Published: 09.18.2008

Ugandan musician Kinobe began playing music at age 5 - before most children know the alphabet.

"I've been a musician for as long as I can remember," he said. "Music was a tradition in our society, a daily activity."

Kinobe (pronounced Chin-oh-bee) is a singer and songwriter who specializes in traditional and contemporary music from his home country in East Africa. He decided to pursue his passion because it could help him pursue a lifelong dream: to travel around the world.

He's been doing just that for the last four years after joining forces with UNICEF to help teach music to children in countries from Europe to Asia.

"Music has brought a lot of love and contentment to myself and others," Kinobe said. "It's a universal language and everyone understands."

Kinobe met Tucson transplant Martin Klabunde in Uganda in 2002.

"We played music together everyday," Klabunde said of his Ugandan visit, funded by a research grant.

After they lost touch, a chance meeting in Brussels, Belgium, reconnected the two and they decided to make music together on a larger, more organized scale.

Klabunde runs the Dambe Project, a nonprofit that specializes in "youth mentorship by teaching West African percussion to schools as a way to teach life skills," he said.

Calling last December a time of "reinvention," Klabunde said he decided to get serious with Kinobe, which is what brought the Ugandan musician to Tucson.

Kinobe is giving a series of educational workshops throughout Tucson that focus mainly on the akogo, a wood and metal instrument with origins in Uganda. Kinobe had a box of akogos shipped here and each workshop participant is encouraged to take the instrument home and continue studies.

Kinobe and Klabunde will be performing, under the name Kalumba, on Saturday at the Anjali, 330 E. Seventh St.

"I'm curious how many we can get in there," Klabunde said. "I want to fill the place."

This is just the start for Kalumba. Klabunde and Kinobe are working on a CD, to be released this fall, as well as a series of concerts, many international.

"This is our lives," Klabunde said. "We want to do bigger, better shows, no more clubs - I'm finished with clubs."

Klabunde and Kinobe stressed that their shows, and their purpose, is different than most musicians today.

"This is not a 'showy' performance," Kinobe said. "Our music is about harmony and connecting people with deeper intentions."

Much of the group's spirituality comes from Klabunde, who has been studying with an Aztec shaman "for years." Both men are experienced in the art of "music as healing," and Kalumba advertises services such as "sacred drumming healing ceremonies and workshops," as well as private sessions that offer "cleansings and healings."

"Making music is not just music and sound, there's a deeper message and we want to reach deeper into people's hearts and souls," Kinobe said. "Expect a different kind of show than what you're used to. It's spiritual and intimate."