Different Routes; Same Genesis and Destination: Tracking the Migration of Acholi Dances from northern Uganda to Kampala

The insurgency in Northern Uganda that lasted for mpre than 15 years played havoc with the Acholi people and their dances almost in equal measure. Like any other experiences of armed conflicts, the war in northern Uganda was bound to cause dislocations in the structure, practice, sensibilities, procedures, sentimentalities, and essence of traditional dance forms. The artistic and cultural dislocations were compounded by forced migration that communities endured throughout the entire period of the conflict. This migration took different forms: home to bush (for people that were abducted by the rebels); home to camp (especially internally displaced camps); and home to other place (which saw migration of the Acholi people to other parts of Uganda and beyond). In this entire turn of events, dances survived particularly amongst people that migrated to camps and other parts of Uganda. This article focuses on how these dances survived in ‘exile’, with particular focus on Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. 

The story of the migration of dances and dancers from Acholi sub region to Kampala is akin to the legend that explains the genesis of Acholi tribe of northern Uganda and Alur tribe on north western Uganda: both ethnicities were born out of conflict in which blood was spilled. In the case of Acholi and Alur communities, legend has it that Nyipir and Nyabong, both brothers, had a tiff over a spear and a bead. Nyipir took Nyabong’s spear to hunt. He hit the elephant with the spear and it ran away with it. When he returned home, his brother Nyabong insisted on getting back his spear. Nyipir went back and trailed the elephant until he recovered the spear. This experience was so painful for him. Shortly after his return, Nyabong’s daughter swallowed Nyipir’s bead. Nyipir demanded to have his bead back. Nyabong painfully accepted that his daughter be cut to recover the bead. The girl was cut and the bead was recovered. It is this spilling of blood that caused an irreconcilable squabble between the two brothers. They parted ways, never to see each other again. Nyipir wandered and crossed river Nile at Pakwach. He settled in West Nile area and gave birth to the current Alur tribe. Labong stayed on one side of the river and his family expanded to form the current Acholi tribe.

It is as if the migration of Acholi dances to Kampala was an incarnation of the Nyipir and Nyabong separation. It is worth noting that the migration of these dances took dual trajectories: the Watmone (derived from Watmone dancing troupe) and Ndere (derived from Ndere troupe) trajectory. These two experiences are going to be the focus of this essay.  Quite significantly, the two trajectories, like the Nyipir and Nyabong separation, were born as a result of conflict (Acholi insurgency), where blood of thousands of Acholi people was spilled. We can conclude that these related trajectories came from the womb of human blood. What is more, both the Nyipir-Nyabong separation and Acholi-to-Kampala migration of dances involved crossing river Nile, the former at Pakwach and the latter at Karuma. As Nyipir-Nyabong split gave birth to two formidable ethnic groups that are still flourishing, migration of Acholi dances to Southern Uganda has has supported two dance troupes that have prospered in Kampala. 

Let us now track the migration of the Acholi dance trajectories. As I earlier noted, the exodus of Acholi dances to other parts of Uganda owes a good deal to the northern insurgency that lasted for more than 15 years. Normally, when conflicts emerge, people in the affected communities migrate. Some people migrates with their physical belongings, others do not.  However, one commonality between those who migrate with their physical belongings and those who do not is that they both migrate with some of their cultural practices. They both migrate with their cultural belongings. Music and dance is one of these cultural belongings. 

The Watmone path had Acholi people migrate to Kampala to form a dance troupe under the stewardship of Matthew Watmon. As Watmon notes: “When the war intensified, I decided to come and settle in Kampala from where Iformed a dancing troupe…” The Watmone route was more about the Acholi people migrating with their artistry and figuring out how to situate it and make it relevant and survive in the new environment in Kampala. The troupe set out to focus on dances from the Acholi sub-region. The Ndere trajectory presented a different dynamic. Ndere troupe was already established as early as 1988 as a performing group with a national outlook and character. When the conflict escalated, Ndere started to co-opt both dancers and dances from Acholi region to form the repertory of the troupe. The inclusion of Acholi artistry into Ndere troupe leaned towards expropriation of dances from Acholi region and appropriating them in Kampala. If these two ajectories have managed to survive in 'exile' (Kampala), what dynamic underpins their identity? What strategies have the two troupes taken to have dance artistry from Acholi region flourish? It is to the differences in strategy and experiences between these two troupes that we now turn.

A clear analysis reveals that the Watmone experience has been insulatory in every sense of the word while the Ndere trajectory is expansionist in nature and intent.

