First Ethno Uganda was a real successful musical exchange experience
By Ethno Uganda coordinator Joel Sebunjo
Ethno Uganda was a perfect introduction of the Ethno experience to the young musicians in Uganda & East Africa at large. By the end of the week, it was evident that Ethno Uganda had represented a professional, efficient & harmonious model, which everyone else that did not participate at that time, admired to have been part of it. And people are asking for the dates of the next ethno Uganda, which implies that they are looking forward to the next edition which will for sure be organized for 2010 !
Ethno Uganda helped establish and strengthen musical / artistic relations between musicians from the east African region and those from Europe.
By assessment, it was clear that none of the participants from Uganda, Tanzania, Congo & Burundi had ever got a chance to engage in such a great cross cultural exchange.
During the week, there were intensive jam sessions between the ethno Uganda participants, composing and fusing their ideas to come up with songs. For example, at the concert one of the compositions performed was a fusion of Swedish and Uganda languages.
Wouter (BE),Nina & Mattias (SE) were very instrumental in organizing the artistic and pedagogue tools for Ethno Uganda. The core of an Ethno is the artistic element, and this implies there is the need to have a flexible, energetic and experienced team and given their experience with the Ethno Flanders & Sweden respectively, Wouter,Nina & Mattias were the perfect team for this.
The participants took a deep exploration into the cultures, music, dance and folklore of Uganda. Ethno Uganda went to watch concerts/ exhibitions where Ugandan folklore/ theatre groups performed.
We also organized workshops where we invited legendary folk musicians to talk and share about music with the participants. This way the participants got a closer outlook of the Ugandan culture.
During the week, Ethno Uganda visited the Kampala jam session night which is an event happening every Monday, where different musicians in Kampala meet to play. We visited this Jam session to give a short presentation and also to advertise for our big concert.
In mid week, we did the excursion to the eastern cities of Uganda, which ended up at the historical source of the Nile & Bujagali falls.
At the end of the week, there was one concert, arranged in a theatre auditorium, which was attended by approximately 200 people.
Tags: Ethno Uganda