AEROPHONES

These are the musical instruments which are blown in order to produce sound by the air vibrating. An interesting instrument in this category is human hands. Hands can be clapped in many ways to form musical instruments. Air is blown across to produce inconceivable musical sounds. Ugandans have numerous musical instruments in this class, some of which are improvised and used for an occasion and then discarded. There are a variety of wind instruments which can be categorized into two: the hard- blown and the soft -blown.

Hard-blown instruments

Hard-blown instruments are so categorized because to get sound form them requires spending a lot of energy. The arupepe of Teso and Karamoja made of long cow horn with only one mouth hole is used for communicating messages. The amkondere if Buganda, Bunyoro and Toro, agwara of West Nile and amagwala of Busoga are long trumpets/horns made of wooden hollowed out frames which are larger at one end and have a hole to blow through. These instruments are played in sets. They are covered with cow skin to give a beautiful finish of different colors. All these sets are royal instruments. In Buganda, Bunyoro and Toro they were used in Palaces at ceremonies like crowning and marriages of Kings, anniversaries and burials. This tradition was carried to Busoga by Bunyoro. In west Nile the set was used for installation of their chiefs and for big occasions. While the cow horns are played singly, the sets of the royal trumpets are played t a melodic song. They can be accompanied with a set of drums or played singly.

Soft-blown instruments

This category of instruments is so named because of the ease with which the sound is produced. Unlike hard-blown instruments, these require relatively effortless techniques. The wind is blown into the mouth hole to cause the sound t come from the instrument itself with almost no need to lip vibrations. Soft-blown instruments range form hand cavity clay types, goat horns to small horns from game animals. They all belong to the flute division of musical instruments. The Omukuri of Ankole and Kigezi, endere of Buganda, akalere of Busoga and alamaru of Teso have similar makes and uses. The instrument is blown at the slightly v-shaped slit end of the instrument usually with four finger side holes. IN Ankole, the instrument is also played and at times accompanied by drums. When not played for dancing it provides good melodies for grazing cattle and for love songs. In Buganda it can be played solo, in two’s/three’s or small ensembles. An ensemble consists of the largest flute (kiwuwa), second largest (Enkoloozi; third largest (Entengezi); and the smallest (Entengo). In Busoga it is a dominant instrument played in combination with other instrument with percussion and wind sections. The Teso flute is solo or accompanies an akogo set. The soft-blown instruments tend to be highly localized. Some are used as children’s toys. They are used and then discarded.

CHORDOPHONES

“chord” literally means a string. It can be made from spinning or twisting sisal, skin-strips or fiber-tissues. Instruments which have these strings fastened in different ways to different shapes of frames are picked, plucked, strummed, hit or struck. Uganda has many different instruments falling in this category. Some of them are so temporary that they are not mentioned in the list. A typical example of these is a string held on one end by biting with the teeth and pulled on the other by the left hand while the right hand plucks it or gives finger strokes to it. Different notes are arrived at by releasing and tensing the string accordingly. When the player is satisfied, the string is thrown away and forgotten.

String instruments can be categorized in two sections: the single string and the multiple strings. String musical instruments are as widespread in Uganda as the drums. There are incomparably more drum players than are string instrument players

Single –string music instruments.

The tube fiddle is variously called endingire, akadingidi, endingidi, esiriri or shilili in a number of Bantu languages and arigirigi, rigirigi by non-Bantu speakers. It takes its name from bowing action and the kind of sound the instrument produces. It is interesting how all sections took the imitation of the sound of the instrument to be the name of the instrument. In all languages, this instrument is played to enunciate words and phrases as if to parrot human language. It is essentially a solo instrument with voice but can also be played as a duet, a trio or together with other instruments.

There are also less popular one-string instruments like sekutukege or aunene (ground bow) in Buganda and Teso respectively.

Multiple-string instruments

There are different in shape. The eight-stringed ennanga of Buganda and the six-stringed adeudeu of Teso (bow-harp) are similar in shape with the eight or more stringed adungu of West Nile

It is so named because it consists of a curved stick that is attached to a trough which is covered with a skin. The lower end of the stick is fixed to the end of the trough. Strings attached t this part of the stick are passed through the skin and are tied t pegs driven into holes drilled at almost equal interval in the upper part of the stick.

In the class of lyres comes the famous entongoli of Buganda sometimes called endongo when played to lead a wedding dance, embaga.

In eastern Uganda a similar instrument called litungu of Bagishu provides music for the shoulder dance commonly called kamabega. In the class of zithers comes the nnanga of Kigezi and Acholi.

String instruments emphasize the narrative and story-telling traditions of the people of Uganda. Love songs, songs of praise, epics, dirges, and joyous messages are some of the typical styles covered by musicians engaged in playing string instruments.

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AEROPHONES

Hard-blown instruments

Soft-blown instruments

CHORDOPHONES

Single –string music instruments.

Multiple-string instruments

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