The Ndere Performing Arts Centre

Religious Studies Special Topics: Religion and Society in Uganda: Culture and Practices through Music
Co-taught by Janet McCord and Okello Sam
June 6 - July 8, 2005: June Term
Approximate Program Costs=$US 3500 NOT INCLUDING tuition
Registering for the course is not required for registration for the trip.

This course will fulfill a religious studies distribution requirement and is at the 300 level.

No prerequisites. No previous knowledge of music, no sense of rhythm, no dance experience required. All that is required is a genuine interest in learning something new and completely different!

This course will take place entirely in Uganda. We will explore the culture and traditional religious perspectives of several Ugandan ethnic groups indigenous to Uganda through the traditional drumming, dancing and musical forms. The course will focus particularly on the interrelationship of traditional and modern religious expression and culture. Required readings will focus on African traditional religions, Ugandan history, East African culture, and African literature and poetry. Students will be expected to keep a daily journal, participate in learning and performing traditional musical and dance compositions, and submit one 10-page essay on a relevant topic.

Students will leave Memphis on or around June 6 and return to Memphis on or around July 4, and will spend approximately 24 to 28 days in Uganda. All written outputs will be due no later than July 8 when the students meet for the last time on CBU campus with Dr. McCord.

In Uganda we will be based at the Ndere Performing Arts Centre in Ntinda, a suburb of Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. Activities at the centre will include intensive group and individual workshops in traditional drumming, dance, song, and other traditional instruments. After the first week, students are allowed to focus on one particular instrument or element of traditional music/dance and the students (as a group) will learn at least two traditional compositions and be prepared to perform these compositions by the end of four weeks.

As part of the course, students (in pairs) will spend a weekend with a Ugandan family near Kampala, and a weekend with a family in a typical Ugandan village. The class will take a five-day trip to Southwestern Uganda where we will be based at the home of Stephen Rwangyezi, the founder and director of the Ndere Troupe, and during which time we will visit rural villages and drum with rural drum and dance groups.

Price includes tuition, airfare, visa, trip insurance, ground transport while in Uganda, shared room (four to a room), all food except in transit, some day trips, all workshops with the Troupe, and a 3 day, 2 night safari at a luxury lodge at Queen Elizabeth National Park.

Price excludes: Pre-departure vaccinations, pocket money for souvenirs, telephone calls, email, personal incidentals, alcoholic beverages, meals in transit to and from Uganda, transportation costs or extras while in Amsterdam or Nairobi, purchase and transport of musical instruments, non-organized transportation while in Uganda.

Cost per student will be approximately US$3,500.00 NOT INCLUDING tuition.
Registering for the course is not required for registration for the trip.

Upgrades are available at extra cost.

The Ndere Performing Arts Centre

For information on Ndere Troupe, visit:

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/millennium/artist_detail.cfm?artist_id=NDERETROUP

Scroll down on the Kennedy Center site and you can click onto a link to see a 30 minute clip of their November 2003 performance!

Also see:

http://musicuganda.com/groups/nderetroupe.htm
http://musicuganda.com/galleries/nderetroupephotogallery.htm