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RESEARCH:
Organology -- Fieldwork Projects -- Glossary -- Photo Gallery II

ORGANOLOGY (IN EAST AFRICA)
My main research focuses on organological studies of East Africa. At the very outset, it was the book, The Tribal Crafts of Uganda, Part II (1953) by Klaus P. Wachsmann that initiated me into pursuing organological studies of East Africa. In this entirely original piece of work that documented a full and precise account of the musical instruments of Uganda, Wachsmann stated that his (1953) milestone book “is a survey of sound instruments in Uganda and that it is intended to be nothing more than a rough triangulation to serve for more detailed work later on.” “Future scholars,” he recommended, “will have to do more intense work because instruments established for many generations may either begin to fade from the memory of the people, may emigrate, or may at least change their function in tribal life.”

Interest in this research theme began when I was working on my dissertation for the Ph. D. Beyond the basic music concepts I examined then, like tuning and melody making from the instrument, the study gave me a much deeper insight about the culture of the people to whom the instrument belonged. My interest in doing research on the other African folk string instruments has also been growing as I have continued to perform on other instruments like the endingidi (tube fiddles), entongooli (bowl lyres), and the adungu (bow harps), {not to mention the akogo (thumb pianos), awal, ensaasi and kacence (rattles), as well as engoma (drums)}. Most recently, I have become more and more convinced that in innumerable cases, even through their shape, decoration and iconography, the sound producing devices called musical instruments reveal not just an often unarticulated set of cultural values, aesthetics and myths but are also symbolic of the community they originate from and/or serve. This research study concept has also been reinforced by many scholars like Ruth M. Stone's Let the Inside be Sweet, The Interpretation of Music Event among the Kpelle of Liberia, (1982), Margaret Kartomi’s “Personification of Instruments in Some West African Classifications” (1990), and Kevin Dawe's “Cultural Studies on Musical Instruments” (2003), to mention but a few.

For research purposes, to the most widely used Hornobosel-Sachs classification of four categories that include aerophones, chordophones, idiophones, and membranophones, I have also added a more recent instrument grouping referred to as 'electrophones'. Instruments grouped under 'electrophones' have in the last 20 years become so much day-to-day tools all over the world that that we can no longer overlook them when we study the significance of folk instruments in society. In my research study with a special focus on the cultural significance of East African musical instruments, therefore, I work with a five grouping classification that includes: aerophones, chordophones, electrophones, idiophones, and membranophones.

'Cultural significance' which is the theme of my research, gives me a much deeper insight into various aspects of the culture of the people to whom the folk instruments I study belong. In my field research I document the extent to which such elements as melody, rhythm, language, ornamentation, construction materials, to mention but a few, directly and symbolically reflecte the culture of the people who own the instruments. I continue to be fascinated by the constant discovery that when examined closely and carefully, those elements help to interpret the culture of the people that own and use the instruments being studied. I have therefore become more and more convinced that as Ruth Stone, Margaret Kartomi and Kevin Dawe have discovered in their study findings, even through their shape, decoration and iconography, the sound producing devices called musical instruments reveal not just an often unarticulated set of cultural values, aesthetics and myths but are also symbolic of the community they originate from and/or serve.

As is evidenced by my recent research topics below, ever since I completed my dissertation, my research focus has been on the region of East Africa. For the time being I have my focus on East Africa not only because that is where I originate from, but also because to the present day, in so far as organological studies are concerned, East Africa is a region that is comparatively much less covered by documented scholarship.

COMPLETED FIELDWORK RESEARCH PROJECTS

2017
During the Spring semester sabbatical period, I traveled to East Africa to work on the multiple East African Lyres.

2016
Summer 2016: June 14-July 28. I received the Coss Faculty Development Funds that enabled me to travel to Rukungiri in the Southwest of the East African nation of Uganda. During those six (6) weeks of fieldwork, I conducted an ethnographic participant observation research project on the enanga (trough zither) of the Bakiga.

2015
Summer 2015: June 24-July 24. I received the Coss Faculty Development Funds that enabled me to travel to the Acholi district in the North central region of the East African nation of Uganda. During those six (4) weeks of fieldwork, I conducted an ethnographic participant observation research project on the nanga (angular zither) of the Acholi people.

2014
Summer 2014: June 15th - July 29. I used the Coss Faculty Development Fund to travel to the East African nation of Uganda; and for four (4) weeks, I conducted a participant observation research on the endere (reed flutes).

Summer 2013 -- July 8 –August 8. I received the 2nd New Development Initiative (NDI) Grant from the Great Lakes College Association, then traveled to East Africa and conducted Phase II of an Ethnographic Fieldwork on “Advanced Building of Folk Instruments with a Focus on Aerophones.” For this research, the two Ugandan aerophones I worked on include: the agwara (wooden trumpets) of the Alur people in northwestern Uganda and amakondere (gourd trumpets) of the Banyoro people in western Uganda.

Jan. 2006 to-date – I am involved in a research project tracing (a) the evolutionary development and (b) the examination of the musical as well as cultural significance of the two most commonly used zithers in Uganda. These folk instruments are currently found in use by cultures that are not only located hundreds of miles apart, but also display cultural life styles that have very very little in common. The instrument I am working on include:

Enanga-kicunga (trough zither of the Bakiga) in the southwestern region of Uganda,

and

Nanga (angular zither of the Acholi) in the north central region of Uganda.

GLOSSARY
(Terms used on the Website)

adungu – a 9-string bow harp (arched shape) of the Alur people of Uganda.
aerophones – musical instruments that produce sound by using the air in a tube as the
primary element of vibration, e.g. vertical flutes, horns, pan pipes, etc.
akacence – the flat reed box rattles/shakers of the Bakiga and Banyankole
akogo – a lamellaphone (or commonly referred to as thumb piano) that belongs to the
Itesot people of Uganda.
awal– a percussion gourd of the Acholi normally played with thin 'wire' broom. It is generally used in generating complex rhythms in the accompaniment of dances
chordophones – musical instruments that produce sound by exciting stretched strings,
e.g. harps, lyres, bowl lyres, etc.
electrophones – musical instruments that produce sounds by means of electronic
equipment, like keyboards, electric guitar, etc.
enanga-kicunga – trough zither of the Bakiga and Banyankole of Western Uganda
idiophones – musical instruments on which sound can be produced by exciting the
substance of the instruments itself; that substance should be solid or elastic
enough not to need membranes or strings, e.g. log xylophones, thumb pianos,
rattles, steel drums, etc.
instrument – an object from which (a musical) sound may be intentionally produced.
(a)madinda – a log xylophone of the Baganda of Uganda
membranophones – musical instruments that produce sounds from tightly stretched
membranes, e.g. drums.
nanga – angular zither of the Acholi of northern Uganda
(e)nankasa – the smallest drum in the set of 4 drums of the Baganda. It is normally
played using drum sticks.
(e)ndingidi – a 1-string tube fiddle of the Baganda of Uganda
(e)ndongo – an 8-string bowl lyre of the Baganda of Uganda
(e)nsaasi - the gourd shakers of the Baganda
(e)nseege – the gourd shakers of the Baganda
(e)ntongooli – an 8-string bowl lyre of the Basoga of Uganda
obokano – bowl lyre of the Gusii people of Kenya
organology – the academic branch of ethnomusicology that focuses on the
examination and study of musical instruments.