Bernard Kabanda Sslongo (1959 – 4 September 1999) was an

Ugandan }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southe ...

guitarist. He had just realised fame in the world music circuit through his appearances at

WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, ...

in the US and the UK in 1999 before he died of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

less than two months after his performance at Womad's

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

festival, aged only 40. Before he died, he recorded an album with Womad, called ''Olugendo''. He was discovered in the streets of

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, Uganda's capital, playing on a guitar he had made himself out of scrap. He was content to play solo, or with simple tin-can percussion as he played in pubs in Kampala, and he did so also in his Womad tour, where he played with Samuel Bakkabulindi Sslongo, who played makeshift shakers and tin-cans with drum sticks.

External links

The Womad Select Information PageA Tribute to Bernard Kabanda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kabanda, Bernard 1959 births 1999 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Uganda Real World Records artists Ugandan musicians