About
It started here, not in Germany
Living Music Foundation began in Mbarara in 2018, founded by the Ugandan musician Disan Kato Tusiime. The German association that funds the work came almost six years later. The teaching has always been done here, by Ugandan teachers, in Ugandan communities.
How this started · Disan Kato
A musician who was given a chance
Disan Kato Tusiime was orphaned by HIV/AIDS at the age of three. Strangers took him in and saw him through school, and at a community organisation called Train the Youth Effort he received the musical training that shaped his life. He began a computer science degree at Mbarara University but had to leave it when he could no longer pay the fees. He turned to music.
In 2014 and 2015 he trained seven young musicians, who began performing as The Vessels Band. When Troy Peden, founder of GoAbroad.com, visited Mbarara to deliver a sound system for the band, the idea of a foundation was born: to give children the chance that music had given them.
In early 2018 Disan founded Living Music Foundation in partnership with the GoAbroad Foundation. The first pioneer school was Rwebiita Preparatory School, in March 2018.
Today Disan leads the work in Uganda: the team, the schools, the partnerships. He is a multi-instrumentalist with piano as his main instrument, and he still teaches in the field every week.
How we are organised
Two organisations, one project
The German association raises the money and answers to the donors. The Ugandan company, led by its founder, does the work.
Living Music Foundation e.V. · Iserlohn, Germany
Marcel Maciej
Chairman
Registered non-profit association since 2023. Raises the funds, issues tax receipts, is accountable to the donors. livingmusic.foundation ↗
Living Music Foundation Ltd · Mbarara, Uganda
Disan Kato Tusiime
Founder & Director
Founded the Foundation in 2018 and leads the work in Uganda: teaching, fieldwork, team and partner schools. Registered as a company limited by guarantee, with no share capital and no shareholders.
Independent · founded by Disan Kato in 2014
The Vessels Band
The band the Foundation grew out of, and today the professional stage for our students. More about the band →
Listen
Songs by Disan Kato
Gospel music from Western Uganda, in English and Runyankore. Many of the songs tell Disan's own story.
Where it began
A band, a visitor, an idea
When Troy Peden of GoAbroad.com came to Mbarara to bring a sound system for The Vessels Band, he met a group of young musicians who wanted to pass on what music had given them. From that meeting came the Foundation.
A second start · 2023
A search, a piano teacher, a restart
In 2023 Marcel Maciej, who runs the largest online jazz piano school in the German-speaking world, went looking for charities that bring music to children. He found surprisingly few. One of them was Living Music Foundation in Mbarara, and by then its regular lessons had largely come to a standstill.
Marcel got in touch with Disan. In December 2023 he and seven friends founded Living Music Foundation e.V. in Iserlohn, Germany, to fund the work. In May 2024 the lessons started again, with new keyboards donated by Casio. Marcel has since written two teaching books, so that every lesson follows one method, even when nobody from Germany is there.
The credit belongs to the teachers in Mbarara, who do the work every week. Germany's part is to make sure they can keep doing it.
Timeline
From a band to a foundation
- 2014
Disan Kato trains seven young musicians. They begin performing as The Vessels Band.
- 2018
Living Music Foundation is founded in Mbarara with the GoAbroad Foundation. First schools and communities: Rwebiita, Biharwe, Kakoba, South Ankole Diocese, Ankole Western University, Lyantonde.
- 2019
The volunteer programme opens. First visit to Kinoni Child Development Centre.
- 2020
A month of daily instrument training at Kinoni.
- 2021
Pilot visit to Bihanga in Buhweju with the community organisation CICD.
- 2023
Volunteer Joshua Stone teaches across Western Uganda. Marcel Maciej finds the Foundation, and in December he and seven friends found Living Music Foundation e.V. in Germany.
- 2024
Regular lessons resume in May. The German association takes over the partnership, Casio donates keyboards, Marcel's teaching books arrive, and a music programme for girls starts at Kashaka.
- 2025
Four months of piano at Kabatereine Memorial and Tiny Tots.
- 2026
Fieldwork becomes the model: two school communities every week, a third from September.
Our team
The people behind the lessons
Director · founder
Disan Kato Tusiime
Music educator and multi-instrumentalist, with piano as his main instrument. A working gospel musician who still teaches in the field.
Teacher · drums
Franklin Kashera
Came to us as a volunteer drummer from Nakivale refugee camp. Now a professional musician and drum instructor.
Deputy director · bass
Innocent Tashobya
Discovered the bass guitar through LMF and grew into a skilled bassist and sound engineer who now trains others.
Secretary
Damari Amutuhaire
Runs the office day to day: records and documentation, schedules, and the reports from the field.
International coordinator
Marcel Maciej
Chairman of Living Music Foundation e.V. in Germany. Coordinates donations, partnerships and equipment from abroad.
Many others have carried this work over the years, among them Patience Nyamwija, Babrah, Jean, Petra Atujuna and Joliot Kasamoy.