Ssekasi: A passionate multi-instrumentalist spurred to do music

When Abraham Ssekasi steps onto stage, it is his chance to get lost in a moment. With his hands, he beats the drums. He closes his eyes, and his palms almost effortlessly produce the rhythms.

The effect of his melodic sound, in ensemble with other instruments, gets the crowd on its feet, dancing excitedly. When his eyes close, his mind goes many years back, to that point in life when he was a little boy in primary school beating desks with his hands to quench a deep-seated musical thirst.

He has been trying to satisfy this hunger all his life and it is only passion that keeps him sounding the drums not just here, in Uganda, but world over as he entertains different audiences.

Ssekasi is one of Uganda’s star percussionists. He plays the djembe, Cuban drums, Conga and tumba which send his heart racing and his spirit exploring a lot more musical instruments. He can also play the adungu, amadinda and endingidi, all of which he has self-taught.

The dreadlocked musician is not one you will find shouting or laughing loud but after a night of good performance at Zone 7, a hangout in Mbuya, near Kampala, he limps through the thick audience to say hello and connect with a crowd of fans.

He suffers a hurting limb in the leg but he can forget about the pain for a while. There is love to be shared. Through wiping his face from an bubbly, up-tempo delivery on stage, he occasionally stops to say hello or shake hands with revellers who respond with wide smiles, hugs and parts on the back.

Later on when we settle down to an interview, he says moments like those are dreams come true. The first time the seasoned drummer touched an instrument was in Primary Five.
Ssekasi was spotted by his school teacher who had seen him ‘drumming’ desks. Young as he was, he saw himself in a dream as a drummer. He could now beat drums and use his vocal cords to sing church hymns.

When he joined high school, he had to prove himself. At Tender Talents Magnet School were many more talented young musicians and for a while, he was a spectator. He would peep through windows as peers rehearsed.

The long drum
The hunger to perform kept building within. He was doing music as a subject but this was not enough. When he went home for holidays, he started putting together a long drum locally known as Engalabi, in Luganda. He made his version of the drum using a pawpaw stem and covered it with Fresh Dairy polythene bags.

When he returned to school, he had practiced enough to get noticed by some teachers. He was a stellar performer and was chosen by his teachers and peers to represent them whenever there were inter-house and inter-school competitions.

The multi-instrumentalist became so good and resourceful that even when he took an academic break, for his Senior Four (S.4) ‘vacation’, in 2003, his former music teachers would call on him to be part of their dance groups and troupes.

Before he knew it, going out to help folk groups perform, even if he was never part of them in the official sense, became routine. The list included the likes of Uydl, Empire Cultural Troupe, Over-turned Troupe, among others.

“Many of these troupes were interested in signing me as a member but this required me to be in their local communities and I was only a student and my father could not let me be out there on my own,” Ssekasi, currently a member of Janzi Band, recollects.

When he sat for his Senior Six, Herman Ssewanyana, director of Percussion Discussion Africa (PDA), an ensemble of instrumentalists, was happy to sign him up as a drummer. At the time, in 2008, Ssekasi had gotten a chance to direct drama at King’s College Budo.

Beyond talent, Ssewanyana liked Ssekasi for being humble and a disciplined musician. The former is a fellow drummer and in turn, Ssekasi was inspired by his senior’s skills and drumming patterns.

As a member of PDA, he learnt the discipline in music.
“Ssewanyana always advised me to be disciplined musically, which meant I would shine where I ought to but did not necessarily have to play wherever I wanted. I had to respect that I belonged to a band,” he further recalls.

Beyond the official group rehearsals, the musician would put in more hours, at home, familiarising him with more instruments. He knew that the best way to learn an instrument is to play it over and over again. This, Ssekasi says allows a musician develop more techniques of playing and improvising, if need be.

And as he rehearsed, this helped Ssekasi become a better teacher. Apart from Budo, he also taught at St Peter’s Secondary School in Nsambya. He was connected to St. Peter’s by a friend, Timothy Ssembwayo, who worked with Ndere Troupe at the time.

His uncle, Edison Walusimbi, a literature teacher at Budo, got him placement to tutor students in music. He mostly taught folk songs and dance choreography and also setting up thematic instrumentals, for mostly competition. He was paid for this as a professional practitioner.

It was not a lot of money for the youngster since the schools did not have a budget for co-curricular activities. This little that Ssekasi got, he used it to cater for his rent fees. Back home, his father was not happy his son had chosen to do music, so he was not so supportive.

His mother on the other hand supported him because she was once a church chorister and knew and appreciated the hardships of trying to make it through as an artiste.

She always supported him, even when he needed transport to go to a new assignment. She gave him money which he paid back when his wage or salary was out.

Life at university
At university, he chose music. His fellow students found him useful and would consult him. Much as he had started out as a drummer, he later fell in love with the Adungu, fiddle and madinda. He liked the sound of the three instruments in an orchestra set-up.

Ssekasi developed an intimate liking for the Adungu for its unique acoustic sound and fact that it’s tuning is quite versatile. It was one of the instruments he played with PDA. And much as he enjoyed teaching and sharing skills he had acquired, he needed to concentrate in PDA. The times of teaching and rehearsal time for the group coincided.

In August 2009, Ssekasi met James Ssewakiryanga. The two had gone to school together at Tender Talents Magnet School and were reuniting after years. The latter had just returned from a music tour in Germany.

As the two chatted about what they were doing, Ssekasi shared some of the clips from his performances which Ssewakiryanga liked and told him about a forthcoming project at Uganda German Cultural Society (UGCS). He also told Ssekasi about his plan to start a band that would fuse folk Ugandan and western instruments.

The two agreed to work together. The German project started and organisers were inspired with the way Ssekasi played African instruments. Janzi Band was born and the two musicians got an opportunity to play during the Germany week.

In January 2010, the two embarked on a European music tour, part of which saw them journey and share stages in Germany before continuing to Schengen countries. On returning, they gathered band members.

Meanwhile, their works were appreciated in the West and they have since been invited again to perform in these and more countries. As a member of Janzi, Ssekasi plays a number of instruments and also doubles as a song writer.

He has written songs like Eka, Njabala, Namagalo, Zimbabwe, Ngali and Omwana W’abantu. There are more in the pipeline. He writes songs from situations but many largely are based on folk stories as well as those he grew up singing.
Music has helped Ssekasi achieve fame which has in turn enabled him travel the world.

When he is not beating drums or playing a favourite instrument, he enjoys going out and socialising with friends.

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