Kiganda Song

As Cooke further points out, most notes in Kiganda songs relate to textual phrases, but the songs also contain some unrelated notes that are believed to enable greater flexibility and improvisation.3Cooke 1994, 476. Cooke and Micklem also observe that the structure of performances of Kiganda songs can be infinitely repetitious and often can feature numerous verses, both standard and improvised, and performances are not limited to a specific length.4Cooke and Micklem 1999, 49. When performed by several individuals, Kiganda songs follow a cyclical structure, and the chorus will be used at the same point in each cycle. Soloists can sing at any point and will sometimes overlap their singing with the chorus, using a different pitch to differentiate their parts.5Cooke and Micklem 1999, 50. Solo performances, such as those of the song versions in this book, typically have a through-composed structure.

Cooke breaks down the components of Kiganda song texts or lyrics in the liner notes that accompany a CD album that Albert Muwanga Ssempeke (ca. 1930–2006) recorded during his visit to Edinburgh University as the music faculty’s first African musician in residence in 1988. Cooke describes: (1) “‘Nuclear’ texts” that act as the backbone or foundation of the song and give it its “identity”; (2) generic phrases that may be used in a vast array of different songs or contexts; (3) historical “utterances” that have been passed down and disseminated through the greater musical discourse of Kiganda music (these serve to “reinforce” the song’s theme by linking it back to signifiers in its earlier renditions); (4) newer idioms that are introduced by the song’s current performer; (5) improvised commentary that relates to “recent events” or other contemporaneous elements of the performance; and (6) a general and consistent affirmation of “obeisance to the Kabakaship.” (Kabakaship is derived from the term kabaka, which is the title for Buganda’s king).6Cooke 1988.

Lyrics of Kiganda songs serve many purposes. As Sylvia Nannyonga explains, by providing social commentary, humor, and layered meanings, song lyrics act as a method of public communication whereby performers can make statements that would not be acceptable in other contexts.7Nannyonga 1995, 183. Solomy Katasi Dungu reminds us of how the lasting impression of these messages depends on how music interacts with emotion. According to her, music exists in the minds of composers and listeners, not only as sound but as a collection of “images, ideas, ideals, thoughts, and emotions.”8Dungu 1993, 20. It is this amalgamation of concepts and feelings that enables the music’s interpretability, as each new interpretation draws on these same base ingredients to create a unique set of associations. This point reinforces Cooke’s observation that Kiganda songs are living monuments to Buganda’s history, as the nature of Kiganda musical sound is veritably enduring.9Cooke 1996, 443. From its rhythmic principles to its timbral character, Kiganda sound functions as an expression of the Baganda people in every aspect.10Ibid. Although stylistic choices and sonic arrangements may change with the sociopolitical climate of Buganda, the core repertoire of the kingdom’s music remains the same, thus embodying a strong Kiganda tradition. This arrangement is consistent with Agawu’s conclusion that in African societies, music’s close association with people themselves relies on the ostensibly unchanging nature of its foundational elements—language, texture, structure, rhythm, and timbre.11Agawu 2016, 49. Consequently, even as songs and dances become reimagined, each new performance will retain certain aspects of the lyrics and choreography.

The discussion of instrumental music is beyond the primary scope of this book, but it should be noted that the songs presented here can be performed instrumentally, and many of them feature instrumental accompaniment to the singing. As Lois Anderson recalls, the Baganda refer to all their instrumental music as songs, in part because song is considered to have emerged from and originated in the human voice.12Anderson 1968, 153. Indeed, many songs are instrumental interpretations of song melodies. Agawu references Peter Cooke and Klaus Wachsmann’s research on the xylophone music of Uganda when he attests to how African performers conceptualize instrumental music as “wordless songs, songs whose words are not nonexistent but have been relegated to a strong supplementary function.”13Agawu 2016, 30. Agawu’s and Cooke and Wachsmann’s work highlights how, though instrumental songs might lack lyrics, their performers often express their textual elements through the intonations of instrumental sounds. For the Baganda, this is possible because Luganda, their language, is tonal, which allows words to be implied by instruments.14Cooke and Wachsmann 2003, 11. In Lisa Gilman’s research on gender, performance, and politics in Malawi, she argues that although lyrics are important for expressing meaning during performance, they represent only certain aspects of a song’s complete meaning.15Gilman 2007, 19. These observations, especially those on the relationship between instrumental and vocal music, suggest that many African instruments are capable of capturing certain tonal and vocal qualities, including intonation, and that vocals and instruments simultaneously play a key role in defining a song’s meanings. After all, Kiganda instruments are fashioned to recreate the peculiarities of the voice, so it would be inaccurate to conceptualize them as separate accompaniments.

