Amadinda

Ssempeke! - Compiled by Peter Cooke (1988)

This compilation is available in mp3 format (192 Kbps) for 5 UK Pounds. The download also includes photographs, translations of the song texts and liner notes. Alternatively, contact us if you would prefer to have these posted to you on a CD. You can listen to brief samples of some of these tracks below.	Download Ssempeke! (73MB)
Liner Notes
This compilation was recorded during the visit of the Ugandan musician Albert Ssempeke to Edinburgh University as the Music Faculty's first African-musician-in-residence during the Autumn term of 1988. Albert Ssempeke worked in Kampala as music instrument maker and instructor at the Uganda Museum but during the 1960s was one of the flutists of the former king of Buganda (the abalere ba Kabaka ). Along with the other flutists from his village he took turns with flute ensembles from other villages to live at the palace for two months each year. He was expert on most other Kiganda instruments including the ennanga bow harp, the endingidi one-string tube-fiddle, the endongo lyre, the amadinda and akadinda xylophones, drums and other percussion. His own group of musicians had a high reputation throughout Buganda and was often hired at weekends to play at events such as weddings and traditional feasts. Ssempeke was delighted to get access to the music faculty's 8-track recording machine and within one or two sessions had laid down tracks of a series of songs from which this cassette provides a selection. He did his own mixing down of the final master tape. Included also are performances of songs to the accompaniment of his ennanga (harp) and endongo (bowl lyre).
1. Ssematimba ne Kikwabanga One of the best known historical songs of the Ganda people, with texts moralizing on the vanity of earthly riches, on mortality and on trust in the providence of God. Two legendary warriors Ssempatimba and Kikwabanga were rich men but had often been criticized for their miserliness. They vowed to kill their fattest goats for a feast when they returned from their next campaign but they never came back, for they were speared to death on the battlefield. Some of the more common texts are: Those who keep goats, keep them in vain, remember Ssematimba and Kikwabanga We were many, now I am alone. See Ssematimba and Kikwabanga Young chicks grow up among the dry banana leaves. God cares for them He who comes late will find me laid out (dead) in the best room. Ah! Ssematimba and Kikwabanga Ssempeke's performance here features the amadinda xylophone (which normally requires at least three men to play the interlocking parts) accompanied by his singing and playing on four drums in the well known Ganda baakisimba dance rhythm. The xylophone, like all other melody instruments of the Ganda, is tuned to a pentatonic scale comprising more or less equal steps of large tones.	sample
2. Ensiriba ya munnange The amulet of my friend. An old court song accompanied here on the ennanga bow harp.
3. Nkwagala nkulaba ng'amaanyi I loved you because I trusted in you. Wedding music for the endongo (bowl lyre), ndere (notched flute), ensaasi rattles, two endingidi fiddles, mbuutu wedding drum and voice.
4. Njagala Nkwagale I would like to love you. With endongo lyre.	sample
5. Abantu balamu Baakisimba dance song with drums and rattles.
6. Gganga alula Ganga had a lucky escape. An old mocking song about a palace servant, Gganga, who forced his attentions on one of the princesses and who for punishment was castrated. He was lucky - he could have been executed. Sung to ennanga accompaniment. Play on words, made with tiny modifications of the basic text is a feature of most songs. Baganda avoid direct reference to private parts of teh body hence the reference to 'fingers'. You are wealthier than me, but I still have my fingers! Gganga had a lucky escape, they chopped off his fingers and they didn't grow again. Ee! I'm sorry for you my friend, the fingers that stole meat are chopped.
7. Omusango gw'abalere The case of the flutists. One day members of the royal flute band were disrespectful to the princesses and fled to their home village to escape punishment. This is a song on the theme of disrespect to one's superiors and about fear of death. Here Ssempeke plays on five different sized flutes (the flute ensemble abalere ba Kabaka played as a consort of siz different sized flutes) and he adds the drum accompaniment in addition to singing.	sample
8. Balagana enkonge A song with ennanga harp accompaniment. The king's harpist must have played a role similar to that played by David for Saul - musician, bard and confidant and advisor. Ssempeke is one of the very few ennanga players living today. He learned harp technique from one of his old friends Everisto Muyinda who was also a palace musician and added to his repertory by studying 78rpm disc recordings of the famous Temuteo Mukasa as well as by transferring xylophone parts to the harp (it is traditionally thought that the xylophonists took their style from the playing of the harp).	sample
9. Mubandusa A popular song for amadinda xylophone, here somewhat unusally provided with a baakisimba rhythm drum accompaniment.
10. Akawologoma Little lion. One of the most important of the palace songs. The lion is symbol of royal power and one of the Kabakas brought up a lion in the royal enclosure. Sung here to the ennanga harp.
11. Ssematimba ne Kikwabanga Another version of the song, this time with four flutes, drums, rattle and voices (all performed by Ssempeke of course).
12. Wavvangaya and Ekyuma Two songs sung to endongo (lyre) accompaniment. Ekyuma celebrates the arrival of the first fairground merry-go-round in Uganda earlier this century. It was compared to the wheel of the cotton gin and everyone came to look at it in wonder.
13. Embaga Wedding music. This is the only item which was not recorded in Edinburgh and features Ssempeke's own group performing at a wedding in Bukolooto village, Buganda in 1987. Ssempeke's plays lyre and sings, amid a noisy background of feasting and applause for the very expert "hot" dancing of Ssempeke's team of four dancers (three women led by a male transvestite). His musicians include a young xylophonist, endingidi (one-string fiddle) players, a player of the very large embuutu wedding drum and a pair of rattles complete the instrumental ensemble.