Rev Edward Steven Kabanda, the assistant vicar, leads the ‘congregation’ through the liturgical traditions of the day before the choir, conducted by Dan Kironde, steps in with joyous performances of Psalms and hymns after each reading by John Ssekibaala, the choir administrator.
In fulfilment of typical traditions of Anglican church service, there is also a slot for ‘enzikiriza’ (the creed)and an anthem Birungi Nnyo Bigere Byoyo. As for the sermon, this being the third Sunday of Trinity on the Anglican calendar, Rev Kabanda passionately preaches about the rich legacy of John the Baptist and how a negative mindset is detrimental for the spiritual growth of an individual.
To sum up the one-hour session, Paul Luggya, the choir organist, performs a goosebump-worthy solo to end the special service that is gaining critical acclaim for filling the worship void during the lockdown times.
Where on a normal Sunday congregants only hear the organ music filter through the church, the streamed services allow worshippers to have a close-up view of Luggya’s art, his fingers and feet flying over the keys in awe-inspiring precision.
Now in its fifth Sunday, Ssekibaala views the initiative as an opportunity in a crisis.
“The Covid-19 lockdown caught many of us unprepared because it was unprecedented,” he says. “However, we realised as a choir that we had the capacity to mitigate the situation by creating a platform for the thousands of Christians to continue with their Sunday praying routines in the comfort of their homes.”
He also notes that as some Christian faithful became depressed in the lockdown, there was need to create an avenue of worship through choral music to help people reflect on God.
“In the lockdown, many Christians have lost businesses while there are those who are anxious about the pandemic,” Ssekibaala says. “Choral worship provides a soothing and comforting option and I believe we have succeeded in that field, judging from the overwhelming feedback. That feedback has also helped the choir to maintain high quality and performance standards.”
BACKGROUND
At first, assembling the choir at the cathedral was not easy due to the transport restrictions, and matters were compounded by minimal finances to conduct such a meticulous project.
Luckily, some individual choir members already have sound and video equipment which they improvised with to create the first online service on May 31, which was the day of Pentecost on the Anglican calendar.
Before going online, Ssekibaala and team reached out to as many people as they could to follow the choir’s YouTube link. But whereas it was originally intended for the faithful of the cathedral, the links spread to the global community and it turned the service into an instant success with more than 8,000 views.
Samuel Ssendiwala, a Ugandan based in Iraq, noted: “Live n kicking here in Iraq; thanx so much for the service, God bless u all.”
Allan Stevens Kakuba wrote: “Wow, as a former 10:30am congregant, I really missed this service format. Temujjanga okwo banange (continue the good work).”
How they pull it off
Ssekibaala says the choir does not do any rehearsals before performances.
“We members, even the young ones, are musically experienced to perform and it takes us just about 90 minutes to finish everything,” he says.
However, this whole initiative has not been without challenges. For instance, due to the standard operating procedures to combat Covid-19, the number of choristers is limited.
“We have more than 60 members and with the growing popularity, almost everyone wants to be part of the service; so, we rotate some of them in order to give others a chance,” Ssekibaala says.
According to Ssekibaala, this arrangement will continue.
“As long as we are still in this situation where churches are not open, we will continue to follow the Anglican liturgical calendar to help Christians have a deeper understanding of the Bible as well as the continued appreciation of choral music.”
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