{"id":21180,"date":"2022-05-13T13:46:27","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T10:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/?p=21180"},"modified":"2022-05-13T13:47:36","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T10:47:36","slug":"the-expjeriences-of-a-traditional-wedding-mcee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/?p=21180","title":{"rendered":"The experiences of a traditional wedding Mcee \u2018Omwogezi w\u2019emikolo\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Claire <\/span>Balungi<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Being a traditional wedding <\/span>emcee<\/span> (<\/span>omwogezi<\/span> w<\/span>\u2019emikolo<\/span>)<\/span> is <\/span>a calling to<\/span> e<\/span>mbody the father of a bride at a traditional function<\/span>. <\/span>One has to\u00a0<\/span>conduct themselves <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>as a father would<\/span>,<\/span> if he<\/span> receive<\/span>d <\/span>guests<\/span> interested in his daughter\u2019s hand in marriage<\/span>. This imitation guides<\/span> and develops <\/span>the emcee\u2019s<\/span> character and poise at a Kwanjula.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having been in the industry for over seventeen years,<\/span>\u00a0Swaleh Kiswiriri<\/span>\u00a0has <\/span>had to negotiate the barriers and corners of <\/span>traditional wedding emceeing<\/span>. His interest stretches as far back to<\/span> school where he says\u00a0<\/span>his passion for<\/span> debate<\/span> gave him a platform to chair meetings and pushed him to take on the mantle to <\/span>lead in speech<\/span>.<\/span> No meeting was safe from his contribution, he says, as he<\/span> lets us in on <\/span>the experiences<\/span>;<\/span><\/p>\n

Using your experience, how does one learn to be able\u00a0<\/strong>to speak able among so many people without breaking a sweat?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Swaleh<\/span><\/strong>: <\/span>Three things<\/span><\/p>\n

1.Strength<\/strong><\/div>\n

There is a hormone called adrenaline<\/span>. When one decides to<\/span> speak<\/span> among people, it pours into their blood<\/span>\u00a0and brings fear- your voice could even get shaky.<\/span><\/p>\n

Due to my debating background, that hormone had nothing on me<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Admiration for<\/span> those who spoke at <\/span>traditional <\/span>wedding <\/span>functions<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

I picked interest and started to learn<\/span> how to go about each stage of the<\/span> function. I crammed the words and got more confident.<\/span><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0The zeal<\/span> to practis<\/span>e.<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

In this era, most people<\/span>\u2019s zeal is exhibited in allowing to<\/span> get trained or act as<\/span> messenger (<\/span>katumwa<\/span>). <\/span>Y<\/span>ou get to understand who is coming next at a function.<\/span> I did not necessarily have to do that but<\/span> I picked tips<\/span>whenever I could, through practice<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

What motivates\u00a0<\/span>the emcees<\/span> to learn to speak at functions<\/span>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Swaleh<\/span>:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Respect <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

You admire to be accorded respect as a father so you start to imitate that by<\/span> being <\/span>prideful <\/span>and speaking rather respectfully as a father, which <\/span>draws people\u2019s attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b<\/p>\n

2. It is an income-generating activity<\/span><\/div>\n

There is <\/span>currently <\/span>a shortage of jobs but there are a number of <\/span>traditional <\/span>functions taking place,<\/span> one can decide to do emceeing<\/span>.<\/span> The many<\/span> functions<\/span> happening<\/span>draw<\/span> people\u2019s attention towards emceeing<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. The need to professionalize the arrangement to speak at functions<\/span> is a catalyst to people\u2019s<\/span> desire to gain experience<\/span> and their interest in <\/span>promoting cu<\/span>l<\/span>ture<\/span>.<\/span>Associations are formed and aspiring emcees recruited and trained<\/span> to speak at traditional wedding functions.<\/span>T<\/span>he associations rely a lot on culture so they can fulfil the <\/span>wedding cultural norms<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n

