By Arthur Mwenkanya | www.unaatimes.com | Late 20th Century King’s College Budo in Uganda had quite a number of memorable theatrical speeches. Olangos’ campaign speech for the post of Head Prefect in November 1985 was a master class. It left the whole school with the attending members of staff in the school main hall absolutely awed. Arthur George Kamya was to follow in his footsteps a few years later completely destroying the questioning panel rebutting their questions at will.
Martin Lwanga produced a most memorable performance as Kabiito in a stage play (can not remember what it was called). His portrayal of the character was to define who he was making him very famous despite the fact that he joined the school later on for his high school certificate. A number of his contemporaries remember him more for that than any other achievement. The late George Bitarabeho Byekwaso acted as a girl for Africa house in the inter house drama competitions so well some girls were teased because he looked better than them.
There have been famous speeches as well. When the S6 class of 1987 was leaving, they asked Patrick Ariko to make the speech for the class in the schools main chapel. His “When we had just ‘ka’….” speech is remembered by many people from that era as a master class. The current headmaster Mr Patrick Bakka Male personalised his swearing in ceremony as head prefect with his deep bass voice booming over the school “I, Patrick Bakka Male……” As a resident at the time, I heard many people repeating that sentence many times over.
By the late 1980′s to early 1990s’ a darling of the school theatrical fraternity emerged, busy claiming her position among the great names. Pross Bantariza Kankunda, in a pure display of theatrical genius coined probably the most famous question of the time. “What are you on?”
Her timing was most perfect. The school had been caught in fits of laughter and there was a lull in the action when she delivered that line. The question, itself a direct translation from vernacular, was classic comedy. Its a form of speak that people employ on a regular basis yet dimmed colloquial in a way that may be difficult to dramatise. But therein lies her dramatic timing that such a line was delivered in such a way that students from that era, like Martin Lwanga before her, remember her for it.
Pross Kankunda, 34, joined Budo a rather Petit girl, smaller that her many of her other peers. She could have retired in the background like so many did under the rather oppressive regime that favoured boys in Budo at the time. But she did not. She came out to the front fighting making her presence known. She was also helped immensely by the fact that she was and still is, cute.
Budo at the time was breezing along as one of the academic super powers in Uganda sharing that position with other schools like Gayaza, Namagunga, Kisubi and Namilyango among others. Students were therefore expected to be academic . Pross on the other hand, although quite capable of being academic herself, decided to excel in music, dance and drama. Many voices, mine included, thought that she was wasting her potential. She has now, a decade and a half later, proved us wrong.
When she graduated from Makerere, she joined Kads band where she was one of the lead singers. However, the band unfortunately ceased performing in 1996 and she found that she had to continue her ambitions elsewhere. So through sheer grit and determination Pross started the Ngabwa Cultural Troupe. She is now busy claiming her position as the Ugandan princess of cultural pop.
While on a recent visit to Uganda, I was invited to go and see Pross with her troupe perform in Kololo at the Kuhingira of Judith Nsimenta. The troupe at Kololo consisted of six people; Pross, Justus Bigabunga 25, a dark skinned man with a megawatt smile, the young handsome William Gatunkara 22, Victor Kabanza 21 who met Pross before anyone in the troupe in Muyenga five years ago and a trainee engineer at The Buganda Royals Institute in Mengo and the sisters Shamim Kabayaga 18 and Lisandra Kabagenyi 14 the baby of the troupe. There are six other dancers who join her to do dances from other parts of Uganda.
On this day, I saw Pross, the little girl that I had seen while at Budo grow and mature right in front of me with her performance. She kept a hawk like eye on everyone’s moves and positioning all the while leading the songs and smiling through. This control of the routines would run through the group as they looked up to her for reassurance and then continued to enjoy what they were doing. She constantly lead and directed the show even getting to the point of subtly directing the sound engineer to regulate the volume to a desired level. Not only did she stop at directing the troupe but implored the crowd to join in with the performance with an unmatched ease.
Ngabwa, which means to give in Kinyankore is evidently a young group. If one were to compare it to the likes of The Ndere Troupe they do still have a long way to go. But the strength of the group is the determination by which they all display and the creativity, which is borne out of natural talent by Pross. The troupe will undoubtedly be a force to reckon with within the not so distant future. While Pross has sang songs like “Akalulu” a sweet Luganda ballad, she has decided to keep to the cultural side of music. “I find it easier to perform and everyone can identify with it” she told me. “Also any dances that I don’t know I ask some one to come and help which is always great to learn”. To that end, Ngabwa Cultural Troupe, in spite of its western Uganda leanings will perform any traditional dance from Uganda.
Jackie Nankunda 30, who works with Zain Uganda and was at the same party enthused about the music that the troupe offered. “ I have always known them for providing nice intimate shows”. She continued “Music like that which this troupe performs will go far. It is timeless. The songs that they sing and perform always seem new whenever they are performed and with familiarity, everyone can join it.” Nankunda, who is also friends with Judith Nsimenta whose Kuhingira I had been invited to confirmed that she, Judith, loved the music. “If she was not happy with it, she would not have it”
Music, Dance and Drama are great loves of Pross Kankunda. But her main love are her three lovely children. “They are my world!” She declared, betraying a rare moment of unprepared emotion, physically shaking as she patted her chest. “Derrick 11, Elton6 and Malaika 2 are what make me what I am”
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