Wed 22 November – Singing Wells, Rwanda – Inganzo Ngari Group
We drove to the Century Park Hotel (Kigali City) to record Inganzo Ngari, a group of some 100 members of different ages that was formed in 2006 to promote traditional Rwandan dance, music and culture. They perform at everything from national and international events to weddings. Their name Inganzo Ngari loosely translates to “Limitless Talent” and based on today, that is the perfect name for them. The group’s manager is Serge and today we had about 50 performers, some fully professional, some with day jobs, but all investing time to rehearse twice a week.
We started with the umutagara (the full drumming ensemble), two drum performances – one more traditional, in which the smallest drum “calls” and the other ten drums “respond”. And one with more (in Serge’s words) innovation – a modern twist on the tradition. These were performed just be male drummers. These drums were once used for announcements among the ancestors, summoning people to the village, for celebration, and – most unexpectedly – for when the king was sleeping, to gently soothe him with rhythmic drumming. The individual drum is called Ngoma.
Then came a slow dance (Umushagiriro), an ancestral dance just performed by female dancers that honors the elegance of the cow, an important figure in Rwandan culture.
The dancers were accompanied by the Inanga (a traditional wooden string instrument played in Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and parts of Congo). Then the same dancers performed a number about a community, Intwatwa, formerly known as the Batwa, the group we recorded in November 2012. It was a celebration dance with many steps to honour their rich and historic culture.
Next we had the Intore – which means a traditional warrior dance. This was a manifestation of each warrior showing the king what he’s made of – his talent, his weaponry, and judging by the performance, his incredible dance and performance skills. But one of the coolest parts of this was the costumes: all the dancers were decked out in headpieces that resembled a lion’s mane for strength and courage. The dancing was accompanied by screaming, to project out the sound of their victory. And to top it off, they were accompanied by a group playing a horn called the amakondera. The overall effect was majestic.
This was followed by the Agaseke, the basket dance – this shows everyday life through the role of the basket, used for farming, collecting, and carrying. The dance truly represents Rwanda as the agaseke is different to other (non-Rwandan) baskets. In all the dances, the dancers wore bell shakers on their legs called amayugi.
As the sun was starting to set, we were regaled by the Ikinimba (meaning “Jumping”), a dance about the people who live in the mountainous Northern region of Rwanda, who want to jump to get to the peak of the mountain. They performed with tuck jumps, unlike the Masai in Kenya who perform a dance with straight-legged jumps. They were backed by drums and vocals.
Finally – still with the drums and vocals – we enjoyed another performance dedicated to the Intwatwa but this time with soloists – each person showing off their individual skills and talents, one at a time, to the rest of the circle. All accompanied by a gourd shaker called an ibinyuguri. Finally, we recorded just the vocal set for this number without the dancers.
All in all, a great first day of filming! And we just about managed not to lose the light. Please enjoy all the performance by linking to the video here:
- Umutagara (traditional)
- Umutagara (innovation)
- Umushagiriro (the elegance of the cow)
- Intwatwa (celebration dance)
- Intore (Warrior dance)
- Agaseke (Basket dance)
- Ikinimba (Jumping dance)
- Intwatwa (with soloists)
- Intwatwa – vocal set