Ugandan group brings music, culture to HHS
Staff writer
The Hillsboro High School and eighth grade students got a small taste of African culture last Thursday with the presentation by Samite of Uganda. Samite and his band shared about his African homeland in story and song. In the interactive presentation he tells of growing up in Uganda and fleeing his country as a political refugee to seek asylum in Kenya and then eventually coming the United States.
Samite and his group came to Hillsboro and other area schools through Miner Seymour and grants from the Acoustic Arts Association, the Kansas Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The lively beat of the drum was played by Mar Gueye of Senegal in West Africa. The guitarist, Emma, is a native Kansan who lived in South Africa and has a Zulu education.
All three now live in New York state.
Singing songs in his native tongue of Luganda, Samite encouraged his audience to dance and feel the music as he played the kalimba (finger piano), litungu (a seven-stringed Kenya instrument), and the marimba (wooden xylophone).
At one point during his presentation, Samite invited the students to make the sounds of the different animals found in the wilds of Africa as he played his native songs on various types of flutes.
He told of his family, and explained about the origin and what kind of wood or gord each instrument was made of.
Later, he invited the audience to ask questions.
The group later interacted with students and staff on a smaller scale. They were scheduled to visit Jim Robb's history classes, Brian Kennell's social science classes, Dave Clark's vocal music classes, and Gregg Walker's instrumental music classes.
The group has recorded their songs on CD and are touring the United States to tell the message of the African refugees.
