Monday, 28 April 2008

• The global language of music

  Jackie Nalubwama:

  If Scotland were a musical instrument, it would have been the bagpipe. The longer pipe sticks out like the highlands, whose looming presence humbles Edinburgh.

  The bagpipe produces tunes as unique as the very shape of this instrument, which reminds me of a ship.

  This music is sometimes mellow and yet melancholic at others. It brings to life the eccentricity of Scotland, a land far away from my home.

  With all the beauty of bagpipe music, I still miss the beat of my home drums that possess a tempo like no other.

  With drums every part of your body is set in motion; the head bobs to the beat, the hands clap, and the body is seduced by the music into a sway that grows into a dance.  

  My home, Uganda, can never be Scotland and neither can a bagpipe be a drum. However, in the first week of March, along Princes Street three men attempted to bring the two together, bagpipe and drum.

  It was a very auspicious occasion for me, one that would make you believe that Eden, that garden in the creation story in the Bible, actually existed.

  The two combined had a smooth touch and a tempo; it was music divine and a feel of home in Scotland.

   

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