Music of the Baganda CD launched
The Katikkiro of Buganda, Joseph Mulwanyammuli Ssemwogerere, last week launched a Ganda music CD entitled Music of the Baganda during the Beat the Drum Cultural Festival organised by Alliance Francaise at the National Theatre Auditorium
By Mathias Mazinga
The Katikkiro of Buganda, Joseph Mulwanyammuli Ssemwogerere, last week launched a Ganda music CD entitled Music of the Baganda during the Beat the Drum Cultural Festival organised by Alliance Francaise at the National Theatre Auditorium.
The 17-track album contains secular and sacred dance music of the Baganda.
The album repertoire includes Omugudo, dance music to welcome the Kabaka.
The embuutu, empuunyi, Nankasa drums and engalabi (long drum) are used. The sound of calabash shakers (ensaasi) spices the dance.
The CD also contains wedding music to accompany the Mbaga dance. Mbaga comprises a series of dances, each based on a specific rhythm motif (ebisoko), performed by drums and developed by variations.
The album also contains other Ganda dances like Amazina amatabule, Nankasa, Muwogola.
The rest of the repertoire includes music celebrating birth, lullabies, songs associated with games and the education of children, songs related to work, sports, marriage, religion and death.
Real cultural situations were used during the recording. For example, in the track Embaga, people at a wedding party can be heard, clamouring in the background.
This is so effective that even people that do not know Luganda can understand, follow what is going on.
Prof Jean-Jacques Nattiez of Montreal University, Canada, Nnalongo Slyvia Nannyonga Tamusuza, Lecturer at Makerere University and Ssalongo Justinian Tamusuza Associate Professor, Makerere University, produced the CD.
The recording was made possible by the French minister of Foreign Affairs, the French Association for artistic Action, The French Embassy in Uganda, Alliance Francaise, and the Faculty of Music at the University of Montreal, Canada.
The Katikkiro of Buganda, Joseph Mulwanyammuli Ssemwogerere, last week launched a Ganda music CD entitled Music of the Baganda during the Beat the Drum Cultural Festival organised by Alliance Francaise at the National Theatre Auditorium.
The 17-track album contains secular and sacred dance music of the Baganda.
The album repertoire includes Omugudo, dance music to welcome the Kabaka.
The embuutu, empuunyi, Nankasa drums and engalabi (long drum) are used. The sound of calabash shakers (ensaasi) spices the dance.
The CD also contains wedding music to accompany the Mbaga dance. Mbaga comprises a series of dances, each based on a specific rhythm motif (ebisoko), performed by drums and developed by variations.
The album also contains other Ganda dances like Amazina amatabule, Nankasa, Muwogola.
The rest of the repertoire includes music celebrating birth, lullabies, songs associated with games and the education of children, songs related to work, sports, marriage, religion and death.
Real cultural situations were used during the recording. For example, in the track Embaga, people at a wedding party can be heard, clamouring in the background.
This is so effective that even people that do not know Luganda can understand, follow what is going on.
Prof Jean-Jacques Nattiez of Montreal University, Canada, Nnalongo Slyvia Nannyonga Tamusuza, Lecturer at Makerere University and Ssalongo Justinian Tamusuza Associate Professor, Makerere University, produced the CD.
The recording was made possible by the French minister of Foreign Affairs, the French Association for artistic Action, The French Embassy in Uganda, Alliance Francaise, and the Faculty of Music at the University of Montreal, Canada.