Peter Cooke Uganda Collection (British Library)

Housed at the British Library in London, in the U.K., the Peter Cooke Uganda Collection has nearly 1,500 recordings made by ethnomusicologist, Peter Cooke. The collection was made between 1964 and 1997 and covers a broad range of culture groups, genres and instrument types.

Dr Peter Cooke conducted several field trips to Uganda from 1964 to 1997, each with a particular focus. His longest stay in Uganda was between 1964 and 1968 where he was head of music at the National Teachers’ College in Kampala. During this time he made several hundred recordings with a large number of musicians from different culture groups all around the country with the aim of bringing materials back for his students to learn from. By the end of the period the political situation had deteriorated, leading to the expulsion of the long-established Kabaka (king) of Buganda and over two decades of instability.

It wasn’t until 1987 that he was able to return to Uganda and during this trip he was concerned to discover what had remained in Buganda of the rich royal musical genres and instruments. This theme has underlain his research ever since. Nevertheless, he explored a range of themes represented in this collection of recordings.

Between February and March 1994, he recorded a large number of women’s groups which comprises the Busoga song texts. In February and March 1997, he went to Northern Uganda with the objective of exploring the repertory and style of okeme [lamellaphone] playing in the area among the Lango people, though a number of other instruments and traditions of the area were recorded at the same time.

All recordings on this site are governed by licence agreements.