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Abayudaya:The Jews of Uganda
Abayudaya:The Jews of Uganda
Date: 1/9/2010 9:10:05 PM ( 14 y ) ... viewed 1395 times
7:13 PM
January 9, 2010
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abayudaya
Music
Music has been an important aspect in the lives of the Abayudaya. In recent years, the community has produced two CDs that are centered around religious themes. In fact, one of the albums, entitled "Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish people of Uganda" produced by Jeffrey Summit was nominated for a Best Traditional World Music album at the 47th Grammy Awards.
In addition to this, their community has received further recognition and respect within the Jewish community because of the work of Noam Katz, a Jewish American musician. His 2005 CD, Mirembe ("peace" in Luganda), featured the Abayudaya in the majority of its songs. In addition to studying at a seminary, Katz travels throughout North America, and gives a slideshow/concert which showcases the music of the Abayudaya.
The music of the Abayudaya is distinctly African yet Jewish at the same time. Many of the songs combine words in Luganda as well as Hebrew. Additionally, Psalms and prayers are set to a distinctly African tune and rhythm. Music is viewed as important by the community for a variety of reasons. Some elders of the community have maintained that it was music that enabled the community to persevere through the harsh conditions that it had to endure under the reign of Idi Amin.
[edit]See also
In 1903 Joseph Chamberlain proposed giving the Zionists the British Uganda Program, settling persecuted Jews in a part of the British Empire that is now Kenya. However, the number of Jewish migrants to Uganda and Kenya was very small.
Abayudaya Jews of Uganda – Shalom Everybody Everywhere, Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish people of Uganda (Nominated for World Music Grammy award 2005)
Noam Katz (US, featuring Abayudaya) - Mirembe
Hazzan Joanna Selznick Dulkin
Shaare Zedek Synagogue
829 North Hanley Road
St. Louis MO 63130
(314) 727-1747
Email: Hazzan@shaarezedek.org
ARTICLE IN THE DAILY BRUIN
NOVEMBER 2009
http://www.dailybruin.com/articles/2009/11/16/ugandan-jewish-community-leader...
JJ Keki is something of a modern Renaissance man, combining roles as a farmer, activist, statesman and Grammy-nominated musician.
http://www.kulanu.org/abayudaya/jjkeki.php
JJ KEKI, Jewish Uganda Peacemaker,
founder of the DELICIOUS PEACE COFFEE COLLECTIVE.
Photo by Rabbi Brant Rosen
from his blog Shalom Rav
Profile of a Leader: JJ Keki
By Karen Primack (1999)
Joab Jonadav Keki, known as "JJ" to his friends, may be considered a "Renaissance Man" of East Africa. JJ has been chairman of the Abayudaya Congregation some 10 years, spanning a period that saw the little-known community of practicing Jews escalate in fame around the world.
Since a 1992 visit by American students Matt Meyer and Julia Chamovitz — during which plans were laid out to increase the Abayudaya's contacts with world Jewry — and a 1995 visit by a 15-member Kulanu delegation, the congregation has become a popular offbeat tourist destination for Americans, Canadians, Europeans and Israelis seeking a unique Jewish adventure in eastern Uganda. JJ's charm, intelligence, and winning interpersonal skills (along with those of many of his colleagues) have impressed all types of visitors. (Kulanu is a tax-exempt organization that assists lost and dispersed Jewish communities.)
JJ has recently overseen a period of restructuring of the community, as a newly-written constitution comes into being — a constitution developed by a wide representation of Abayudaya. JJ has just stepped down from the Abayudaya chairmanship to run for local public office, and the vice chairman of the congregation, Jacob Mwosuko, has become acting chairman pending elections this spring.
JJ is a successful farmer and a businessman. He grows coffee on his 20 fertile acres and is chairman of the local 83-member Farmers' Society, which runs a coffee collective.
And JJ is a musician. He directs the congregation's Kohavim Tikvah Choir and is the composer and featured soloist on many of the songs in Kulanu's recording of Abayudaya music, Shalom Everybody Everywhere! For example, melodies to the popular Abayudaya renditions of "Sh'ma Yisrael" and "L'cha Dodi" are his creations.
JJ is also a mensch with a sense of community. As Kenny Schultz recalls in a college thesis he wrote following his 1994 study-visit to Uganda: "As Joab and I were returning from town one day, we were stopped by a few men who had placed a long, thick branch in the middle of the road. Instinctively, Joab got off his bike, picked up a shovel, and distributed the moist soil into the huge ditches along the eroded dirt path. Joab said to me as he was working, 'Everyone who passes must contribute. This is how we fix our roads.'" Believing in the importance of integrating with the surrounding community, he has headed a political organization under the National Resistance Movement of President Museveni, chaired a nearby school, and presided over the Nankuse Youth Wildlife Association, which helps protect the environment.
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