10 “He Has a Lot on His Mind”

Kabwama opens his performance with a random plucking and fine-tuning of the bowl lyre (endongo). He then plays a complex, bouncy instrumental that interweaves two interlocking parts: a principal melody produced by the low-pitched strings of the bowl lyre and a secondary melody produced by the high-pitched strings. Shortly after, Kabwama begins to sing over the instrumental. Throughout his brief performance he uses a mellow but chant-like singing style and coarse timbre. Keeping his vocal part in a generally high register, Kabwama sustains the ends of most of the part’s melodic phrases on one continuous note. Toward the end of the performance, he repeats the same melodic phrases, slightly altering them each time with different lyrics before he finishes. Overall, his performance has a bittersweet tone, both beautiful and solemn, and features a complex polyphonic texture:

The opening lyrics of “He Has a Lot on His Mind” describe the deterioration of Buganda and Uganda (lines 1–4), showing us the tragedy of current trends through explanations of the animosity of national politics today. The song’s lyrics also provide a considerable amount of autonomy to the musician’s instrument. Kabwama claims that despite the bad state of the world, his musical instrument redeemed him by bringing him close to the king, whom the singer describes as “the married” in lines 6 through 9. In line 5, “dwell here” refers to the king’s presence. Lyrics such as “This bowl lyre, led me to where the married reaches” (line 6), “This bowl lyre of mine, led me to where the married dines” (line 8), and “This bowl lyre led me to where the married touches” (line 9) also employ an active voice to describe the actions that the musical instrument takes, thus personifying the singer’s bowl lyre. James Makubuya shows how similar personification abounds through the decoration of the bowl lyre, which its makers adorn with a goat fur tassel to clothe and therefore dignify the instrument.2Makubuya 2000, 144. The power Kabwama accords to the musical instrument is evident in his supplemental remark. The performer states that the only way the public recognized court musicians before the 1966 crisis was with their musical instruments.3Kabwama interview, July 20, 2005. In other words, it was the musical instruments themselves that held the ability to bestow the musicians the status associated with being court instrumentalists. The song “He Has a Lot on His Mind” thus reframes the instrument not merely as a tool for producing sound but as an actor that influences the musician himself.

In the lyrics of “He Has a Lot on His Mind” we also find the juxtaposition of suffering and respite, which demonstrates the reciprocity that forms the basis of the king’s relationship with his musicians. In addition, we understand the rejuvenating effect that performance has on court musicians, as their ability to perform allows them a chance to earn new status at the court, to take on new versions of themselves by dedicating their lives to the kingship. Their relationship with the king is mutual. Rather than describing it as a duty or a responsibility, they describe it as a relief and palliative. Again, the singer implies that were it not for the musicians’ intimacy with the king, he would be lost in the deterioration of the world just as many others already have been. The language that the performer uses to detail the king’s court, describing it as where he “dines” (line 8) and where he “touches” (line 9) demonstrates that the relationship between them is more than merely functional, showing that just as the king’s presence soothed the nerves of the musicians, the musicians soothe the nerves of the king. Their interaction thus constitutes a mutually therapeutic event, socially recuperative in that it provides both parties an opportunity to take joy in the other’s care. The events of the subsequent context that Kabwama describes, though, swiftly crush this mutual relationship. This section of the song sheds new light on what Kabwama might be referring to when he describes the deterioration of things. This is most evident in the closing lyric (line 10), as the singer predicts the loss of mutuality that would occur if the kingship were to be removed. He notes, “Let them serve us, successors will say their own things.”