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'Endingidi' (Tube Fiddle) of Uganda: Its Adaptation and Significance Among the Baganda

Makubuya, James

.  Galpin Society Journal

; West Sussex Vol. 53,  (Apr 2000): 140-155.

JAMES MAKUBUYA

' Endingidi ' is a term that refers to one of the chordophones of the Baganda, a people of the south central region of the land-locked East African nation of Uganda. To the present day, my repeated efforts to understand the linguistic origin ¹ and meaning of the term have not been as successful as I had hoped. I have, for the time being, decided to remain contented with the undisputed fact that the term refers to an instrument with a single string, as shown in the picture below.

¹ I did not get any answer from the several people interviewed on the matter. From my knowledge of the Luganda language, however, it seems that ' endingidi ' as a word originated from the verb okudigida . This verb literally means 'to shake ones body voluntarily and joyfully'. If this verb is indeed the origin of the name endingidi, it makes more sense to an observer watching endingidi performance. A typical presentation style requires that the player moves his body joyfully ( kudigida ) as he performs.

p.140

According to the Hornbostel-Sachsclassification, the endingidi belongs to the spike tube lute category by the very fact that its handle 'passes diametrically through the walls of a tube resonator' (Hornbostel-Sachs: 23). Because of its tube-shaped resonator and the bowing technique used for generating its sound, endingidi is placed in a subdivision of bowed lutes called 'tube-fiddles'. One of the unique features of this chordophone is the one 'playing string' with which it is strung.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the feature of having a 'single (playing) string' mounted on a musical instrument is not unique to the endingidi . Numerous types of chordophones fitted with this feature (of a single playing string) are widely distributed in various...