Mbaga - This is a wedding dance of the Baganda people. Originally, this dance was only to be performed by people of the Obutiko or Mushroom clan, and only in the palace. The men put "ankle bells" on their legs, and the sound that the bells made as the men danced kept the prince happy. Therefore the uncles and aunts of the young prince created the amaggunju dance to keep the baby smiling. Kings in Buganda, however, are not supposed to cry, as this would bring curses and bad luck to the kingdom. When this prince was born, he ruled as he lay on the throne. One of the wives, Namulondo, was expecting a boy, so she sat on the throne, and the people understood that it was not her who was ruling, but her unborn son. (It was taboo for the kingdom to be ruled by a woman). Fortunately, he left behind many wives who were expecting, so the medicine men and traditional witch doctors urgently searched for a wife who was pregnant with a boy. Is a folk dance of the Baganda that also developed in the palace of the king.Īt one time King Mulondo died without leaving any heirs. There are three major movements in this dance: the first is Nankasa, the second is Baakisiimba, and the third is Muwogola.Īmaggunju - This is a royal dance of the Baganda people. While the musicians mimicked the king's words on their drums, the women imitated the king's movements, which eventually became a dance that is now performed throughout Buganda by all generations. The musicians at this gathering created an abaakisiimba rhythm that imitated the words of the king, who was so happy and relaxed that he began to move and dance. (In Buganda, it is taboo to say that the king is drunk you can only say that the king is very happy.) The king then started praising the people who had made the beer, saying abaakisiimba, which means "those who planted the bananas", and bebaakiwoomya, "they made it delicious". Tonto is made from banana plants, and the name is taken from the Lugandan word tontomera, which means, "Do not knock me over".Īt one gathering, this king drank too much of the beer and became quite happy. Is a traditional folk dance that originated in the palace of the King of Buganda, situated near by the Lake Victoria, the home of Nalubaale, the wife of Lubaale, one of the gods of the Baganda people.Ī former Bugandan king (kabaka) greatly enjoyed the local beer, tonto omwenge. Nankasa, Baakisiimba, Muwogola - This is a social gathering dance of the Baganda people. Dance is also expression of joie de vivre. These dances are part of everyday-life, they are old traditions, handed down from generation to generation, with a deep cultural background being present in a ceremony or a ritual to thank the gods, or they can constitute a local social interaction, such as the wedding party or the burial ceremonial for an important personality courtship dance to bring together the new pairs, or ritual dances for a boy becoming a man or it could simply be a gathering leading to a party with dance, or there has been arranged a party for guests, etc. Everybody was invited to be present to honour the situation and to thank the gods. The gods were asked for fertility, or the people tried to appease the demons or diminish their influence. All rituals are organised, with dances being performed by communities in order to worship or appease the gods, in order to ask for a good harvest before sowing, at the occasion of midsummer or midwinter festival, or just on the occasion of entering a new lunar phase. Every community or tribe has its own religious beliefs. We have to understand that there is an interaction between social and cultural background within different communities in Uganda. Dances were most of the time closely related with religion, ancestral worship and spiritualism. Some tribes combine dance and music, and they explain history and the social elements in a form like the theater of today. African music is nearly always coupled with some other art form, such as poetry, ritual or dance, and it constitutes one of the most revealing forms of expression of the African life and soul.