The Watmone experience has always been insulatory, and is anchored in self-preservation. This is born out of internal cultural consciousness. The Acholi dances performed by Watmone arrived in Kampala as a victim seeking asylum. Although the new environment has tampered with some aspects of their performance, Watmone dance performances are true to the aesthetic and cultural sensibilities, complexities, simplicities, and polities of dances from Acholi region. Until now, they have specialized in performing dances from Acholi region. They have striven to remain true to the Acholi artistic ethic. Their target audience has always been people from Northern Uganda, although they have expanded to serve both other national and international populations. Like Jews who have been able to retain, practice, and cherish their culture in exile, Watmone have succeeded in insulating their Acholi artistic practices against any excessive external influences and excesses that come with living in the new environment. Watmone has succeeded in striking a balance between art for wo/man’s sake and art for money’s sake. Commercialization has not significantly diluted the true ethos of Acholi dance aesthetic that the group is committed to preserve, present, and represent. The dancers understand the artistry, aesthetic, semiotics, and anthropology of the dances. Watmone has once again proved that traditional dances can migrate and still retain their true character and form. The group has relied on the commercial to reinforce self and cultural preservation. The songs, instrumentation, technique, and in some cases costume represent the true nature of Acholi dance artistry. The troupe has continued to embrace ethnic singularity, glorify artistic endogamousity, and cultural exclusivity.  

Watmone performers playing Acholi music

If the Watmone course is insulatory, how expansionist is the Ndere trajectory? I earlier mentioned that right from the onset, Ndere troupe exuded national character and outlook in terms of its artistic repertory and ethnic originality of performers. The repertory ranged from traditional dances of tribes in Western, Northern, Eastern, and Central Uganda, although their foundation has always been dances from Western and South Western Uganda. As such, appropriation of Acholi dances was meant to enrich the national abundance of the troupe. It was another ethno-artistic dish added to the national artistic buffet of the troupe. Acholi dances arrived in Ndere as a refugee seeking not only survival but also expansion. The primary objective of the group was not to preserve dances from Acholi. Rather, the goal was to have representation of Acholi artistry in the national artistic umbrella. But this does not tell the whole story, neither does it paint a complete expansionist picture. Expansionism is best reflected in the nature of performers in the troupe. Whereas Watmone is primary constituted of dancers from Acholi, Ndere has dancers from various ethnicities in Uganda. These dancers were able to learn and perform dances from Acholi even though they do not come from this ethnic community. Consequently, these dances were able to cross demographic and ethnic boundaries. The Ndere experience has always celebrated national plurality, glorified artistic promiscuity, and valued aesthetic exogamousity.

We cannot talk about expansionism and ignore the artistic and aesthetic alternations that Ndere have inflicted on the dances from Acholi. Art bows to change in the face of money and commerce. Commercialization unlocks artistic and cultural rigidity. Once art becomes a for-money activity, trade patterns and commerce imprison it.  It clings to and swings on the rules of demand and supply. As a commercial dance troupe, Ndere has altered a number of elements of Acholi dances such as costume, accompaniment, makeup, etc to appeal to the interests of the clients. There has been expansion in the internal taxonomy of the dances (how and why dances are performed), for good or worse.

Ndere troupe performing Larakaraka dance from Acholi. The costume is colorful enough to attract the eye and the sound is amplified to sink in the ears of the audience.  

How about target audience? Is this expansionism reflected in the audience targeted? The answer to the preceding question seems to be in the positive. The audience has a good deal to answer for for this expansionism. The audience for Ndere is very diverse. Unlike Watmone, which primarily target communities from the greater north who live in Kampala, Ndere troupe’s audience covers a wide range of ethnic fabric and geographical space. The troupe has performed in a number of international events, too.

Nowhere has this expansionist approach manifested itself than in breakaway troupes that have seceded from Ndere troupe. Ndere is a womb that has given birth to a number of troupes in Uganda. Formers performers of the troupe have gone ahead to form their own independent troupe. In doing this, they have expanded the artistic legacy and philosophy of Ndere troupe, which included performance of dances from Acholi sub region. What is more, Ndere troupe sends out its performers to train students in schools that perform in school-based, regional, and national dance festivals and competitions. In some instances, these performers have taught Acholi dances the way they learned then in the troupe. This is yet another expansionist branch.

