COMMUNITY MUSIC
“Our success is not all to do with music, we integrate life skills; communication, concentration, leadership, problem solving, team work, resilience, grit and perseverance. After the training they become leaders ready to lead positive change in their communities.”
— Ronald Kabuye, Brass for Africa, programs and administration manager
FROM SILENCE TO MUSIC
BidiBidi is no longer a silent settlement.
After one year of LAB UGANDA, eight brass bands can be heard across the five settlement zones. They march through the villages and gather followers and admirers. Our pioneer Alpha Community Brass Band serves as a role model and inspires others to follow their path. In every new location they teach, our partner Brass for Africa provides trumpets, trombones, cornets, euphoniums, tubas and percussion instruments and quickly gathers enough students to form a band. In the Community Music program musicians are being taught as a group, they play together from day one.
ENGAGING COMMUNITIES WITH MUSIC
After only a few weeks of practise, our first brass band in BidiBidi zone 3 — Alpha Community Brass Band — began playing at public events. Out of the eight community brass bands that were formed throughout the settlement, two of them have been formally assessed and passed from bronze to silver level. They are regularly professionally engaged and earn artistic fees.
INTEGRATED LIFE SKILLS
Brass for Africa integrates life skills into the teaching of brass instruments to 380 children and adolescents twice per week.
The opportunity to learn and play music has a profound and empowering impact on lives: self-confidence, resilience, leadership-skills, problem solving, grit & perseverance, concentration, team work and communication are the eight key-attributes upon which we are focusing. These skills directly transfer to everyday life.
OUR GOALS
Gender Equality — We focus on including and promoting girls, creating a safe space for them to learn with the same opportunities as boys.
Peaceful Coexistence — Refugees from different countries and tribes live together in BidiBidi. Playing music in communities and sharing messages of hope encourages peaceful co-existence.
Creative Industry — After only a couple of months, some of the bands are already performing at official and community events, earning their first incomes through music. We expect an entire ecosystem of cultural professions to develop over the next few years.
“The horn sounds so beautiful and very different from the rest of the instruments. When playing it I feel happy and the sound is very beautiful to me. When I finish learning, I want to be a big boss like the teachers.”
– Huda Nafsi, 12 year old member of the Yumbe Community Band