Chief Ihunyo

Yesterday, apart from WAWATA feast celebration in my mission, I also went to Zanaki Parish, the mother parish of Kiabakari,  for the third and last time - substituting for the parish priest, who is away for holidays. Right after finishing the first Mass in Kiabakari, I drove to Magorombe (the place where Zanaki Parish mission is located) for the Holy Mass. And then, after that Mass, to the Chief Ihunyo Girls' Secondary School for my third Mass. It was my third time there at Chief Ihunyo and the thing that particularly pleased me while celebrating the Holy Mass for Catholic girls studying in this educational facility )who are not allowed to attend Masses in the parochial church due to various reasons which I won't dig in), built by our Member of Parliament, Hon. Nimrod Mkono, who shows in deeds and not only in words, how much he cares for the education of new generations, with emphasis on the education of girls, which is crucial taking under consideration the negative bias of many parents - preferring to focus on the education of boys rather than girls. This problem is particularly acute in our Region, and Zanaki area, including Kiabakari, is leading in sad statistics....

The thing that I liked and appreciated very much on all three occasions was the way girls sung during Masses. I dare to say that I have never heard a choir in Tanzania singing more beautifully than those girls at Chief Ihunyo. I may exaggerate, being under impression of their a capella singing, with no interference of any instruments, in particular - a keyboard - which is a true menace in all choirs I have ever heard in Tanzania. People simply don't understand that the keyboard, organ instrument are not the most important in choir singing. In fact, they should be disposed of and instead - traditional ethnic instruments used! Keyboard is a foreign instrument, so why people are so keen on using it? It is simply beyond me...

I love the way those girls sing...with their soft voices, with no instruments, and echo of the hall we were using for the Holy Masses - helping to achieve this feeling of being inside the old gothic church.

I would really love to see those girls recording their songs the way they sing now, without any artificial training and i9mproving and without any instruments. I would dream this audio CD to be a breakthrough in the thinking of majority of people in Tanzania who seem to enjoy the keyboard (the louder and the weirder sounds they produce, the better) and neglect training voices to blend them in perfect harmony - to show that this is what a choir is meant to be. This is what a church singing is all about, reminding me of gregorian chants...

Unfortunately, I am unable to upload a short video clip of one of their songs from yesterday. Even being in Musoma now, the internet is horrible today. If it improves before I go back to Kiabakari, I will try to upload  it to YouTube and embed it here...