Isabella González Díaz finds Uganda’s rhythm through the French Horn – Sqoop

There is still much that many Ugandans are discovering about wind instruments, their range, the technique required to play them, and the sophistication that lies beneath their sound.

In a music culture often drawn to high-energy rhythms, fast tempos and immediately catchy hooks, wind instruments can demand a different kind of attention. Their sound is less likely to rush the listener. Instead, it invites reflection, creating moments that can feel meditative even when the music is lively.

That contrast makes Venezuelan-born composer, educator and French hornist Isabella González Díaz’s latest body of work particularly intriguing. Across four compositions created and recorded with musicians from the African Music School, González Díaz explores the meeting point between contemporary composition and Uganda’s communal musical spirit.

The result is a collection that is technical without being cold, structured without losing its sense of spontaneity, and rooted in collaboration rather than the idea of a single artist working alone.

The four pieces, Katuyimbe, In Our Hearts, Once Upon a Time and 256, were developed during González Díaz’s three-month creative residency in Uganda, which began in May and will conclude in August. The project was spearheaded by Musica Unita, a Scottish charity founded and artistically directed by González Díaz, in partnership with the African Music School.

Although the compositions draw from contemporary Western musical traditions, they are not presented as distant or overly formal exercises. Instead, they carry traces of Ugandan musical expression, with voices, chants and the energy of collective performance helping to give the work a distinctive character.

Katuyimbe is perhaps the most immediately inviting of the four. The choir sings with a freedom that makes the performance feel less rehearsed than lived. There is a sense of enjoyment in the voices, and the music never appears forced, even as the instrumental arrangement moves through complex passages.

At its opening, Katuyimbe carries echoes of the folk song Kagutema, creating a familiar entry point before expanding into a broader and more contemporary arrangement. The African Music School musicians do more than provide vocal support; their contributions help guide the composition, making what could have been an intimidatingly complex piece feel warm and accessible.

The energy across the collection is another unexpected strength. Those who associate horn music mainly with technical precision and conservative performance may be surprised by the spontaneous chants, calls and occasional shouts from the musicians. These moments interrupt the formality often associated with orchestral music and serve as reminders that the pieces were created through live, collective performance.

The spontaneity does not weaken the compositions. Instead, it gives them personality.

In Our Hearts moves in a more reflective direction. The prominence of the horn gives the piece an emotional weight, while its slower passages carry a solemnity that can feel almost spiritual. For much of its duration, the composition evokes the atmosphere of mourning or remembrance, even as its closing moments become more uplifting.

It is a piece that appears to hold grief and hope in the same space. The ending does not erase the sadness that comes before it; rather, it offers a sense of release.

Once Upon a Time is the most disciplined and conventional composition in the collection. It follows a tighter musical structure, with less room for improvisation and none of the vocals or chants that shape some of the other pieces.

The arrangement is concise and carefully controlled, allowing the instruments to carry the entire narrative. It is perhaps the closest the collection comes to the formal expectations associated with contemporary horn music, but its restraint also gives it clarity.

Then there is 256, whose title references Uganda’s international telephone code. Like Once Upon a Time, it is driven largely by horns and variations in wind instrumentation. The piece explores texture and tonal shifts more than vocal expression, making it one of the collection’s more understated compositions.

Both 256 and Once Upon a Time may require more patience from casual listeners. Their appeal lies less in immediate familiarity and more in the detail of their arrangements, the way instruments enter and leave, the changes in tone, and the conversations created between different sections of the ensemble.

Together, the four compositions reflect a creative exchange between Venezuela, Scotland and Uganda. González Díaz’s background as a Venezuelan musician working within Scotland’s music scene brings one set of influences to the project, while the African Music School musicians introduce local sounds, performance traditions and a communal energy that shapes the final work.

The project is also an extension of González Díaz’s wider mission through Musica Unita, which uses music education, workshops, training and international partnerships to connect artists across different cultural backgrounds. Registered as a charity in Scotland, the organisation seeks to use music as a tool for creative expression, cultural exchange and community development.

During her residency in Uganda, González Díaz has overseen the project from composition and rehearsal to the final recording sessions. Beyond her role as artistic director and composer, she has also performed on the French horn, contributing solo passages to the collection.

The recordings were supported by Glasgow’s Glow Worm Recording Studios, which provided equipment for the project. The collaboration builds on a professional relationship formed in 2024, when the studio recorded González Díaz’s commission for the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland.

For González Díaz, whose work brings together performance, composition, conducting and music education, the Uganda residency has become an opportunity to test what can happen when musicians from different traditions create together rather than simply perform alongside one another.

The resulting collection does not attempt to package Ugandan music into a foreign musical framework. Instead, it allows different influences to meet, occasionally clash and ultimately find common ground.

When the four pieces are released in August 2026, listeners will encounter more than a collection of horn-led compositions. They will hear a record of collaboration, one shaped by technical discipline, cultural exchange, collective joy and the unpredictable energy of musicians creating in the same room.

And in that meeting of horns, voices and shared experience, González Díaz has found a sound that feels both international and unmistakably connected to Uganda.