| 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
Summer 2006 -- Sebei Culture in Kapchorwa, Uganda
and Masai Culture of Narok, Kenya. Examined the
“Role of Music during the Female Circumcision Rituals.”
Sponsored in part by Faculty Development Funding .
Summer 2004 -- With a faculty development funding, I went to collect
data for my on-going book project on the lyres of East Africa. The
3 week research project on the “Entongooli
(bowl lyre) of the Basoga of Eastern Uganda.”
Summer 2003 -- With a Grant from the Great Lakes Colleges Association,
went to Kenya and studied the “Obokano (bowl
lyre) of the Gusii of Western Kenya.”
Summer 2002 -- Faculty/Student Research project
in East Africa. Traveled with a Wabash student and carried out a
Faculty-Student study on “The Building of Ugandan
African Traditional Drums.”
Summer 2001 -- Spent two weeks in West Nile, Uganda.
Examined the “The Construction, Tuning, and Playing
Techniques of the four Adungu (bow harp) Types of the Alur
people including the apila {melody}, oryemo {rhythm},
seketa {junior bass}, and min {bass}.”
November 1999 -- Traveled to the Horniman Museum, London
and the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford in the United
Kingdom. Examined the “Use of Symbolism and Iconography
as depicted by Ornamentation on Folk musical instruments.”
January & Summer 1998 -- Traveled to Buganda in South
Central Uganda. Studied “The Construction
of the Endongo (bowl lyre).”
January & Summer 1997 -- Traveled to Buganda in South
Central Uganda. Studied the "Adaptation of
the Endingidi (tube fiddle) by the Baganda.”
Summer 1997 -- Traveled to Nebbi in Northwest Uganda.
Studied “The Transformation of the Adungu
(bow harp) among the Alur.”
Summer 1995 -- Traveled to Uganda and directed
a Graduate Research Expedition for six University
of California graduate students on "Endingidi
(tube fiddle) Village Music.”
Summer 1994 -- Traveled to Uganda and directed
a Graduate Research Expedition for seven University
of California graduate students on "Endongo
(bowl lyre) Village Music.”
1993 -- Ph.D. dissertation Fieldwork Study in Uganda
on the "Endongo (bowl lyre) of the Baganda
of Uganda."
ON-GOING PROJECTS
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 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 tube fiddle of the Baganda
of Uganda
(e)ndongo – a 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 – a 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.
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