Is there a particular school <\/span>one can attend and<\/span> pay a particular amount to become an emcee?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Swal<\/span>eh<\/span><\/strong>:<\/strong> <\/span>There is not yet an organized commitment to set up meaningful schools. <\/span>The industry is still at a local <\/span>level. Y<\/span>ouths<\/span> who <\/span>admire to become emcees are quite the number<\/span>yet families who arrange functions want famous emcees<\/span> who have most probably been at it for long<\/span>. A famous emcee shall want to do all his functions on his own so his name remains upheld. <\/span>Even if he decided to train people<\/span>, he won<\/span>\u2019<\/span>t take them to functions to perform<\/span> practical<\/span>ly<\/span>. Although internally, at a local level, people are setting up small clubs\/associations to drive this agenda. Usually the young gents assist as entertainers or messengers in the background at functions<\/span> and<\/span>learn<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why the association formation? <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Swaleh<\/span><\/strong>:<\/strong> <\/span>Due to competition by emcees at functions as they tried to show off their best skills usually by punishing the groom\u2019s side, say by asking the groom and his escorts to kneel when they <\/span>arrived late<\/span>, functions got spoilt and time was wasted.<\/span><\/p>\n

People then started to form groups\/associations; when one emcee lands a tender to work at a function, they prov<\/span>ide another emcee with whom they\u2019<\/span>d work well together and be in synch throughout the function. They make sure to keep time, share the payment <\/span>in peace <\/span>and strive not to<\/span> complicate the function.<\/span><\/p>\n

How are you able to set the price as an emcee<\/span> and how much do emcees usually charge<\/span>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Swaleh<\/span>:<\/span> <\/strong>When it comes to payments, it depends on the family you\u2019re going to work with bu<\/span>t it does range between <\/span>Shs<\/span> 1m<\/span>and <\/span>Shs<\/span> 300k<\/span>.<\/span> The status of the family and size of the function is a great guiding factor as we set the price.<\/span><\/p>\n

The kind of entertainment that the family wants in the function <\/span>is also a great determinant.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the moment, there are emcees who come with a public address system<\/span>. That definitely makes it more expensive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can families do without emcees at functions?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Swaleh<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong> Usually families require resource contributions to<\/span> set their\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0functions<\/span> in motion<\/span>. When <\/span>it so happens <\/span>that families are searching for money, some family members or friends who have confidence to speak at other functions suc<\/span>h as funerals and <\/span>church <\/span>impose<\/span> themselves <\/span>on the role of emceeing the traditional wedding <\/span>as a contribution instead of giving money. These downgrade the <\/span>better-knowing <\/span>emcees of introduction functions and in most cases end up destroying <\/span>the function<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The challenging part is that the\u00a0<\/span>love for money<\/span> get<\/span>s some people<\/span> jealous as they <\/span>wonder why the money is not going to them as emcees eveb<\/span>\u00a0though they are n<\/span>ot well suited for the role<\/span>. They <\/span>then speak ill of<\/span> emcees forcing families to do away with real emceeing<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n
What are some of the challenges you face?<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
Some people who arrange functions haven\u2019t been at functions themselves. <\/span>Striving to help them understand<\/span> that a f<\/span>unction requires emcees might get<\/span>tiresome<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n
When emcees are not in association<\/span>; <\/span>Some emcees get too dramatic and end up wasting time especially on the bride<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s side. They ask the man\u2019s side to pay fine<\/span>s<\/span>, kne<\/span>el and walk on your knees as they come to the bride\u2019s side<\/span>and punish them in more ways than one. In the end, such an emcee challenges the emcee on the groom\u2019s side, wastes their time and spoils the flow of the function<\/span><\/div>\n

How are you able to synch conversations<\/span> as emcees from both the bride and groom\u2019s side?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Swaleh<\/span>: <\/span><\/strong>The groom\u2019s side has to be submissive to the bride<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

