By Sara Namusoga-Kaale & Charlotte Ntulume
The Gen Zs might not get the joke about MDD (the department of Music, Dance and Drama, which was the previous name of the present-day Performing Arts and Film department) standing for “Musiru Ddala Ddala” (extremely unintelligent person), and that’s a good thing because the discipline is far from that!
The performing arts program began its journey under the Department of Literature before it became the Department of Music, Dance and Drama and later, Performing Arts and Film (PAF). One of the objectives was to develop the human capacity to contribute to education and development through the arts. And for decades, the department was the only training center for the music, dance, drama, theater and other related disciplines.
According to Dr Benon Kigozi, head of the Department of PAF, they now run about 12 programs. These include the diploma in performing arts, the Bachelor of Arts in Music, the Bachelor of Arts in Dance, the Bachelor of Arts in Drama and the Master of Arts in Performing Arts. They also offer a doctorate of performing arts.
Dr Benon Kigozi, Head of Department, Performing Arts and Film
This year, the department marked its golden jubilee, a testimony to the fact that the performing arts are critical to culture and performance. The department marked the anniversary with a week-long conference at the end of March under the theme, "Performing Arts and the University of the 21st Century: Concepts, Training and Practice."
Speaking at the opening of the conference, the Dean of the School of Liberal and Performing Arts, Associate Professor Patrick Mangeni, observed that the department boasts of a number of milestones worth celebrating. These include legends like the late Prof. Rose Mbowa and Prof. George William Kakoma, and others like Prof. Grace Wilson Mutekanga Igaga and Prof. Justinian Tamusuza, all of whom have contributed to expanding the musical score of Uganda.
Prof. Rose Mbowa wrote the lyrics for the women’s anthem in Uganda, while Prof. George William Kakoma was head of the department and also composed the Uganda National anthem. Prof. Grace Wilson Mutekanga Igaga composed the current Makerere University Anthem.
Perhaps the Gen Zs might be more familiar with names like Philip Luswata and Hannington Bugingo who popularized comedy in Uganda. Philip Luswata was nurtured by the department and formed the first comedy group. The Head of Department, Dr. Kigozi, also boasts of their contribution to local content in Uganda’s broadcast media.
“About 20 years ago, most of the things we used to see on TV were foreign but now about 90% of what you see on television is locally made and those students are trained here in this country,” he observes.
Back home, Makerere University graduations are never complete without performances by staff and students of the Department of PAF. They are therefore critical in the entertainment and cultural life of the university.
Beyond entertainment, the department has contributed to the university through many other ways, including outreach and building collaborative partnerships. Dr. Kigozi says they are often asked to interface with the community on the university’s behalf. For example, the department has collaborated with the U.S. Embassy to commemorate the Black History Month (February), taking outreach programs through music and dance around Uganda. More recently, the department performed for the Nordic community in Uganda on the joint Nordic National Day in Kampala on May 31, 2023 where, among other activities, they sang the national anthems of the four Nordic countries – Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden – in the original languages.
“It was so beautiful!” says Dr. Kigozi in an interview with The Legacy. “These kinds of collaborations bring the community closer to Makerere, and take the university to the world out there.”
He says the department has remained relevant to the university community and to the nation, and urges parents to encourage children gifted in performing arts to pursue their passion because there are no limits to what one can do after their studies.
“Several times parents come to me and say, ‘My son wants to do music, but what is in it for him?’… One of the things that I tell parents is that there are so many career options such a young person can tap into. In the area of music alone you can have about 20 different career options – you can have sound engineers, orchestra players, performers in several different ways, you can have music business people, you can have people that can teach – you can have so, so many options,” Dr. Kigozi says.
And this is why, he adds, the arts must be allowed not only to survive, but also to thrive. “As an educator for so many years, I know that for people who do the arts, especially disciplines like music and if one plays an instrument, they transfer that knowledge into other subject areas, and they are the ones you see standing with high honors.”
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