In this essay, we have noted that the migration of dances from Acholi to Kampala took two major dual trajectories: the Watmone trajectory and the Ndere trajectory. These two trajectories owe a good deal to the initial brotherly split between Nyipir and Nyabong. Like the legend of Nyipir and Nyabong, the Acholi dances migrated to the south as a result of conflict where blood was spilled. Both Nyipir-Nyabong and the migration of Acholi dances to the south involved crossing of river Nile.  The former at Pakwach, and the latter at Karuma.  The dual trails of the migration Acholi dances down South have continued to flourish. The Watmone trajectory is much more insulatory, sensitive to Acholi cultural sensibilities, and true to the artistic aesthetic. It is anchored in ethnic singularity. The Ndere trajectory is much more expansionist and inter/nationalistic. It derives its trues identity from national plurality. This expansionism has manifested itself in the way the dances have been structurally, aesthetically, taxonomically, and semiotically altered to conform to the market forces of demand and supply. Furthermore, Ndere has spread Acholi dances to diverse ethnic population through performances, training, and mothering of other dance troupes. 

Alfdaniels Mabingo is a Fulbright fellow at New York University

What Dance Means to a Child in Africa

In African ethnic cultures, dance and music are primarily meant to prepare an individual for life, not for a job or career. A mother produces three babies: the actual baby, music and dance. Before and after a child is born, music and dance act as an umbilical cord that links the child to the environment and people around him/her. Whereas dance practices have considerably changed in urban areas, majority of communities especially in sub-urban and rural areas have preserved and retained authentic aspects of dance practices. In this article, I explore how dance is an integral part of child growth and development, and the implications of this artistic, creative and performative experience to children and the wider community in sub-urban and rural areas.

To begin with, dance is part and partial of each and every stage of human growth and development. a person interacts with dance before they are born until after they pass on (fertility dances, birth dances, children dances, rites of passage dances, wedding dances, ritual dances, religious dances, funeral dances). Dance is the link that connects the emotional, spiritual, mental, social, political, physical, intellectual, affective and philosophical beings that reside in each person. But for dance to play this role in a person’s life, how s/he interfaces with, assimilates, and gets oriented into it plays a key role. For that matter, pre-birth and toddlerhood encounter with dance forms the foundation in which subsequent artistic experiences are anchored.

African mothers are not into the stroller culture.  A child picks the pulse, rhythm, and movement while at the back of the mother or any caretaker.

Before giving birth, expectant mothers are encouraged to participate in music and dance performances. By participating in  performances, an expectant mother invites the unborn child to be a passive participant in the performance. This child gets both music and physical mobility by extension. The baby virtually experiences every moment that its mother produces. This means that at the earliest stages of life, through a child development, a baby is apart of all dancing and drumming that its mother experiences (Nzewi, 1996). The pre-birth artistic encounter gives the baby a glimpse into the world that they later join. Most importantly, artistic and physical activities enable the unborn child to develop physical strength that they later use to participate in their birth. 

This interaction with music and movement continues after the child is born. There is hardly any birth in a typical African setting that is not accompanied by dance. Once a child arrives (is born), they are surrounded by an ocean of music, dance, and rhythm.  Any given day in a baby’s life is spent, for the most part, tied to its mother’s [or any person’s] back by a piece of cloth (Nzewi, 1996). Through lullabies and other songs, the child is encouraged "to learn standing, balancing, and walking" (Nzewi). Among the Baganda people of central Uganda, the song Ttengerere, sirikawo baby, …(name of the child) alitambula ddi, etc. are very common. In all the songs mentioned above, the caretaker sings and the child moves (translates music into movement). The same practice is common in other tribes.

In Africa, children will always create opportunities to play, socialize and develop their artistry.

What is important to note about this practice is that it teaches the child how to interact with the environment inside and around them, how to negotiate rhythm and space, how to interact with other human beings, and how to participate in not only consumption but also production of music and dance. It is at this stage that the child starts on their journey to explore the environment around them. Some songs and dances that children are exposed to relate to work, family history, ethics and morality, compassion, spirituality, endurance, among others.

From this point on, a child is challenged to explore more artistically, socially, physically, and culturally enriching experiences. Because typical African families are extended, the child ventures out through children games, songs and dance to interact with family relatives, and, later, community peers. This encounter demands creative input from a child. The simplicity of this experience depends on how, together, children negotiate their diverse artistic interests, competences, complexities, and orientations.  The creative processes are based on active participation that is required of every member. Creative performances punctuate the activities such as fetching water and firewood, tending to gardens, harvesting, etc., which children are expected to do. Children always enjoy the freedom to create together without interference from adults. The African understanding is that "Freedom is not about being isolated and alone. It is about knowing who you are and understanding the way that you fit in with those around you. It is about trusting those near to you to be a part of you" (Nzewi, 1996).

