Uccelli [née Pazzini], Carolina Uccellini, Marco

Ufkī, ‘Alī

[Bobowski, Wojciech] (b Lwów, 1610; d c1675). Ottoman musician of Polish origin. He evidently received a sound classical as well as musical education. He was captured, presumably by raiding Tatars, and taken to Constantinople, where he became a court musician, performing on the santur. He converted to Islam and in later life was active as an official interpreter. He wrote extensively on religious topics, but also produced an account of life in the imperial palace which includes a brief but instructive account of musical activities. More crucially, he compiled for his own purposes three collections of notation: a small group of psalms, and a first draft (müsvedde) and a much enlarged and more finished final version of a collection of instrumental and vocal pieces (Mecmua-yi saz ü söz) which covers much of the music heard at court. It would be difficult to exaggerate the importance of this collection as a historical document, for it provides a unique insight into the nature of the Ottoman tradition, hitherto recorded only in the form of song text collections. Of particular value is that in addition to the instrumental repertory ‘Alī Ufkī included a wide range of vocal forms, religious as well as secular, and covered folksong genres in addition to those of urban art music.

WRITINGS

Mecmua-yi saz ü söz [Collection of instrumental and vocal pieces] (MS, F-Pn Turc 292 [müsvedde]; GB-Lbl Sloane 3114); photographic reproduction, Ali Ufkî: hayatı, eserleri ve mecmûa-i sâz ü söz, ed. S. Elçin (Istanbul, 1976)

Mezamir (Ms, F-Pn Suppl. Turc 472); ed. C. Behar, Ali Ufkî ve mezmurlar [‘Alī Ufkī and the psalms] (Istanbul, 1990)

Saray-i enderûn, ed. C. Magni, Quanto di piu curioso (Parma, 1679); ed. R. Martin, Turkish Music Quarterly, iii/4 (1990), 1–3

BIBLIOGRAPHY

F. Babinger: ‘Bobowski, Wojciech’, Polski słownik biograficzny [Polish biographical dictionary], ed. W. Knopczynski and others (Kraków, 1935–6)

C. Behar: ‘Wojciech Bobowski (Ali Ufkî) ’nin hayatı ve eserleri hakkında yeni bilgiler’ [New data on ‘Alī Ufkī’s life and works], Tarih ve toplum, xvi (1991), 17–22, 209–14

OWEN WRIGHT

Uganda, Republic of.

Country in east-central Africa. Situated on the northern shores of Lake Victoria (Nyanja), it has an area of 241, 038 km² (including 43, 938 km² of water). Its population, numbering approximately 22·21 million (2000 estimate), is ethnically diverse, composed of over 30 individual societies distinguished by history, language, geographic location and social and political structures (see fig.1). The many, varied musical traditions that result from this diversity serve as identity markers themselves.

I. Introduction

II. Music areas

III. Buganda

IV. Modern developments

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PETER COOKE

Uganda

I. Introduction

1. Languages and ethnic groups.

The Ganda, Masaba (or Gisu), Gwere, Hima and Iru, Hutu, Kenyi, Kiga (Chiga), Konzo (Konjo), Kooki, Nyala, Nyambo, Nyole, Nyoro, Ruli, Sese and Tooro are Bantu-speaking groups who live south of a boundary formed by Lake Albert, the Victoria Nile and lakes Kyoga and Salisbury. Groups speaking River-Lake Nilotic languages live in north-central Uganda to the north of this boundary, which forms part of what is sometimes called the ‘Bantu line’; they include the Acholi, Alur, Labwor and Lango. Another related group, the Padhola, live in a small area in south-eastern Uganda. In the north and east, speakers of Plains Nilotic languages include the Karamojong (Karimojoŋ) and the Teso; in the north-west there are a few groups, including the Madi, that belong to the Moru-Madi division of central Sudanic languages, as well as a few representatives of the Plains Nilotes. In the extreme west of Uganda live a few small groups of ‘pygmy’ peoples: in the mountain rain-forests near the borders with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the former Zaïre) live numerous bands of Twa. A few groups of Mbuti ‘pygmies’ inhabit the forest around the Semliki river along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (For a discussion of their music see Rwanda and Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.)

Since language and speech are important determinants of a music tradition, specific music traditions can be identified with specific ethnic groups and their languages. In addition it is also possible to identify particular music traditions visually, through the instruments and various aspects of the dance (costumes, formations and movements). Because it was formerly one of the largest and most powerful kingdom states of east-central Africa and because its rich and varied music traditions have been researched more fully than those of neighbouring peoples, the part of Uganda previously called Buganda is treated separately (see §II below).

2. History and research.

Oral traditions of the historic kingdoms of Uganda mention drums in association with chiefly power and patronage, and at the tombs of past rulers personal drums are preserved among the regalia. Specific songs associated with important events are also mentioned in clan traditions. The xylophone associated with Kyabaggu (king of Buganda during the mid-18th century) is still preserved at a rural shrine, along with the remains of the entamiivu drums that accompanied it. Rock gongs discovered in several locations in Uganda, often in association with rock shelters and rock paintings, are probably of much greater age. Written accounts of musical activity began with the diaries of European explorers such as J.H. Speke and Emin Pascha in the mid-19th century and report mostly on musical life at the court of the Ganda king. Subsequently, explorers, missionaries, anthropologists (such as J. Roscoe) and administrators (e.g. Sir Harry Johnston) have added to this history. Some cylinder recordings made by Johnston survive from the early years of the 20th century. By the 1920s HMV was producing records throughout East Africa, and from the early 1930s numerous Ugandan recordings (including some Christianized church music) were made by Odeon and later by EMI (c1937).

Joseph Kyagambiddwa was the first Ugandan to publish staff notations and analyses of Ganda music at the same time as Klaus Wachsmann was completing his important survey of instruments throughout the country in his role as curator of the Uganda Museum (Trowell and Wachsmann, 1953) and was also recording extensively on disc. Copies of Wachsmann's recordings are stored at the Uganda Museum and at the National Sound Archive in London. Both Radio Uganda and the National Theatre in Kampala have preserved some of their recordings, but as yet Uganda has no national sound archives.

There was a considerable growth in research done mostly by visiting scholars during the 1960s (notably Anderson, Kubik, Cooke, Gourlay and Van Thiel). This work was further stimulated by research seminars given by John Blacking at Makerere University (Kampala) during 1965 and 1966. The troubled years of the 1970s and early 1980s effectively halted any serious research by foreign scholars within Uganda and also hampered the development of any local research base, though aspects of traditional music are studied and taught (mainly as performance) in the Department of Music, Dance and Drama at Makerere University and at the music department of the Institute for Teacher Education (Kyambogo). An exception is James Makubuya who completed his ethnomusicology training in the USA in 1995, writing a detailed study of the role and significance of the kiganda endongo (bowl lyres of the Ganda people) and later beginning a study of the nindingidi (tube fiddle). Since 1987 a few foreign scholars have returned to continue research in southern Uganda with P.R. Cooke exploring the fate of the former court music of Buganda as well as surveying the development of mixed instrument ensembles in Busoga, C.T. Gray examining the textual content of bowl lyre songs and researching the creation of vernacular music for use in the Catholic Church, and A. Cooke, Micklem and Stone researching xylophone styles in eastern Uganda.

Uganda