Our Lady of Africa Choir Mbuya. (OLAC)

Kampala

Catholic Church Religious organisation

MUSIC, MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, VOICES

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+256772889542

Choir profile Our Lady of Africa Choir Mbuya (OLAC) was started in 1968 with the main aim of beautifying the Liturgy of the Mass by encouraging the congregation to engage in lively singing, Worship and Praise, in short, to help people pray better. Since then, through God’s grace and the intercession of our Mother Mary, to whom the choir is specifically dedicated, the Choir has managed to evangelize to the people of God through Music. Our Lady of Africa Choir sings a variety of hymns and songs in several of our local Ugandan dialects notably, Luganda, Ateso, Lugbara, Luo, Runyankole-Rukiga, Rutooro, Lusoga, Lugisu and Samia. We also use international languages such as English, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Kiswahili, Igbo (Nigeria) and other local foreign dialects in our neighbouring countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo, (Lingala) and Rwanda (Kinyarwanda). The Choir sings at weddings, Thanksgiving ceremonies, Baptism, and Requiem Masses in both Catholic and Anglican Churches. It presents annual Christmas and Easter carol services at the Parish Church in Mbuya and has also regularly performed alongside other Choirs on invitation within Kampala and other parts of Uganda as well as outside Uganda including in Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania. The Choir practices at the Church premises every Sunday from 10.30am to 12.30pm after the 9.00am Mass, and during the weekdays on Wednesday and Thursday from 5.30 to 7.00pm. Our Lady of Africa Choir Mbuya (OLAC) was invited in South Africa on December 1st and 2nd 2011 to participate in the Inter-diocese Catholic Choirs Music Festival in Nelspruit (Mpumalanga) South Africa. This was a Festival that involved the SADEC Region Countries such as; South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and our Choir was invited as the 1st Choir to participate outside that region to represent East Africa and the Rest of Africa as a Guest Competitor under the Standard Section and the Choir was able to merge the second in this section; this performance prompted the choir to join the Festival of this year at Polokwane South Africa. Therefore the Choir is appealing to people of Goodwill to contribute to this course generously in order to help some of our members who are students, the unemployed youth who are the majority in the Choir. Any contributions whether Financial or Material will be appreciated. For contribution or information Of the four choirs that are active in the Parish, Our Lady of Africa Choir is the oldest. Its primary role is animating the 9.00am Mass at Church every Sunday. The age-group of the membership varies from 8 - 58yrs with some of its founder members proudly still being active. It currently boasts a membership of 60. The Choir practices at the Church premises every Sunday from 10.30am to 12.30pm after the 9.00am Mass, and during the weekdays on Wednesday and Thursday from 5.30 to 7.00pm. Our Lady of Africa Choir sings a variety of hymns and songs in several of our local Ugandan dialects notably, Luganda, Ateso, Lugbara, Luo, Runyankole-Rukiga, Rutooro, Lusoga, Lugisu and Samia. We also use international languages such as English, Latin, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Kiswahili and other local foreign dialects in our neighboring countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo, (Lingala) and Rwanda (Kinyarwanda). The Choir sings at weddings, thanksgiving ceremonies, baptism, requiem masses in both Catholic and Anglican Churches. It presents annual Christmas and Easter carol services at the Parish Church in Mbuya and has also regularly performed alongside other Choirs on invitation within Kampala and other parts of Uganda as well as outside Uganda including in Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania. The Choir can be contacted through the Chairman, Mr. Otema Godfrey (077-3-176449); the Choir Director, Mr. Bruno Odwori (071-2-804675) or the Publicity Secretary, Mrs. Maria Oitamong (070-4-024613)