Children performing dance in South Africa. Patterns like this are common in sub-urban and rural areas in Africa

Through music and dance, a child discovers and forms his/her identity in relation to the communal identity of other people, for “identity is a "negotiated experience" in the sense that it is largely defined by the ways in which the self is experienced while participating in a community of practice and by the ways the self is presented in those communities (Wenger, 1998). Therefore, for an African child “identity is grounded in "community membership. It is relational, and children define themselves relative to others in the community of practice as well as relative to those who do not belong” (Danielewicz, 2001). Dance and music integrate the child into the family, community, clan and tribal culture and practices. It prepares the child for and facilitates their understanding of the earthly, divine and ancestral worlds and universes.

The potency of dance and music in nurturing an African child lies in its ability to invite, encourage, and allow a child to actively participate in production, appreciation, sharing and consumption of artistic experiences. A child’s body acts as a candle from which the flames of music and dance artistry immortally glow. In return, dance and music act as a pillar that prevents a child mind, soul and body from stumbling.

Alfdaniels Mabingo is a Fulbright Fellow at New York University

Rescuing African Dances from Citadels of Annihilation: a Pentagonal Paradigm

The colonial era opened a new phase for deterioration of African dances by compelling (and in some cases coercing local people to lose trust and confidence in these cultural practices). This absurd trend has extended through the postcolonial period. The fears that African dance practices are enmeshed in palisades of profligacy are not a hyperbole. Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that some dances have been condemned to the chasm of extinction.  For example, kifuule dance among the Baganda people is no longer performed.  ones that are have managed to survive are struggling to find sanctuary in the ever evolving local and global convolution. This is not want to create an impression that attempts have not been made to preserve and revive some of these art forms. Various efforts have been made by arts organisations, academic institutions, artists, and museums to keep the spirit of these dances alive.  But in most cases, these endeavors have done all but shambled.

The detachment of these art forms from the people (that are supposed to preserve them) has gravely hastened their entombment. The architects of these artistic practices knew that the best library is the people. They entrusted communities to create, preserve and disseminate these practices through performances that organically existed within these communities. Wo/man coexisted with dance and music. The principle was that wherever there is a wo/man there is music and dance; wherever there is dance there is life. Every woman has two beings, her own and the creative being. Every man has two minds, his own and the artistic mind. Every society has two souls, the souls of the community and the soul of art. Every woman carries two wombs, the baby’s womb and the womb of music and dance.

A group of women performing dance in rural Africa. African dances are caught between revisiting their roots or taking unknown new directions. Photo by Holly Mann

The African society has gradually digressed away from this principle. What went wrong? Should we just keep singing requiem songs as this artistic richness is being condemned to mass burial? Can these dance forms be pulled out of the maxillae of degeneration and tendered back to humanity? Or, to paraphrase the African adage, does the calabash on the water even know where the river is heading?

All is not lost. Hope is still looming large. Mother African can still reclaim her womb - dance. This hope borrows legitimacy from a pentagonical model proposed by Mazrui and Ostegard (2002) to address Africa’s challenges in a global age. This model covers five key processes: ‘indigenization, domestication, diversification, horizontal interpenetration, and vertical counter penetration.’ which, if applied to African dance practices, can frontally expedite the revival, survival, and relevance of these dances within globalized contexts. It is to the applicability of these five processes to the revival and survival of African dances that I now turn.

African dances are in search for their indigenous soul. The road to this search is painted with tears of the lost glory. And I say to African dances: ‘Relax, African dances. Relax! For you cannot put on the bones of your former self. But you can gather some flesh for a shadow of your earlier persona.” For African dances to reclaim their earlier persona, indigenization process of dance practices has to be set in motion. Indigenization process for this case will “include greater utilization of indigenous techniques, personnel, and approaches to purposeful change” (Mazrui and Ostegard, 2002, p. 2002). As I noted earlier, communities have left dances to waste away. The process of resurrecting dances should take place in communities where these people live with a people as active players. The different needs these dances once served still exist. Festivals, ceremonies, competitions, and other home-based and community-based occasions need to be rejuvenated. For as long as dance is part of Africa’s histories, stories and heritage it can be indigenized. For as long as communities have histories and heritage they can still indigenize their artistic practices.

Westernization and globalization have tended to overlap in Africa. Be it in social, political, cultural and economic spheres, the two influences have taken foot on the African soil. Should African dances be hostage to westernization and globalization? Domestication of artistic practices can free African dances from this inimicalness. Domestication entails using/applying foreign ideas, paradigms, institutions, and approaches for the benefit of the local communities. University, school, church, dance company, government ministry are all foreign ideas and institutions in Africa. But these institutions can play a pivotal role in stimulating the centrality of African dances in social, cultural, economic and political development. What does a university, school, church, government ministry, Dance Company, tourism center lose by integrating native dances into its core activities? Is it intellectually sacrilegious for an African scholar to study, research about, and teach and wribe about native African dance? Domestication of imported knowledge, concepts and ideas has been done, albeit remotely.  In a number of cases it has played to the gallery of where it is imported from than where it is applied.

