Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…h from Zanzibar) with Singeli (a new tribal rhythm). Taarab came from early 1800’s as Egyptian music. In Zanzibar the Mother of Taarab, Siti Binti Saad, made Taarab more popular in the 1920’s to 1950’s. We spoke to Hassan Mahenge, the assistant director of this band. He is a teacher at the DCMA. He teaches the Oud and plays the saxophone. All the students at the DCMA study traditional music such as Taarab as well as Western music. Members of the g…
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…
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…
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…in swahili, she practiced and learnt this style of music despite cultural reservations, and in turn paved the way for future female musicians. This is what is said about her at the Dhow Countries Music Academy: “Singer Siti Binti Saad is a trailblazer who revolutionized taarab music in a way the is still felt today…Whereas her predecessors were all male and sang predominately in Arabic, she was the first woman to perform in Swahili…She was born i…
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….
Tarajazz Group
…h from Zanzibar) with Singeli (a new tribal rhythm). Taarab came from early 1800’s as Egyptian music. In Zanzibar the Mother of Taarab, Siti Binti Saad, made Taarab more popular in the 1920’s to 1950’s. We spoke to Hassan Mahenge, the assistant director of this band. He is a teacher at the DCMA. He teaches the Oud and plays the saxophone. All the students at the DCMA study traditional music such as Taarab as well as Western music. Members of the g…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 2 – Flutes Story
…orm and packed ourselves up for the hotel, and packed in the hotel for our flight on December 4th back to Nairobi. We will not provide a field report for December 4th, but stay tuned for December 5th, when we continue recording Uganda musicians, but not in a field. In a studio. To a click track. With other professionals. As we seek to revive these sounds… Read part one: reflections from our time exploring the royal instruments of the Kingdoms of U…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…Muranga on the Thika road, arriving at the Nokras Hotel in Muranga at about 1800. Here’s the route: We were all pretty shattered, so had a quick dinner (only quick if you ordered fish or meat, the chickens were apparently hard to catch and took considerably longer), drank the mandatory round of Tuskers and slipped off to bed. Working Practices: Roles and Responsibilities of the Team Each day, we will also bring you a set of ‘working practices’ we…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…ions good for him at the palace and after the attack on the palace and the flight of the Kabaka (King) into exile in London, Musisi no longer had a patron so they were both enthusiastic about working at Kyambogo. Sadly Bulasio Busuulwa died during that awful period of turmoil under the dictatorship of Amin and Obote, but Musisi continued to work on at the College and he was still there when I returned in 1987 to learn what I could about the fate o…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…n three cars, we drove from Entebbe towards Kampala and then took the road southwest toward Masaka. We turned north at Kammengo onto the Mbarra Road to Kindinda – the trip was about 110 kilometers. From Kindinda, we turned right at a trading center and went another 10 kilometers into the fields, to a small village called Kidinda. The Recording Site: The village had one cement single story home, one stable (with a small and very loud cow tucked in…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…he hotel. We had a quick dinner and a few free drinks (we had charmed some flight attendants on the plane to contribute to Singing Wells with a few whiskeys). Most of us then went to bed for the night, deciding to have one final evening free of our London friends. Patrick, however, woke up in time to be a ‘greeting party’ to the London arrivals. Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team Representing the AMF are Jimmy Allen (Founder), sound engin…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…ace to stay on our first night being just minutes from the airport (the BA flight from London arrives at 22.40). We have stayed at the Guesthouse before and Jan Willem, George and the rest of the Gorilla Tours team have always been excellent hosts. On our final day of the Uganda 2012 trip we had an very special afternoon in the garden recording the wonderful Watmon Group with our ‘Influences’ artist Akello. We are very grateful to Gorilla Tours fo…
The Batwa Community Story
…nd field visit for Singing Wells which was in November 2011 took us to the southwest corner of Uganda. Here we met the members of six Batwa communities, all of which had a music group which we recorded for the project. Before we introduce you to the communities we met and the wonderful music and dance of the Ugandan Batwa, here is some background information about this unique group of people. The Batwa people of Uganda The Batwa, historically a no…
Day 10: File Management at Ketebul Studios Story
…We wrap up with a long file sharing session – then the final Abublla Music gang heads to the airport for a flight to London while the Ketebul team returns to their homes and apartments for a well deserved rest!…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…other detector ourselves (#2) Once through this line we lined up for Kenya airlines. We are our own queue and it took a while to check in our 23 bags and convince them to let us carry our 11 carry on bags… Once checked in we then waited in visa line. No issues. By this time the flight is calling for boarding… There’s another line at the gate to go through Kenya security. Big queue and one very angry mzungu who was fed up. We all had to take off ou…
Northern Uganda: Day 0 – London to Entebbe Story
…Hannah, Andy and Jimmy) all met at Terminal 5 at 0930AM to check in to BA flight 63 to Entebbe. After quick breakfast, we did last minute shopping for essential supplies (alcohol, sunglasses, papers) and then took the train to C57, where we boarded our flight and left pretty much on time. Jimmy sat next to Andrew who lives in Kampala and married to a Uganda woman with whom he’s had a one year old son. He was passionate about West African music an…