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She conducted the choir that first sung the anthem
Ms Mwandha at home shows her photo album from her school days. Below and top, are some of the pictures during choir practice. PHOTO BY EDGAR R. BATTE/COURTESY
What you need to know:
Catherine Mwandha was the conductor of Makerere College School choir that sang the anthem on October 9, 1962. Though she was 14 at the time, she has fond memories of the moment and speaks about like it happened just recently.
At 14 she not only witnessed history in the making but she was also part of it. Perhaps Ms Catherine Mwandha was one of the youngest ladies at the time to play a major role in the Independence Day celebrations of October 9, 1962.
Ms Mwandha conducted the Makerere College School choir that sung the National Anthem at the first official occasion to mark Uganda’s liberation from colonial rule by the British.
Fifty years later, she becomes one of the stars that this country had never spotted since much of the attraction is drawn to names like George Wilberforce Kakoma who composed the Uganda National Anthem, Grace Ibingira who designed the Coat of Arms and the Uganda flag as well as Akorimo Kanute who raised the Uganda flag at independence.
Recollecting events that took place half a century ago, Mwandha is delighted that this interview has brought memories alive. “In fact, it was my music teacher, Peter Cooke who was supposed to conduct the choir since he was the head of the choir but he felt that it was not fitting for him to conduct because it was Uganda’s Independence and he was British,” Mwandha recalls.
So Cooke offered Mwandha the opportunity which the 14-year-old took with both hands, and she put to good use on D-day, bringing out the best from her Makerere College School peers.
She remembers all attention being drawn to them as they did all stanzas of the anthem.
“I remember seeing the Union Jack being lowered and a soldier hoisting the Uganda flag amidst celebration and ululation. It was a happy moment. I was overjoyed because a lot was happening. Everyone was happy, everywhere. They did not look at other things, the attitude was ‘let them go and we rule our own country’,” she recounts, with a wide smile.
The Tuesday of October 1962, is still so fresh in her head. She retells it like it was yesterday, taking me through her photo album as she explains the different events marked around that time, of her in school and at state functions.
Most of all, Mwandha recalls conducting the choir and partly being lost in excitement. The teenager, in her Senior Two (S.2), felt the world was at her feet. It was her moment to shine because such days only come once in a lifetime.
She was well-prepared for the opportunity because she had earlier made the right choice. She loved music and when she joined Makerere College, the headmaster at the time, Michael Ssozi, was a music lover too and had gone ahead to introduce music as a subject, though it was an optional one.
Mwandha became the first music student at the college at the time when learning music was not just about singing or becoming a good vocalist. One had means to learn how to compose, harmonise, conduct, do music analysis, read and play instruments.
An only student
The headmaster brought in white music teachers and Cooke was one of them, along with Richard Itart and Robin Lustig as teaching assistants. Being the only student initially was a good thing for Mwandha. She got a lot of time and attention from her tutors who taught her among other music disciplines how to conduct. The other music student she learnt of was Christine Lule in Gayaza High School. So the duo would sit for their exams courtesy of British Council in the Green Room at National Theatre.
Mwandha, a retired teacher, went on to learn and play the clarinet, a type of woodwind instrument that has a straight cylindrical tube with a flaring bell and a single-reed mouthpiece.
After the Makerere College School choir had sung the National Anthem, the police band also entertained. But this school choir immediately caught the attention of gatherers. Mwandha recalls their choir becoming part of many state and official occasions.
“More people took interest in our school. We were invited to sing at President Milton Obote’s wedding with Miria Obote at Namirembe Cathedral and I was chosen as the conductor,” the 65-year-old musician recollects.
In addition to that the occasion brought excitement where Mwandha recalls fellow students being allowed to enjoy everything, including booze which did not go down well with the headmaster, Sam Lugumba.
“‘Always remember your motto- ‘Be known by works’”, she recounts the headmaster reprimanding them. The next performance was at the then Minister of Justice, Grace Ibingira’s wedding, where the headmaster must have cautioned organisers only to feed the students on water and sodas.
“We thought we would be treated to ‘plenty’ again but not this time and many of the students were disappointed,” the music graduate of National Teachers’ College Kyambogo (Itek), cheekily remembers one of the events at which they were invited to perform.
Embarrassed before the Kabaka
Her other big moment was meeting Kabaka Edward Muteesa the second, and this joyous moment also became her most embarrassing one. “We had been invited as a choir to sing Christmas Carols at State House in Entebbe and after the performance, Kalule, the leader of Namirembe Cathedral choir came out with the Kabaka to greet all of us and I was the first on the line but did not kneel for him. All the people next to me knelt down. I still feel bad about that moment. I felt tortured and embarrassed,” she retells.
Later in life Mwandha got married and she says this came with a lot of responsibility including raising her nine children- four girls and five boys- and she had to give music a break. But they are all grown and out of home which she says has left her hands a bit free. Actually, she is now contemplating going back to Kampala Singers, an outfit of singers who did music during her generation.