Relatedly, we cannot talk of African being part of the global cobweb and ignore diversification as a global process. Diversification involves embracing foreign ideas, knowledge, concepts and institutions and allowing them to exist along side the native ones. African dance scene needs to open up its echelons to other dance forms and artistic experiences. Most importantly, the African dance artist, scholar, learner, educator must learn from these fronts of exposure, with aim to deepen their artistic base. New dance forms have made inroads in Africa, but these dance forms have either been thoughtlessly embraced at the expense of the native ones, or they have been ascetically snubbed in protection of the native ones. Obviously, other dance forms are different in philosophy, structure, purpose, and assumptions underpinning their artistry, but this should not be perceived as a threat to local artistic orientations. Strength is when two forces pull in opposite directions. Global discrepancies whether in favour of ‘Westphilia’ or against Africa can be addressed through co-existence of diverse dance forms and artistic experiences.

The area that should concern all Africans – dance artists and non-dance artists alike is the lack connectivity and artistic corresponded between different African communities. This is a sign that horizontal interpenetration is yet to appear on the African horizon. Even in case of neighbouring countries, there is little or no understanding, exchange and appreciation of dance forms from cultures in these countries. Scanty crossovers exist at the border, and that’s it! Individuals have cross-crossed borders but dance forms have not. The spirit of pan-Africanism has not reverberated in African dance artistry. There is no East Africanisation of West African dance artistry and vice versa. In dance terms, central Central Africa, which lies between East Africa and West Africa, is not even aware that these two neighbors artistically exist. Dance artistry has so far failed to connect Alexandria with the Cape of Good Hope. Is regionalization and continentalization of African dance artistry under siege from globalization and Westernization? Have we drunk too deep of the Western malt and tested too little of African spring?  Arts organisations, academic and research institutions, government ministries, and civil society organizations can stimulate horizontal interpenetration through dance. A university in Malawi can introduce a course in Zambian dances. A South African dance researcher can conduct research and write about dances from the Congos; A Ghanaian national television can host a program about Ethiopian dances; an Egyptian dance company can have Cameroonian dances as part of its repertory.  Dances can be traded in spite of the demographic differences. This will open new frontiers of intra-continental artistic re-organization and new cultural conformations.

Since the colonial period, Africa has been on the receiving end of Eurocentric and Anglo-centric hegemony. It is not farfetched to say that the process of globalization has so far showed signs of one sidedness. The West has penetrated Africa, with very little offered in return. It is not disputable that Africa has experienced some form of modernization. Mazrui and Ostegard (2002) define modernization to “mean change which is consistent with the present stage of human knowledge, which seeks to comprehend the legacy of the past, which is sensitive to the needs of future generations, and which is responsive to its global context” (p. 214). Has African modernization sought to comprehend the legacy or the past? Has it been sensitive to the needs of future generations? Has it responded proportionately to the global context? The dance practices do not seem to suggest so. An analysis of the dance sector reveals that African is still limping in as far as using dance to globalize African experiences is concerned. There is urgent need for vertical counter-penetration. 

African dance practices have to stamp their presence at the courtyards of western and Eastern artistic bastion. The route to globalization should be littered with African dance artistry in areas such as dane research, education, performance, and scholarship. The shadowiness of African dance artistry in the Western and Eastern worlds is a challenge that needs to be urgently and frontally confronted. Where efforts have been made to support, encourage and promote African dance artistry, they need to be buttressed. But mostly importantly, Africa needs to be understood for what it really is. African dances need to be appreciated as dance forms that are deeply grounded in human philosophy and science. These dances firmly rest on a well systematic platform whose pillars are deeply held in human thought and human conscience. African dance stretch beyond just having hunters gather and jump around a dead elephant in the middle of the forest or tribesmen and women just moving and shouting around a very big heap of food harvest.

African dances have been part of African cultures. If culture is a “lens of perception, means of communication, basis of stratification, spring of motivation, standard of judgment, pattern of production and consumption and foundation of identity” (Mazrui and Ostegard, 2002, p.214), then the dilemma of African dances is indubitably a predicament for African cultures. A polygonal approach to salvaging African dances from chains of debauchery is possible for Africa – provided the calabash on the  water gets to know where the river is heading.