Joseph Kyagambiddwa’s writing on the origins, construction, playing techniques, and styles of Kiganda instruments offers additional insights into how the Baganda conceptualize the relationship between vocal performance and instrumental accompaniment and how they derive meaning from this relationship. When we examine the visual transpositions of Kiganda song compositions, it becomes apparent that their semantic content is inextricably linked to certain melodic patterns. For example, lyrical texts are broken up into syllables, and each syllable is associated with a specific note in accordance with its emphasis. A melody is created as the lyrics flow, which can then be transferred from vocal to instrumental performance. Because lyrical and melodic patterns are intimately related, specific words and phrases become inseparable from purely instrumental performances. Melodic phrases even affect the way that instruments are referred to, such as the names for the wooden xylophones (amadinda and akadinda) played by multiple musicians, which are “mere sound imitations: ding dang.”16Kyagambiddwa 1955, 115. These and other practices speak to the broader conception of song in Buganda as both a vocal and instrumental praxis, ultimately rooted in text and the oral transmission of meaning.

This connection between vocals and instruments—which forms the foundation of Kiganda song—is also prominent in nonmelodic instruments. Most prominently, Kiganda drums are conduits for speech because they contain various permutations of rhythmic emphasis and verbal patterns. As Kyagambiddwa confirms, the mbuutu drum “does not merely sound but speaks.”17Ibid., 113. This possibility for speech demonstrates that the drum is much more than an instrument to beat and that its sounds can be interpreted subjectively by various listeners. Moreover, there are hundreds of playing styles associated with the mbuutu drum, each of which requires its own terminology.18Ibid., 113. Different types of drums carry responsibility in expressing meaning through speech. For example, some drums are tasked with voicing certain clan slogans or melo-rhythmic beats with associated textual phrases (emibala) at public events and gatherings.19Ibid., 114. This practice further demonstrates the centrality of text in song, since these recitations are not only nonverbal but also nonmelodic, meaning only the rhythmic patterns of rhetoric will sound.

While much of the text that is “spoken” by instruments is based strictly on specific phrases and expressions, there is also flexibility in the sentiments communicated by certain instruments. For instance, the harmonic tunings of the Kiganda bow harp (ennanga) are permanently fixed, but those of the Kiganda bowl lyre (endongo) are free, meaning that players can improvise with their own sense of tonality.20Ibid., 106, 108. This difference in agency and creative freedom between certain instruments resembles the fluctuations between fixed speech and conversational spontaneity that the Baganda experience in everyday life. While Kiganda musical artists must often draw from centuries-old musical motifs, they are also able to express their own personalities in a performance if the occasion allows for improvisation.

For many Kiganda instruments there is a general rule of practice that vocal singing must accompany the performance. Instruments such as ground bows (ssekitulege) and flute (endere) quintets must include vocals, since the texture they produce creates room for vocal lyrics to weave into the very fabric of the performance. Examining the performance logistics of the bow harp, we can appreciate that its music fulfills three separate yet intertwined responsibilities: okunaga (literally, “to initiate”), okwawula (literally, “to split”), and okuyimba (literally, “to sing”). The first two are instrumental, played by the hands, but when they are performed, the audience “can hear the voice part mysteriously looming up,” demonstrating how these musical components are inseparable.21Ibid., 106. The human voice and the instruments that accompany it illustrate a mutual relationship in which both elements are not only equally important but reinforce each other. This concept of mutuality remains prominent throughout most Kiganda performance practices and their various contexts. For example, in performances featuring xylophones (amadinda and akadinda), each instrument is assigned to a group of performers who play separate, interlocking, complementary parts.22Ibid., 115. The marriage of these two parts creates melodic linearity and rhythmic cohesion. Members of each group of performers play off each other, listening for cues and falling in sync rather than reciting a memorized sequence of notes in a rigid manner. The relationship between these players epitomizes mutuality in its most balanced and conversational form, and the various elements of musical sounds (rhythm, texture, harmony) produced are the result of this reciprocity.