A Study of Norms in the Tribal Music of Uganda

Abstract

out, with interruptions, over a period of five years; a systematic survey on disc and tape has been made, and there are now some 1,500 recorded items in the archives of the Museum. The survey was organized on a tribal basis, and we developed the programme to take account not only of musical aspects but of social functions. We feel that no more fieldwork should be done--except, of course, where gaps must be filled or specific tests carried out--and that there should now be time and opportunity to work through the mass of collected data and recordings. Uganda could almost be described as a laboratory for students of music--there are at least 25 tribal groups within the boundaries of the Protectorate, from the tall Nilo-Hamites in the northeast, with their vigorous jumping dances and strict unison singing, to the Twa in the southwest, with their love of part singing. Besides the Nilo-Hamites, there are Hamites, Bantu of various types, Nilotes, Sudanic Negroes, Bari-speakers and Pygmies. Thus the study of music in this area is of special interest. Work in the Museum itself involves quite a different aspect of musical activity. Here we meet our African public, and I think there is no harder test for a musician than to give an account of his findings and to justify the outlay in effort and funds in the eyes of the very people whose music he has studied, although this public is not expert in the sense in which the performers who were recorded in the survey could be called expert. The policy of the Museum is to tell the story of Man in Uganda, from the earliest tool industry the world has ever known--the Kafuan-to the latest development at the Nile dam. An important factor in our work is that our terms of reference state the African population is to be cons idered first--a logical approach in a country in which the ratio between black and white is 1,000 to 1.