Organist Michael Koenig plays the organ during rehearsals at the
University of Nairobi grounds on November 24 (left) while organist and
technician John Dixon plays at All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi on
November 25, 2015. PHOTOS | SALATON NJAU
By BILL ODIDI
In Summary
- The pope’s visit this week was the perfect chance to shine the spotlight on this ancient instrument.
- Where to catch the concert
Michael Koenig
(Organist at Papal Mass in Kenya)
Austrian International Concert organist
Inaugural concert for St Francis Church, Karen
Theme: Five centuries of organ music, Bach to Bedard
Date: November 28
Time: 6pm
Admission: Free
This week’s visit to Kenya by Pope Francis has been
the perfect opportunity to shine the spotlight on the church organ, an
instrument that has all but disappeared in churches in Kenya. The papal
Mass choir was led by conductor and music director Wafula Mukasa who was
accompanied by Austrian organist Michael Koenig.
It is well known that the Pope prefers the music of the
church organ when celebrating outdoor mass just as he did during his
visit to the US in September this year because it is the closest sound
you could get to a magnificent pipe organ in a cathedral. The church
organ captures the tradition and grandeur of a papal Mass.
“A pipe organ takes up to one month to install, it
is twice the size of a room where we are seated. It’s like building a
house,” explains Koenig as he stretches his hands as if to illustrate
the size of an organ.
Currently, pipe organs are extremely rare in Kenyan
churches with the exception of St Andrews PCEA in Nairobi and All
Saints Cathedral whose organ was installed in 1934 and cannot be moved
because it is built into the floor.
Other pipe organs can be found at St Stephen’s
Jogoo Road, St Peter Claver’s, Alliance High School, St Christopher’s
Nakuru and the Anglican Cathedral in Eldoret.
A Rodgers organ (Artist Series 579) like the one
played by Koenig at the papal Mass in Nairobi emulates the centuries-old
instrument by digitally recording the sound from actual pipes and
storing this sound in memory so that it mirrors that of the pipe organ.
“A digital organ has all sounds that you would get
from a pipe organ; it doesn’t require any maintenance and all you have
to do is protect the instrument from a power surge,” says Koenig.
A pipe organ, on the other hand, has to be
maintained twice a year for two or three days of service at a time, a
bit like a car, according to the organist. There are only two people who
are qualified to service a pipe organ like the one at All Saints
Cathedral or at St Andrews.
With 2,000 pipes all hand-made from lead, a pipe
organ is still the ideal model and these are still found in many
churches around the world.
“I was asked to play the organ in a specific way
that may not be too familiar to the congregation and I have been so glad
to share the experience of what an organ may sound like in a European
cathedral,” says Koenig.
Organ ambassador
Last December, Koenig, who is an international
concert organist, was invited to Kenya to perform at a Christmas concert
at the New Apostolic Church in South C. A member of that church, Harald
Birk, is the Kenyan representative for Rodgers, the American instrument
manufacturer that has installed 20,000 organs around the world since
1958.
Koenig has been connected to Rodgers for about 10
years as an international ambassador for the organ and since that first
trip to Kenya, he has been back four times for various performances
culminating in the papal Mass this week.
“I have shuttled between Lagos, Nairobi and other
towns in Kenya in the last one month,” says Koenig. “I was in Kitale for
a church music festival, left for Nigeria and then returned to Nairobi
to rehearse with the choir that performed for the Pope this week.”
When the music director and conductor Mukasa first
met Koenig in June this year, they discussed the national choir festival
organised by the Catholic Church in Kitale and Koenig immediately
contacted Rodgers in the US seeking support for the event.
“Michael is sensitive towards helping other people
develop their musical acumen, especially church music. When he heard
about the music festival, it reminded him about a similar concept in
Europe that brings multitudes of people together,” says Wafula.
Koenig was eager to get on board and listen to the choirs so
that he could contribute to the event and eventually became the
official organist for the festival. Meanwhile, Rodgers shipped the
organ to Mombasa from where the instrument was transported to Kitale in
time for the October 31 event.
It is this organ that Koenig played to accompany
some of the choirs that took part in the festival in Kitale – an event
that featured 130 church choirs and 5,000 singers competing in four
categories.
“In Kitale, there was no chance to rehearse with
the choirs and so the conductors just used universal signs to
communicate, which is proof that music is an international language,”
says Koenig.
