Page
…continue on for the next 10 years so that this music continues to inspire new artists and new audiences. Discovering “The Voice”: Jovah With this in mind, we come to our favourite Singing Wells moment: discovering the voice of Jovah. Jovah is a singer as part of the Mperwa Dancers, a group of Batwa people who were unfortunately forced to leave their forest home. We met Jovah on our field trip to Uganda in 2013 and were instantly blown away by her…
What We Do Page
…f the Singing Wells project is to introduce tribal East African music to a new generation of musicians and listeners who might not consider it relevant today. So we have developed the Influences series: new compositions comprising a fusion of traditional and contemporary styles, themes, harmonies and instruments. Influences is led by musicians from Ketebul Music or singer/songwriters from the areas we are travelling to during our field visits. “Si…
3. Background of the Naizungwe drums Story
…ties were and still are organized on clan system. One ethnic society has a number of clans where each clan has a leader – clan leader. Each of those clans had identifying regalia and one of them are drum rhythms that symbolize the general belief of that clan. The Basoga ethnic society from the Eastern region of the country is organized according to clans. Eleven clans are royal; they are the leaders and the rest are not. One of the clans is the ba…
Day Four: January 21 2019 Mwanza Story
…s group, from the Sukuma community, was formed in 2010 and performs with a number of styles: Bukomia Lume, Buchheye, Wigashe. Their instruments are: Ng’oma (Drums), Pembe (animal horns, large impala), Firimbi (flute), and Njuga (shakers). We recorded five performances: Ntale Atabihyala: ‘The boss, who is always wrong, wants to be always right. Just accept it’ Ba Tanzania (Malima): Praising country, encouraging farmers and hard work – this song h…
Kirundo Group
…r the harvest. New composition. Mjomba – Uncle, celebrating the good hunt. New composition Uye – Come Back Please, used at a wake after someone is buried. New composition. Uringe – Be Proud. Old Traditional song Kyaso – old traditional Zanzibarian song of celebration Mnyamwana – Respect for women. New Composition. They sang in a combination of Hehe and Kigogo, both languages from mainland Tanzania, as well as Swahili. They had incredible energy an…
Mchele Mchele Sanaa Group Group
…This group, from the Sukuma community, was formed in 2010 and performs with a number of styles: Bukomia Lume, Buchheye, Wigashe. Their instruments are: Ng’oma (Drums), Pembe (animal horns, large impala), Firimbi (flute), and Njuga (shakers). …
Day Four: February 19, 2020 (Maruhabi Palace) Story
…the harvest. New composition. Mjomba – Uncle, celebrating the good hunt. New composition Uye – Come Back Please, used at a wake after someone is buried. New composition. Uringe – Be Proud. Old Traditional song Kyaso – old traditional Zanzibarian song of celebration Mnyamwana – Respect for women. New Composition. They sang in a combination of Hehe and Kigogo, both languages from mainland Tanzania, as well as Swahili. They had incredible energ…
Ekhunjwe Musical Group Group
…A folk group. Led by Stephen Bwire, a local music scholar who acted as our contact person and by the group’s secretary Wilhemina Oduor, this is a very organized group of twenty eight (28) members coming from the different administrative areas of Samia district. Ekhunjwe ya Abasamiawas formed in April 2008 with common focus on using music as a tool for community development. The group promotes traditional African values and acts in both education a…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…ginal for his mastery and virtuosity on the drum. These two played a large number of popular Luhya folk songs and marked the perfect end to our stay in Isukha land. DAY 7 – Friday 23rd February 2018 On the seventh day of recording, we moved to yet another county of the Western region of Kenya – Vihiga County. Here we were welcomed by Philip Isilia, our contact for the area who is himself also a musician. In Emativini village of Ebubayi location…
Kochia Traditional Dancers Group
…ses (the ostrich, a symbol of beauty and courage, represents the courage they will need to entertain) and monkey fur. They are accompanied by drumming, and the Tung’, the Luo horn. You can contact the Kagan Kochia group for bookings on +254 700 600881 Sources: www.hivisasa.com www.allafrica.com Homa Bay, Kenya Leader: William Odero Ondiek…
Support Singing Wells Page
…companies which may be able to support us with products or services free of charge. If you can help out in this respect please contact: info@singingwells.org…
Uganda: music of the Batwa Gallery
…record the performances of six Batwa communities from the district of Kisoro – Birara, Mpwera, Kanyabukunga, Micyingo, Gatera and Kabahenda….
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
…ay the 14th of February and flew to Zanzibar on Kenya Airways on the first flight on Saturday, making our way to the Ngawala Hotel. Temperature 33 degrees centigrade. Partially cloudy. Saturday was about set up, so we’ll use this ‘Day Zero’ post to fill you in on the purpose of the trip. First, Zanzibar is an island off Tanzania, with a long colorful history. Before it was ‘controlled’ by the Portuguese in 1503, it was a base for traders be…
The Kalenjin of Kenya Album
…rs and the Kewamoi Women Dancers both featured. The latter – a nice addition to the lineup, as the field day coincided with World Women’s Day. Eddie Grey was part of the team for the recordings, and he joined a number of groups to join them for Influences recordings. Two of these have been included on the album – his guitar playing accompanying The Elimu Cultural Promoters and the Kewamoi Women Dancers….
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…f improving their performances. Most of them were ready to experiment with new ways of playing their traditional musical instruments, as well trying to devise standard tuning for them. Furthermore, we appreciated the fact that our intentions were well received and that the musicians did not consider us to be some arrogant city slickers trying to teach them their own cultures and traditions. Our goal was to build resilience by trying to restructure…
Day 4 – Tuesday 4th July 2017 Story
…ately a rather difficult interview to conduct because of the interviewee’s reservations, as well as for reasons of bad weather that chased us away before we could complete it. However, we did manage to find out several interesting information, notably, on his beginnings as a player and on the instrument manufacturing itself. Alex Ogwe confirmed our two generation theory and said he only started playing once his father was gone. He also gave us an…