Uganda+Culture

The Culture of Uganda
 * = =History= ||= =Geography= ||= =Culture= ||= =Economics= ||= =Politics= ||= =Class Activities= ||= =Resources= ||

The people of Uganda come from numerous ethnic backgrounds and speak a multitude of languages along with the official languages of the country. The people of Uganda also have a rich tradition of music that they have passed down from generation to generation.


 * Nationality: Ugandan(s)
 * Languages: The official languages in Uganda are English and Swahili. However, many people in this country also speak Luganda or a variety of other local tribe languages.
 * Ethnic groups: Baganda, Banyankole, Bahima, Bakiga, Banyarwanda, Bunyoro, Baloro, Langi, Acholi, Lugbara, Karamojong, Basoga, Bagisu, and many others. The Baganda are the largest ethnic group as they make up nearly 17% of the Ugandan population.
 * Religions: Christians 85%, Muslim 12%, and 3% are of other religions.

Education Attendance

 * Primary school enrollment: 91%
 * Literacy: 73.2%

Health

 * Infant mortality rate: 63/1,000
 * Life expectancy: Only 53 years.

Traditions

 * A major tradition in the Ugandan culture is their love and passion for music, instruments, and crafts.

===Music: Ugandan music is full of a complexity of rhythms that tend to vary based on the ethnic groups that are playing the songs. This differentiation in rhythms is also attributed to the variety of instrument types that different Ugandan ethnic groups choose to use. Below is an example of some traditional Ugandan music. === media type="youtube" key="NUd4YSxk6L0" height="401" width="700" align="center"

===<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Instruments: In the Ugandan culture, there are an abundance of hard-blown or soft-blown wind instruments that vary by ethnic group as well as a variety of stringed instruments. The wind blown instruments are often constructed from clay, wood, and animal's horn. However, it is not uncommon today to find instruments such as these now being sold in gift shops or stores that are made of metal or plastics. ===

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: left;">A popular wind instrument that you may be familiar with is the Enkwanzi panpipe or windpipe. This instrument is created from elephant grass or bamboo. These tubes act as stopped flutes that have a node at the end of each plant that stops the wind from passing through them so that the each different length of hollow tubing will create a different sound pitch. Also the tubes are arranged from the lowest to the highest pitch. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Another popular instrument is the harp or variations of the harp. The Ugandan people choose to use stringed instruments when playing improvisational pieces or with the recitation of texts or stories. One of the popular harps in Uganda is the adungu harp. This harp is in a bow-shape, has nine-strings, and is used by the Alur people of the northwestern region. The Alur people play this harp during epic or lyrical songs as well as in church. It is also commonly used as a solo instrument in which the players of the arch are often of a higher social economic status.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; text-align: left;">Crafts: Native art is an extremely important part of life for the people of all regions in Uganda. Whether it was painting their Bantu houses or pottery, carving masks, sculpting, or making other arts and crafts, all people in the Ugandan culture take part in some form of art. One exceptionally popular art technique which is said to be more than a thousand years old is the decoration of cloth to produce a batik painting. These paintings are made by applying a wax coating to a cloth and then applying several applications of colors and dyes to produce a painting that, when authentically done, should produce the image clearly on both sides of the fabric.

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;"> To learn more about other Ugandan artwork visit the following site: http://www.face-music.ch/artuganda/uganda_artwork_en.html



<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">Please visit the link below to learn more about the different people of Uganda and their styles of dance: <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">http://www.face-music.ch/instrum/uganda_danceen.html

Information Gathered From: [|http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2963.htm#profile] http://www.face-music.ch/inform/poeple_uganda_en.html []

**<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">© 2012 Corey Michael Sharp - Revised April 25th, 2012 ** **<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Email: cmshar2@ilstu.edu ** **<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ph: 309-251-0009 **