Forest Products, Livelihoods and Conservation

Patrick Omeja, Joseph Obua and Anthony B. Cunningham 173

highly demanded by the drum makers. Demand for carved wooden drum frames

by drum makers was assessed using data from Samula (2001). Survey data

from the major drum producing area of Mpambire village were used. Demand

was assessed by examining the weekly volume of wood required by each drum

making stall and the total number of such stalls in the Mpambire area.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Drum making history and trade

Oral accounts by Kibira, Kawuma and mzee^4 Gayira indicated that drum making

is a specialised branch of woodwork that also requires knowledge of leather

working. The drum making industry in central Uganda, according to them,

evolved out of the carving traditions of Baganda people from Masaka district.

These people migrated to central Uganda in search of land and settled in

Mpambire, 40 km west of Kampala. They started making drums for the kabaka

(traditional king), abakungu (resident district commissioners) and the

abatongole (local councillors).

Trade in drums, however, began internally within villages in Mpigi, where

heads of families bought drums as symbols of leadership and also used them

for informing people about important events and local meetings. As this business

was promising, in the early 1970s some stalls were established along the

Kampala–Masaka highway in Mpambire to meet demands from Asians living in

Kampala. By the mid-1970s the roadside businesses had attracted Akamba

businessmen from Kenya, and this marked the onset of drum trade at a regional

scale. The Akamba travelled on foot to central Uganda, gathered a number of

musical instruments and returned to Kenya.

Photo 1. Short drums of various sizes (Photo by P. Omeja)

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