In 2008, while researching Nyoro royal music, I was introduced to a bakondeere ensemble (sing. mukondeere) from the village of Kibiro, on the dry and salty shores of Lake Albert in Eastern Bunyoro. The group played the makondeere side-blown trumpets (Mbabi-Katana 1982; Wachsmann 1953: 351–359) using the interlocking or hoquetus technique, common in similar ensembles in Central African Republic (Arom 1985). Since the group had only recently formed, some of my questions sought to investigate the discontinuities in the practice of makondeere playing due to the suppression of the Nyoro monarchy between 1967 and 1994 (Kahunde 2012a).

Until the abolition of the monarchies in the late 1960s, the various groups of bakondeere belonged to particular clans, were based in specific villages all around Bunyoro, and took turns to serve as royal musicians at the court (Wachsmann 1953: 356). When the groups were revived in the late 1990s–early 2000s, the elders, like Francis Kiparu in Kibiro, started training new musicians. Because of the scarcity of volunteers, they welcomed anyone interested, no matter the clan or village of origin. Hence my question about whether any Munyoro could join the bakondeere. I was surprised when the bakondeere said that any person (muntu) could join their group: even a white (muzungo or mujungo) man was allowed to play—but not a woman, that was out of the question.