Kaaga Girls prevails at festival in Uganda

Kaaga Girls High School carried the day in Uganda with their play The Last Hostage during the gala performances.

This took place during the Uganda Secondary Schools National Music Dance and Drama Festival held at Mbale Secondary School.

Another Kenyan school, St Joseph’s Nyabondo boys had the audience in laughter with their stand-up comedy piece satirising the Luganda accent.

The Last Hostage is a play about how a girl, Isabella, who joins a radical group in search of solace, after she is rejected by her family and faces pressure from both the society and her schoolmates.

Her father, an army officer, later finds that she is in the illegal group that he fights.

Narok High presented a Maasai folk dance normally done by young men while basking in the glory of their success. Chavakali high received a standing ovation with their thrilling “Zilizopendwa” song Sandoka by TP OK Jazz.

With the new regional festival, there are signs of having an international workshop to put both teachers and students at par.

Kenya National Music Festival executive secretary Sirengo Khaemba spoke of how he hatched the plan to have the East African Community in a joint festival.

Ugandan schools that took part include Kyembe girls, St Joseph’s College, Kibubura girls and Nyondo Secondary.

EXCITING EXPERIENCE

Permanent presidential director Donald Otoyo Ondieki said Kenyan schools had something to learn.

The Ugandan schools only introduced the play ten years ago and there has been little emphasis on skills development. There plays were short skits not exceeding 15 minutes with minimal props.

With the new regional inaugural East Africa Music and Dance Festival at Mbale High School, there is vision having an international workshop to put both teachers and students at per.

Other teams that performed on Wednesday from Uganda were Kyembe Girls Western Choral, St Joseph’s College Laibi, Kibubura Girls, choral verse, Nyondo Secondary School, St Mary’s Asumpta traditional dance, Bukedea Life Line original composition, St Francis Madera speech, Westville High School dance, dance, Trinity College Nabbingo creative dance, Buddo Secondary school, Mbale Seconadry school and Sam Iga Memorial School short drama.

The Ugandan festival is really an exciting experience. They have tried to maintain their  traditional dances in a manner that reflects the respective cultures. Their dances and  folksongs have been awarded more time on stage.

“I believe the Kenyan festivals  have an element or  two to learn from the festival here in Mbale, one of the observation is the allocation of one hall for dances and thus the halls are divided as per the type of performance categories,” says Permanent Presidential Director Dr Donald Otoyo Ondieki.

“We could borrow this idea in our festivals to avoid the random allocation of categories across halls,’’ he told Daily Nation. During the dinner hosted for Kenyans at Wimpy Hotel in Mbale on Tuesday night, Mr. Khaemba thanked the Ugandan counterparts for accepting Kenyans teams to perform during the national festival.