Echo Uganda plays traditional music instruments.

 Adungu (Ugandan Guitar) click to here the sound of the instrument

       The adungu is a nine-string arched (bow) harp of the Alur people of Northwestern Uganda. It is very similar to the tumi harp of the neighboring Kebu people, and it is also used by the Lugbara and Ondrosi tribes in this Northwestern region around the Nile.

       The harp is used to accompany epic and lyrical songs and is also used as a solo instrument or within ensembles. Players of arched harps have had a high social status and are included in royal retinues. Today Adungu music is being played in churches, school festivals, and entertainment purposes.

       The Adungu consists of an arched neck, a wooden resonator (sound box) in which the neck is fixed, and a series of parallel strings of unequal lengths that are plucked.The strings are fixed at one end to the resonator and run at an oblique angle to the neck, where they are attached and tuned with pegs.

        In the tradional music, Adungu is tuned on a petatonic scale five notes but it can also be tuned on a daitonic scale (progressive style). The first, Second, and third strings are tuned in octaves with the sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively.

      Its mainly three adungu's that make up a full ensemble.  Solo adungu which play the melody, medium adungu for harmony and bass adungu for bass.



Endingidi (Ugandan Violin)

          Its a one string instrument which is attached to a flexible stick with a wooden

sound box its played with a bow, its tuned in a pentatonic scale,it accompany dances and its included in an ensemble of most ugandan instruments.


 

Nanga/ Enanga (trough zithers) click to here the sound of the instrument

        It has eight strings which run above a wooden trough. A zither is an instrument in which the  strings run parallel to the resonator, [sound box ] which extends the entire length. It's mainly a Story telling instrument, Poem resighting and it accompanies some dances in Kigezi, Western part of Uganda. It's tuned in a pentatonic scale.



ENTONGOOLI/NDONGO (BOW LYER)

          This is a traditional instrument from Buganda. Buganda is one of the many cultures found in Uganda. This instrument comes from the string family. The origin of this instrument is not well-established. The Basoga claim to have invented the instrument and at the same time, the Baganda also claim so. Although, it is mainly found in Buganda and it`s one of the royal instruments in the Kabaka`s palace. Endogo used to be played only in the palace by the palace musicians who were not allowed to play anywhere else. It’s mainly used to accompany wedding music as well as dance. (Embagga dance).It can be played solo and also in an ensemble. This instrument is almost extinct and very few people play it in Uganda.





 Amadinda (Xylophone)

          The xylophone is a very popular instrument in the Bantu region.The keys are separated by either long sticks (among the Buganda) or short ones and are placed on banana stems. The Bakonjo and Busoga use both short and long sticks. The keys are tied in place by threading string through small holes in the wood.

          The Amadinda xylophone has two "shoulders" carved on the bottom so that the keys, which are not fixed, will not move when placed on the banana stems. Nowadays the entire instrument is made out of wood.





Endere (Flute)

          The flute is widely popular in all regions of Uganda. It is played both as a solo and accompaniment instrument. It is made out of a variety of materials that have a square hole chipped out of one of the ends. It has finger holes that help in playing different pitches and melody. The player directs a stream of air over the sharp rim or on top of the pipe. It has a pentatonic scale. Endere is tuned on the xylophone key since the xylophone is omnipresent throught uganda.




Enkwanzi (Panpipe)


          The enkwanzi or oburere is a panpipe that comes from the Busoga region and is made from elephant grass or bamboo. They are stopped flutes, meaning that the node of the plant stops the hollow tube and thus determines the pitch of the pipe.The tubes are arranged from lowest to highest and laced together with a string. The open rim at the top of each tube is cut at a right angle to the tube so that the player may blow across the top.


Amakondeere/ Agwara/ Enzambe (Trumpets) click for sound & Video Clip
          These instruments are found throughout Uganda, and they are believed to have come from the Bushmen and Hamites. These instruments are made from various materials. High-pitched trumpets are made of antelope horn. Medium-register trumpets are hollowed out from tree roots. These instruments have a mouth-hole cut at a slant, so that the instrument is played in a transverse position. 
       Low-pitched instruments are cut from the trunks of the papaw tree and are blown in a straight position through a mouth-hole at the end. In an ensemble of these instruments, each player sounds his single pitch. These come from the Lugbara and Kebu tribes of the western Nile region. In some traditional societies, horns were used as means of communications e.g in an emergency.They are played in groups of seven or more. These side-blown horns sometimes have a fingerhole, which is used for grace-note ornaments.



Uganda Drums

          In African tradition, Drums bring the power that drives the perfomance and can be used for talking too. i.e sending information and signals by Imitating Speech since many african languages are both tonal and rhythmic.

There are various versions of Drums in Uganda

1- Embuutu, this is a big drum (percussion insntrument).

