James Otieno trusted the highschool trainer who invited him to assist flip pages throughout a recital at Nairobi’s All Saints’ Cathedral. That night time in December 1979 modified his life perpetually.
“Other than instructing me on the Starehe Boys’ Heart, he was additionally an organist on the cathedral,” Otieno informed The Residing Church. “His invitation me within the organ. Seeing him play satisfied me that I too might do it. My courses in music gave me elevated readability and confidence in my selection.”
Very quickly, he was taking part in the organ for numerous Anglican church buildings throughout Kenya’s capital, earlier than settling down at St. Stephen’s Cathedral alongside Nairobi’s Jogoo Street, the place he has been on the bench for the previous 40 years.
In that point he has noticed rising stress within the church between conventional Anglican choral music and up to date reward and worship.
“I seen a spot,” the 67-year-old informed TLC at a choir administrators workshop he led on February 5 on the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd in Nakuru, Kenya. “There was an overemphasis on reward and worship, but there was a need inside congregations for hymns. Choristers wanted to discover ways to learn and write music. This can be a a lot deeper endeavor,”
The cathedral would be the host subsequent October for the Worldwide Hymn Competition, which Otieno based 12 years in the past. Held initially at St. Stephen’s, the occasion has since rotated to Tanzania and Uganda.
The coaching workshop on February 5 drew 138 choir administrators from throughout East Africa, lots of whom plan to carry their choirs to be taught collectively and compete at subsequent October’s occasion.
Final 12 months’s predominant pageant, in Mombasa, included members of 74 choirs, who attended workshops on worship and mission, the liturgical seasons and colours, Anglican chant, choir administration, the Anglican musical custom, and rising points affecting music ministry. There have been additionally many companies and group coaching classes on musical efficiency.
Audio system and adjudicators for the choir competitors embody distinguished East African musicians in addition to senior musicians and organists from among the United Kingdom’s historic cathedrals.
Otieno’s imaginative and prescient birthed the pageant and he has footed its bills for the final decade, together with overlaying the prices of visas, tickets, and lodging for worldwide guests, in addition to a safari within the African wild.
He has been grateful to guide the hassle, however is worried about its sustainability.
“IHF is an thought, not a corporation. It’s owned by church buildings throughout East Africa. It’s within the church. I don’t personal it. I need to get out of direct administration in order that church buildings can run it. I can’t do it perpetually. It can not die. Everybody is aware of the way it works. Little by little, I need to finally pull again. The thought is to create a internet hosting staff. Each internet hosting church ought to have a internet hosting staff to cope with all facets of the pageant,” he stated.
“Our syllabus features a set hymn, selection hymn, an anthem, psalm, quartet (small choir), trios, duets, and solos. I set the music myself. I do the analysis. I’ll preserve helping with this, if required. However severe possession by the church is the objective proper now.”
Otieno is a eager scholar of Germany’s historic Bayreuth Competition, a five-week collection of annual performances, which has a checkered historical past with authorities energy. It makes him cautious of entanglement with East Africa’s dicey politics.
“I strive to not get entangled into some debates. As a substitute, I create areas to deal with rising points,” he stated. “There are countless prospects after we come collectively to sing. An answer to among the points dealing with our area might come from IHF. The teachings are so private, together with assets and the place to seek out them. However one has to first need to do it.”
Otieno’s efforts are appreciated by different music administrators.
Anne Amutos, the musician at St. Paul’s, Katuso, within the Church of Uganda’s Namirembe Diocese, has adopted Otieno to 10 festivals. She believes the pageant is deeply encouraging for conventional Anglican musicians from throughout East Africa.
“Choral music has misplaced worth in Uganda to an extent that you just discover some clergymen will ask for one or two stanzas of a hymn, but allocate half an hour to reward and worship. Choristers find yourself questioning why they need to hassle training. As choir administrators, we don’t at all times have a say in some congregations, however we’re witnessing a breaking of boundaries with the participation of clergy at this workshop. That is therapeutic rifts,” she stated.
“Assembly new faces from completely different nations can also be a blessing. For instance, we’re softer, but Kenyans are louder, however we share experiences in music. Whereas workers notation was weak in earlier years, we’re all now rising.”
Edward Ouko of St. Stephen’s Cathedral within the Diocese of Maseno South in Kenya praises the expansion that the pageant has seen.
“I first participated within the fourth version, held in Nairobi. It was a transferring expertise alongside our friends from throughout East Africa. Individuals be taught from completely different choirs how one can execute music in church,” he stated.
Bishop Antony Mambo of Nakuru informed choir administrators in his sermon on the workshop that they’ve a vital religious ministry.
“You aren’t simply music leaders. You’re religious gatekeepers. Whenever you carry your baton, generally you assume you’re controlling music, however you’re opening individuals’s hearts. Whenever you select the songs to sing in church, you aren’t doing it for that day’s leisure, you’re shaping the theology. No matter you inform us to sing and lead us in singing will form what we imagine in our lives. It’s going to undoubtedly contact individuals’s hearts,” he stated.
“A few of us by no means hear the sermon that was preached by the bishop or clergy, however will go house with the music that was introduced by the choir that day. We’re vital individuals. However we needs to be cautious in what we do. It’s essential to ensure that you’re shaping the theology. Whenever you practice voices, you’re constructing worshipers. God has entrusted you with the sacred ministry of main individuals into his presence by singing. Excellence honors God. God needs lovely worship, not careless noise.”
Jesse Masai is TLC’s East Africa correspondent, a longtime journalist and communications skilled who has labored in South East Asia and the U.S., in addition to in his native Kenya.
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