If anything, you can even go and sweet talk the brides side through the emcee before the function, you could tell him about the weaknesses of the groom<\/span> and his escorts<\/span>– for instance if they don\u2019t <\/span>have envelopes of fines or their desire to keep the function short and simple. <\/span>That private <\/span>pre-t<\/span>alk helps the synching of conversation.<\/span> As emcee, <\/span>you have to either come early and do that or get the contact of the emcee on the bride\u2019s side and speak before the function<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where do you see the emcee industry in years to come<\/span>?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Swaleh<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>According to me, this industry shall <\/span>continue\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Copy\u00a0<\/span>the western culture<\/span>\u00a0which dilutes the African culture that\u2019s meant to be upheld at <\/span>traditional <\/span>introduction function<\/span>s<\/span>. E<\/span>mcee<\/span>s themselves<\/span> have the arrangement<\/span>,<\/span> for instance<\/span>,<\/span> that western music sho<\/span>uld entertain people other than tunes from the <\/span>African musical instruments such as drums, <\/span>adungu<\/span>, <\/span>embaire<\/span> (xylophones).<\/span><\/div>\n
2. The words of conversation<\/span> between emcees<\/span> are now getting too dramatic- At a point, people shall not recognize the point in having emcees for this kind of event<\/span>. Comedy such as\u2026 <\/span>a long time ago there was a culture of <\/span>okutta<\/span> omukago<\/span> \u2013 eating coffee seeds and taking water- those coffee seeds were called <\/span>entaba<\/span>luganda<\/span>.<\/span> Today if you find born-<\/span>again Christians, they shall claim<\/span> that coffe<\/span>e seeds are demonic<\/span>. That sort of drama eradicates original culture and people have instead considered using groundnut seeds yet they want to make the function interesting and fulfil the culture of <\/span>entaba<\/span>luganda.<\/span><\/div>\n
3. The element of money<\/span>– <\/span>The famous emcees are so expensive. Most families are not into funding expensive budgets for emceeing, they\u2019d rather handle that part <\/span>internally <\/span>by picking on say a family member who is known for speaking at family funerals. This shall make people shun a good emcee<\/span>ing role and do it on their own and in the long run <\/span>destroy<\/span>s<\/span> the industry<\/span>.<\/span><\/div>\n
4. There is hardly the<\/span> promise of s<\/span>ustainability<\/span> in this industry.<\/span> Trends shift<\/span> quite fast. <\/span>We\u2019re in an era of <\/span>wanna<\/span>-being. Any copied thing is integrated with new tricks and the original product is destroyed.<\/span> There is no sustainability. <\/span>If one is<\/span> a great emcee, <\/span>a <\/span>moment shall come when they<\/span> can no longer speak at functions. While I was studying at Bishop Senior School, we had a Luganda <\/span>teacher called <\/span>Sewa<\/span>nonda<\/span>. He was conversant with the Luganda proverbial sayings<\/span>,<\/span> which gave him a high stake at speaking at traditional functions. In a few years, he\u2019<\/span>s no where to be found<\/span>. The industry has no security<\/span>. <\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Claire Balungi Being a traditional wedding emcee (omwogezi w\u2019emikolo) is a calling to embody the father of a bride at a traditional function. One has to\u00a0conduct themselves \u00a0as a father would, if he received guests interested in his daughter\u2019s hand in marriage. This imitation guides and develops the emcee\u2019s character and poise at a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":21181,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1794],"class_list":["post-21180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kwanjula"],"authors":[{"term_id":1794,"user_id":12,"is_guest":0,"slug":"clairelungi","display_name":"Claire Zerida Balungi","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4942ed6805dd1bbb53306d55f05f414a6e7cefb4e4add5d76223387ceafe157f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"Claire","last_name":"Zerida Balungi","user_url":"http:\/\/mywedding.co.ug","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21180"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21184,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21180\/revisions\/21184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21180"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mywedding.co.ug\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=21180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}