Omukungu nakanyagwe

Eriya Bakwasa is an expert on the playing of the traditional horizontal harp. In this song he sings about a local sub-chief Umukunga, the Gambololo of Buhimba. During the 1939-45 war he was asked to recruit men for the army but all he sent to the Kings African Rifles was his own brother. "What a shame" the old man sings, "we should have done better than that.". The harp is made of a simple oval shaped wooden bowl with skins laced onto top and bottom. The arch of the keys is a stout carved stick in which the 8 pegs are inserted for tightening the strings. The tuning of the harp is as follows:- 322, 284, 240, 180, 161, 142, 120 vs. Topical song with Ekidongo eight string horizontal harp