The endongo is a musical instrument and the national instrument of the Baganda people in Uganda. It belongs to a family of instruments found in many areas across East Africa, though it has different forms in each region. The endongo is a Kiganda plate lyre, with the flat part of the bowl covered in the skin of a monitor lizard or an Indian condor.
This instrument is found in the interlacustrine area of Uganda, which includes the kingdom-states around the northern, western, and northern shores of Lake Victoria and the region between Lake Victoria and other lakes, such as Lake Albert, Lake Edward, Lake Kivu, and Lake Tanganyika. In Uganda, the bowl lyre is played by two tribes: the Basoga, who call it entongoli, and the Baganda, who call it the endongo.
The bowl lyre is played during school festivals and weddings, often to accompany music for a divorce dance. It is mainly played by men, such as griots (or praise-singers), and can be played alone or to support songs of praise. Today, few endongos are made because the instrument is considered very difficult to create.
History
The exact time or way the lyre was brought to the area now known as Uganda is not known. Wachsmann (1971) suggests that the instrument appeared with the movement of the Luo people from Sudan during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The Basoga people later took up the instrument, and eventually, it reached the court of King Mutesa I of the Baganda.
Construction and Design
The endongo is a type of lyre with a body held up by two arms that rise from each side of the soundbox. Strings run from the bottom of the soundbox to the yoke. The soundbox is shaped like a bowl, which is why it is called a bowl lyre. It has a shape close to a half-sphere and is usually carved from hard wood called makembya (also known as olusambya). In the past, the skin of the monitor lizard (called enswaswa locally) was used to cover the bowl and act as a soundboard. However, because the monitor lizard is a protected species and its skin is very expensive, human skin is now more commonly used. The skin of the drier ant lizard is considered less suitable because it is less flexible.
Audio Examples (External Links)
Songs that use a violin, bowl lyre, and a funny song with drums from the Ganda people of the Buganda district in Uganda's Central Province. Recorded in 1950 by various artists and released by Smithsonian Folkways.
Joel Sebunjo: "Heart of a Griot" by Royal Endongo Music of Uganda.
Endongo (bowl lyre) scale, sung by Albert Ssempeke. Part of Peter Cooke Uganda Recordings.
"Nnakatanza" performed by Evaristo Muyinda. A historical song sung to the bowl lyre endongo.