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Using music, drama to export Ugandan culture
Some of the students of Kyengera-based Cambridge Secondary School pose for a photo with some of the vising members of the Canada-based ‘Dream for Uganda’ at their school recently. Courtesy Photo.
What you need to know:
Through music and drama, a school is marketing the Ugandan culture abroad.
There are different ways of promoting Uganda as a country. Some Ugandans have done it through sports, education and even prayer. Kyengera-based Cambridge Secondary School (CSS) is probably not the first to sing about Uganda but it is the way they are doing it. This school, off Masaka Road, comprises of orphaned students from not well to do families. A number of them are studying courtesy of bursaries.
Background
The school was founded in 2005 by an elderly woman, Kevin Kalule, with help from two of her sons. “We started with one block. We now have 200 students from Senior One up to Six,” explains Kalule, who is also the school director.
She says one of her sons based in Canada got in touch with Canadians on learning that they were to visit Uganda and donate some items to a school with similar conditions like hers. Kalule’s son told Valerie Hill, a Canadian journalist, that his mother had a similar school.
When Hill visited, she was very impressed with the drama performances from the talented students. In 2012, she formed Dream for Uganda (a Non Government Organisation) with her friends. Dream for Uganda took a group of students from CSS to tour Canada last year.
Currently on a visit to the school, six ladies from the NGO have been mentoring, training and empowering the students as well as donating items fundraised from Canada, including music instruments.
“Our mission is to create a sustainable way for CSS students to support themselves by teaching performing arts skills, in addition to Uganda’s secondary curriculum, so that they can become professional performers, producers and music teachers,” Hill says.
During their stay, the group will write and record a song with the students, and film a music video and documentary about the evolution of the school, which will be screened at a Canadian film festival in 2015.
Singing for Uganda
The school is recording a song titled Dream for Uganda. Written by students Rita Nabweteme, Nuwamanya Muhaimim and James Jamas, the song is being recorded at Crystal Clear studios in Kololo.
Brian Beerbaum, who teaches guitar, keyboard and music theory, says the song’s genre is a fusion of traditional Ugandan and Western music. Sam Nalagira, a music teacher from the school notes that the students are quick at learning. Nabweteme, a Senior Five student says she learnt a lot in Canada during her visit last year. “I got friends, we toured the country, visited schools and performed there.
I also learnt how to play some instruments. Back home, we participated in the royal shield drama competition and out of a dozen schools, we were fifth,” she explains. Her song will be used as the documentary’s theme song. This, Eva Witaski, a board member for the NGO, argues, is a way of also promoting Ugandan and Canadian cultures in a positive way.