2- Enpunyi [bass drum] these drums are tradionally hand curved from old hard wood trees.These drums have heads made from hides.

3- Engalabi-long drum [percussion instrument] this drum has a head made of reptile skin nailed to a wooden sound body. The engalabi from the Buganda region has important roles in ceremonies and in theater. It is played with hands

4- Namunjoloba - lead Drum [ percussion instrument ]


  


                             Dances from Uganda

Amagunju Dance from central Buganda [royal dance]

This is a folk dance from Buganda kingdom[royal court]. In Buganda kingdom it's a taboo for the kingdom to be ruled by a woman. One day the king died [king molondo] who had many wives. Some of these wives were expecting so the medicine men and traditional doctors had to search for awife who was pregnant with a baby boy.

Namulondo was expecting a baby boy. She had to sit on the throne to show people that it's not her ruling but the unborn child. When this baby was born, he layed on the throne; however, kings were not supposed to cry as this would bring curse to the kingdom. Musicians, uncles, and aunts created Amagunju dance that kept the baby boy entertained and stopped his crying.


Agwara Dance from Northern Uganda by Achori people

This dance gets its name from the local trumpets called the Agwara.

The Men blow the trumpets as the women dance.
Larakaraka dance. click for sound & Video Clip

This dance comes from the Northern part of Uganda.

Mwaga Dance from Eastern Uganda [by Bagishu People]

This is a Ceremonial initiation dance of the Bagishu people in Uganda. The dance reflects that for a young boy to become a Man he must be Circumcised. Before the curcumcision takes place, the boy to be circumcised dances for 21 days to posess the spiritual powers of no fear to become a man.


Gaze Dance of the Lugbara people

Gaze is a traditional dance of the Lugbara people from the region of the West Nile,along the boarder with Zaire. This dance reflects the transition from the dance movements of the Lugbara to those of the Congo style of dancing.


Owaro

Owaro is a ceremonial dance from the Samya-Bugwe region of Uganda. Samya is one of the smallest populations in the country.

Ekitaguriro click for sound & Video Clip

This dance comes from Ankole Western part of Uganda region. This dance is performed by the older men and women and is used to demonstrate the love that the Ankole people have for their cattle. The singing in the dance imitates the sounds of the cattle "even the sound of the milk coming from the cow". The flute that is played during the dance is the same used to herd cattle.The stamping movements used by the men in the dance are similar to a cow's walk, and the women use their hands to represent the long, beautiful horns of the cow.

Runyege, Entogoro [A marraige dance] click for sound & Video Clip

Runyege, Entogoro is a dance performed in the Toro region in western Uganda. Sometimes,more than ten men Conflicts to marry one beautiful girl. When this happenes, the community organizes a big ceremony, and all the male candidates must come and dance. The girl then chooses the best dancer.

In this culture, people believe that the best dancer represents the best married life. The dance also indicates who is the strongest man, and families do not want to give their beautiful daughters to weak men who will struggle to provide food and water when there is a drought. So in this dance, the man who gets tired first loses, and the man who dances until the end, wins. A girl may want to marry a man who gets tired early in the dance,but she has no choice but to marry the winner.

 

Ekizino [from Western Uganda]

Ekizino is a royal dance from the Bakiga people of kigezi which is known as "switzland of Africa" because of its weather and landscape similar to most European countries, During colder seasons, Ekizino is the warm-up dance. Since Kigezi is a hilly region,the men who go out farming early in the cold mornings must jump around for a while to get warm and also to stretch their muscles after work. Traditionally, the people also used to stamp the ground until they found signs of water. Therefore, this dance represents their jumping and stamping.

Baakisiimba, Nankasa, Muwogola click for sound & Video Clip

Baakisiimba, Nankasa, and Muwogola are traditional folk dances that originated in the palace of the Buganda Kingdom, which is located in the central region of Uganda in east Africa. This kingdom is bordered on the south by Lake Victoria, which is the home of Nalubaale, the wife of Lubaale, one of the Bugandan gods. A former Bugandan king greatly enjoyed the local beer, tonto omwenge. Tonto is made from banana plants, and the name is taken from the Lugandan word tontomera, which means, "Do not knock me". At one gathering, this king drank too much of the beer and became quite happy. (In Buganda, it is taboo to say that the king is drunk; you can only say that the king is very happy.) The king then started praising the people who had made the beer, saying abaakisiimba, which means "those who planted the bananas", and bebaakiwoomya, "they made it delicious".

The musicians at this gathering created an abaakisiimba rhythm that imitated the words of the king, who was so happy and relaxed that he began to move and dance. While the musicians mimicked the king's words on their drums, the women imitated the king's movements, which eventually became a dance that is now performed throughout Buganda by all generations. There are three major movements in this dance: the first is Baakisiimba, the second is Nankasa, and the third is Muwogola.