Anglican churches across East Africa are turning to music competitions to preserve the original tunes and melodies of traditional church hymns, as choirs from the region gather for an annual festival celebrating choral music and Anglican heritage.
The four-day 12th International Hymn Festival was hosted at the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd in Nakuru, bringing together 49 churches from different dioceses across the region.
The festival seeks to ensure Anglican churches remain faithful to the original melodies of traditional hymns, an objective that founder member James Otieno has championed since its inception.
Over the years, the event has attracted participants from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan. However, Rwanda was absent from this year's edition, having last participated in 2018.
The main contest featured choirs from Kenya and Uganda, whose performances have been a major attraction throughout the festival's history.
While the first two days focused largely on solo, duet, trio and quartet performances, the final two days saw church choirs take centre stage, delivering elaborate arrangements of traditional hymns.
The categories included solos, duets, trios, quartets and full choir performances, with participants presenting set pieces and hymns featuring different melodic arrangements.
One of the standout performances came from St John's Church Choir of Entebbe, Uganda, which received a standing ovation for its rendition of Hymn 197 in the Modern Hymn Book, titled 'When All Thy Masses'.
St Peter's Church Choir of Embakasi, Nairobi, also earned applause for its melodic arrangement.
Another Ugandan entry, St Apollos Namusuva of Kampala, drew cheers from the congregation with its performance of Hymn 172, titled 'In All Creatures'.
"We came in here to ensure the overall title goes back to Uganda and we mean it," shouted one of the choir members.
Meanwhile, St Emmanuel Church Choir of Nakuru had the audience cheering with its rendition of 'Onward, Christian Soldiers', as adjudicators assessed the performances.
Two experienced chief adjudicators, Timothy Noon and Michael Graham, were approved by the parent church to officiate at the festival.
The festival is sanctioned by the Church of England, the Anglican Communion's headquarters in London, United Kingdom.
Other participating choirs included the host Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd in Nakuru and St Luke's Anglican Church of Kitale.
St Luke's Cathedral Choir director Aggrey Lugalya had earlier confirmed his church's participation, saying the choir was preparing for a more competitive edition.
"I can confirm our participation again but this time, it'll be a bit very competitive," he said.
Explaining how the festival differs from the National Music Festivals, Lugalya said the International Hymn Festival places greater emphasis on singing hymns in a chanted form, unlike the arrangement-based performances commonly associated with the latter.
"Those are their differences but in IHF, we equally have anthems and hymns," he added.
Event director Jefferson Mwangi said organisers had introduced changes to improve the experience for participants and audiences.
"We are meant to make a difference on our operations this year. We wanted to make a difference here (Nakuru). First, we had at least two venues at one central point to host it hence minimising congestion as opposed to the previous ones," Mwangi told Sunday Standard Magazine.
The changes received the backing of ACK Nakuru Diocese Bishop Anthony Mambo.
Beyond preserving traditional hymn melodies, the festival also seeks to promote fellowship, choral education and the preaching of the Gospel through music.
Kenya entered 29 churches, compared with Uganda's 18, while Tanzania and South Sudan had one church each.
Female singers formed the majority of participants, prompting calls for more men to join church choirs, particularly in the tenor and bass sections.
Winfred Machila, assistant director of the Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd Choir, said organisers and participating churches wanted to improve gender balance in future editions.
"We are out to ensure we have a gender balance at future festivals. This should see more tenor and bass singers who mostly are men join soprano and alto singers," said Machila.
Last year's festival, held in Mombasa, was won by St Apollo Anglican Church of Namirembe Diocese in Uganda.
Ahead of this year's competition, Mwangi had challenged Kenyan churches to strengthen their performances to compete with their Ugandan counterparts, who have regularly featured among the top contenders.
"Our churches (Kenyan) must intensify and strengthen their resolve to win against the fancied Ugandan churches in the fight for top honours," he said.
Mwangi said it was an honour for Nakuru to host the festival, which was inaugurated in 2015.
Since its launch, Kenya has hosted the event seven times, including editions held in Nairobi between 2015 and 2019, Bungoma in 2022 and Mombasa last year. Other editions took place in Dodoma, Tanzania, in 2023 and at St Augustine Church in Lira, Uganda, in 2024.
The festival was not held in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At its inaugural edition in 2015, only seven choirs participated. The number increased by five the following year, before rising to 15 in 2017, 26 in 2018 and 39 in 2019.
Participation has since grown, with between 40 and 50 choirs taking part in recent editions, according to organisers.
The festival's growing popularity has also opened opportunities for younger performers, with Praise and Worship teams and Sunday School groups joining the main choirs as they develop their musical skills.
Some of Uganda's regular participants include Martyrs Church Choir of Katwe and Christ Church Gulu Choir.