The arts
The Westernized elites are virtually the sole consumers and practitioners of the fine arts. Nevertheless, there is a small but active group of local artists—painters, sculptors, poets, and playwrights—who exhibit their works in local galleries and theatres. Folk art is widely collected and provides an important source of revenue. Uganda’s ethnic arts are prized by collectors around the world. Carving is an especially popular form, with scenes from Ugandan history and legend incised on hardwood shields or screens. Other popular forms are ironworking, ceramics, and batik, a technique of textile painting introduced to Uganda by Southeast Asian immigrants. David Kibuuka and Henry Lutalo Lumu (1939–89), two Ugandan painters, adopted elements of Western painting such as oil-based paints to express African themes and lived outside the African continent.
Ugandan traditional music makes use of instruments such as the lyre, marimba (xylophone), and thumb piano (see lamellaphone). There is a wide audience within the country for both Ugandan and foreign music. Uganda’s well-known Afrigo Band, which combines traditional and popular musical elements, regularly tours abroad and has produced a number of recordings. The singer and composer Geoffrey Oryema has earned international recognition for his music, which combines the Acholi, Swahili, and English languages and Acholi musical traditions (the nangu [harp]) with Western musical techniques. Congolese music is extremely popular in the country and represents a return of musicians from that region, a cultural exchange that previously had been active until the 1970s. There are many discos, pubs, and bars in most towns and trading centres where live music is performed.
Although Uganda has several writers of note, oral traditions remain a popular form of entertainment. Rajat Neogy, a Ugandan of Indian descent, started the literary magazine Transition in 1961. Okot p’Bitek developed a literary technique that combined the written word with oral traditions. An Acholi born in Gulu, he wrote several novels including Song of Lawino (1966).