Singing and playing the adungu
On February 28, Assistant Professor of Music James Makubuya became the first Wabash professor to play a solo-performance at Carnegie Hall. Shay Atkinson ’05, in the city studying in the semester-long New York Arts Program, met him in his dressing room, took a shot of him in front of the full-sized poster of the professor outside the hall, then joined Makubuya on stage to photograph his final rehearsal and sound check. At 8 p.m., he sat back and enjoyed the show.
I was thrilled to see someone I know, someone from Wabash, walk out on this Carnegie Hall stage.
But James looked even more excited, weaving and bobbing to the beat as he played his one-string African fiddle [ndingidi] and wandered around the stage as if looking for just the right place to stand. He never stopped, the audience following his every step and smile, laughing with him when he shook his hips at them and played a musical joke, and cheering enthusiastically as he finished the first song. I could tell it was going to be a great performance.
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Rapt in the music and playing the ndingidi |
James smiled ear to ear, and with each new instrument he played—thumb piano [akogo], harp [adungu], and lyre [endongo]—the applause grew louder.
He played the log xylophone [madinda] for his final number, and during the barrage of quick stick clicks on the bars, he was so absorbed by the music that he dropped a stick. But he never missed a beat. His right hand moved furiously as he reached into the base of the madinda with his left, pulled out a new stick, and doubled the melee of beats. The crowd loved it! James received a standing ovation.
It was the best I’d ever seen him perform—a proud moment to be a Wabash man—and what a perfect place for it to happen.
Read more about Atkinson’s New York experience at WM Online.