Orchestra Chungu group thrill revelers at Goethe-Zentrum

By Steven Odeke

A group of music teachers under the name Orchestra Chungu put up the first of their two day performances at Goethe-Zentrum offices, Kamwokya on Thursday night.

The performances started at 8:30pm with the group comprising instrumentalists South African Will Ramsey on saxophone, Ethiopians Girum Mezmur and Abiy Woldemariam on guitar and keyboards and Germans Martin Lillich and Dietrich Woehrlin on bass and drums.

They took the sizeable crowd through a rollercoaster of songs laced with smooth jazz and a little bit of African flavor.

Not that they got everyone dancing crazily or even nod their heads in tandem to the tunes because not many songs were familiar to many of them but, they held everyone's attention to the last song.

Later on in their performances, Ugandan musicians Kaz Kasozi and Rachel Magoola did their time and impressed.

Congolese-born guitarist Charmant Mushaga also played his guitar on something like three songs and his impact was felt.

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There was also a moment for poet Rosette Nteyatas who recited her unmitigated cool piece "The Old Kola Nut" backed up by the gracious sounds off the band. More like a soundtrack to her piece. They call it the "Jazzoetry."

Anyway, that is how the night unfolded and revellers who were smitten had to catch them at Big Mikes on Friday for their second performance.

The Orchestra Chungu will also have a do in Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia.

It is part of a music workshop supported by the German Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institute in partnership with the Jazzamba School of Music in Ethiopia, The Bayimba Music Academy in Uganda, Action Music Tanzania and Music Mayday in Tanzania and the Institute of Cultural Music in Kenya.

It was a good evening of good performance.