, Bishop Dr Georg Batzing, had called the festival an example of a free coexistence in the so-torn world.

“For me, music is a way of expressing love. Where people sing, settle down, bad people have no songs,” he said.

It was nice to see happiness, joy, hugs and laughter, depicting harmony and friendship from people of different countries, cultures and age, all being united by music.

Outside the tents, the compound was full of people, estimated to be over 5,000 in number. Different choirs were singing and dancing in different corners. The Franciscan choir got out their drums and gave them the kiganda drum beat, attracting many whites to join in and try gyrating to the beat.

The prize

The Organizing Chairman, Manfred Neunzerling, said the community was thrilled to host 35 different cultures, different age groups, genders and generations in one great Catholic gathering.

“Singing, dancing, talking and enjoying each other have always been the motto of the Harmonie Festival,” he said.

The festival was graced by renowned international musicians like Jugen Fusbender, Andreas Jung, Jurgen Budday, Richter Grimbeek and Susanna Lindmark, the last three also being members of the awarding jury.

According to Budday, there are two areas of marks. The first is the technical performance which includes intonation, rhythm, phrasing and articulation. The second is artistic performance with tempo, dynamics, style and sense of feeling.

The Franciscan choir did two presentations on Thursday. There are two more on Friday, one on Saturday and another on Sunday when the competition will close.