Lwanga

AAWM JOURNAL VOL. 3 NO. 1 (2013)

Bridging Ethnomusicology and Composition in the First Movement of Justinian Tamusuza’s String Quartet Mu Kkubo Ery’Omusaalaba

Charles Lwanga

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Abstract:

In the twenty-first century, Béla Bartók and other composers inspired a generation of African Art music composers who are preoccupied with the search for new musical idioms. Through formal music education and field research, these composers acquired a richer context for creativity, one that provokes possibilities of bridging existing boundaries between music scholarship and composition. The composition style of Ugandan composer and music professor Justinian Tamusuza, for instance, exemplifies an approach that amalgamates Ganda (traditions and customs of the Baganda people of south-central Uganda) and Western musical idioms, to create a unique aesthetic. Focusing on the first movement of his string quartet Mu Kkubo e ry’Omusaalaba, I examine how Tamusuza’s approach to composing art music bridges ethnomusicology and composition. I examine how he evokes and employs Ganda musical sonorities and processes to articulate the interactive imperative in baakisimba music practice of the Baganda.

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Contributor Information:

Charles Lwanga is a graduate student in ethnomusicology at the University of Pittsburgh.

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