After the Kitale concert, Koenig travelled to
Nigeria to perform at a concert for the Musical Society of Nigeria.
Earlier in October, he also played the organ during the National
Catholic Eucharistic Congress at the National Shrine of Mary in Subukia.
“I was assisting a local organist and played some
parts of the festal service myself. This was the first time many of the
20,000 people in attendance were hearing an organ.”
Most church music in Kenya is now played on the keyboard and the organ has all but disappeared.
“The keyboard provides the harmonies and
instrumentation but whenever it is played in church, the music sounds
distinctly pop and not Christian,” says Wafula.
Koenig’s view is that while the church has to serve
the tastes of modern times, it is also important that the legacy of the
solemn, sober sound of Christian music is maintained.
The Kenyan Conference of Catholic Bishops aims to
reintroduce organ music in the church and has set up a body known as the
Catholic Liturgical Music Association of Kenya that brings together all
the musicians of the church to promote church music through annual
festivals.
“The organ is like an orchestra with many different
sounds, unlike a piano which has just one sound. My mission is to
expose good church music especially because the church still plays such
an important role in people’s lives in Kenya.”
The music for the Papal Mass performed by 360
singers from 12 different choirs from four different dioceses (Nairobi,
Machakos, Ngong, military and the universities) consisted of traditional
Kenyan songs and European style hymns, performed to the accompaniment
of the organ.
The choir actually prepared more than 80 pieces of
music including a Latin rendition of the Lord’s Prayer in the form of
Gregorian chants sang just before Holy Communion. Mukasa has been a
member of various choirs since 1986, including the one that performed
during the papal visit to Kenya in 1995.
The conductor, who is also a music tutor at
Technical University of Kenya, explains that the selected songs for this
visit were sent out to the different choirs in August to rehearse on
their own and then all the singers got together in November with the
director and the organist.
Music education
Koenig started playing the organ at the age of 12,
and then studied music at university (organ performance) for five years,
and another eight years to attain his Master’s degree in church music
and orchestral and choir conducting. He also trained in music education
and production of classical music and is currently working with Rodgers
to develop affordable and high quality organ education.
“Rodgers are not just interested in getting a market for
their instruments; the objective is to have organists in Kenya who are
well-trained and can develop an organ music culture in the country.”
The company donated the movable organ free of
charge, paid for its shipment to Kenya and has sponsored Koenig’s trip
to the country.
In June, a group of 15 church organists met at the
United Kenya Club in Nairobi, and Koenig says that bringing musicians
from different denominations, from Catholic to Apostolic, for a rare
networking session resulted in extraordinary creative energy.
The plan is to start by providing small, high
quality instruments for training piano teachers on the organ early next
year and at the same time launch the Kenyan chapter of the American
Guild of Organists.
Affiliation to this respected professional body for
organists in the world will create opportunities for
inter-denominational level workshops, concerts and networking with peers
around the world.
“Every time I touch the keys of the organ, I am
overwhelmed by the beauty of its sound even though I have played the
instrument for more than 30 years now. It’s such a joy every time I am
playing the organ,” says Koenig.
A Rodgers Infinity 361 organ, the second biggest
model built by the American company, has just been installed at the
newly constructed St. Francis Church in Karen. Koenig has spent long
hours at the church in the last few weeks during the installation of the
instrument and ensuring that the balance of the sound conforms to the
acoustics of the massive church.
After the consecration of the church and the
instrument last Sunday, he will play the inaugural concert at the church
tomorrow evening from 6pm. The concert repertoire will feature several
organ pieces by composers like J.S Bach, George Frideric Handel, Leon
Boellmann and Erik Bedard.
Koenig will also perform a piece that he has composed specifically for the occasion.
---------------------------------------------------------
John Dixon, organist emeritus
John Dixon was born in the UK in 1930 and learnt
the piano as a child. He first heard the organ through the radio and
later played the instrument in his school chapel.
Dixon first came to East Africa in 1952 to work in
the Survey department of the colonial government. He played the organ at
a church in Entebbe and would also carry out maintenance on the
instrument.
He’s been in charge of tuning and maintaining the
organ at All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi since 1972 and officially
relocated to Kenya after 1981
In 1985, Dixon took on Benjamin Ogolla who was then a
choir member with the All Saints Choir as his apprentice. Today, Ogolla
is the choirmaster of the main choir at the Cathedral and still works
on the church organ with Dixon.
Dixon is also a life member of the Nairobi Music Society.
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