James Allen Staff Profile
…usic, sharing their passion for preserving and promoting the traditional music of East Africa. Jimmy has an MBA from Harvard University and an MA in International Economics from Johns Hopkins. He is a dual US-British citizen and has lived in the United Kingdom, with his wife and three children, since 1995. He is chair of trustees for The Abubilla Music Foundation. During the Singing Wells field recording trips Jimmy is a volunteer video engineer a…
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…
Uganda: music of the Batwa Gallery
…orded the music of the Batwa. The journey started in Nairobi where the team boarded a flight to Kigali, Rwanda. From there we travelled by road to Kisoro where we stayed at the Traveller’s Rest Hotel. Our hosts were from the United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU) who arranged for us to record the performances of six Batwa communities from the district of Kisoro – Birara, Mpwera, Kanyabukunga, Micyingo, Gatera and Kabahenda….
Our Sponsors Page
…the Batwa communities we visited through our strong relationship with the United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU). http://www.iie.org Soundcloud Type of sponsorship: discounted services Our entire archive is available to listen to on Soundcloud, and their players power the audio playback on our site – click here to visit our archive. Thanks to Soundcloud for their continued support in the Singing Wells project. You can sign…
Video playlists from Kenya 2018 Story
…tube.com/watch?v=K9XDnObrl2g&list=PL6jxUA468Mq-nstKtQ3QajcsDJmBBv3v_ Mumia United https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPi-qsvbch0&list=PL6jxUA468Mq8_Fi8QkIlmsr9KuVVQQPg2 Dot Com Isikuti https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idHJE6QL_C4&list=PL6jxUA468Mq_ilLuHcABH8vHJri1c8QCE Super Phoenix Band with Julius Itenya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy4cBwvCpyE&list=PL6jxUA468Mq9NQ-zWTvuNk2xUKNJQr6Uh Bugnoma Roots Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESB-pxQBUYE&…
Page
…. Below is just a couple of the partnerships we are proud to be a part of: United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU) The United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda is a “Batwa-directed, community-based organisation headquartered in Kisoro, Uganda. UOBDU was created in the year 2000 with the help of the UK-based Forest Peoples Programme. Their sole purpose is to assist the Batwa in improving their lives so they may live o…
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…
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…
What We Do Page
…post produced to provide an archive of audio tracks and videos. We are in contact with The British Library about adding the Singing Wells collection to their archive of World and Traditional Music but we also endeavour to make our recordings accessible to the widest possible audience of musicians, music lovers and ethnomusicologists. You can find all our recordings on Soundcloud and YouTube or discover music groups by location or genre via our di…
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…
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…
Day Zero: 6 March 2022 – Travel To Stream Story
…ing off the main revenue-generating activities of many artists. However, a number of urban-based performers were able to migrate their shows and concerts onto online platforms, reaching their audiences at their homes via live streaming. In doing so, they created new income-generating platforms, as some of these online acts allow audiences to support the musicians via M-pesa and Pay-Pal contributions. Another possibility was to sell tickets with th…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…rve the traditions of Eastern Uganda to the rest of the world. ——– You can contact Julius at juliuswolimbwa@gmail.com or PO Box 2254 Mbale, Uganda You can find the Troupe on Facebook here. You can watch a video about the group here. Some of the musicians we recorded were: Bikumbi Yusuf (solo Adungu), Wamumdu Albashir (bass Adungu), Kyasowbayo Joseph (xylophone) and Dkining David (tube fiddle). The songs played were: “Isongja”: a pre-circumcision s…
Day 1 – Saturday 1st July 2017 Story
…yatiti’s shape (resembles the traditional Luo hut shape), symbolism of the number (8) of strings of the nyatiti, his tuning techniques and order of string tuning, together with the story of his personal attachment to his instruments collection (owns 14 nyatitis). Upon our arrival to Kisumu City, we had another semi‐formal interview that would birth ideas for other hypothesis and arguments to follow up on. We met Meshack Okoth Okumu, who was to be…
Day 9 – Sunday 9th July 2017 Story
…ypes of wood); body parts (any specific additional parts and why); strings number; playing techniques (position of instrument; hands positioning and fingers involved in playing; plucking techniques); tuning and sound (central string, sound spectrum, twin strings, accompanying instruments in both traditional context and modern instrumental ensemble, technical innovations and developments); transmission methods; community occasions played in; taboos…
The Singing Wells podcast #3 Podcast
…Here is podcast number 3. In this podcast, we look at the development of Abubilla Music – one of the partners in The Singing Wells project – from initial idea, to music label. There are interviews with members of the SMCC, and music from the SMCC, Louise Calf, Gus Warriner, Tati Kalveks, Chris Kozlowski and Ketebul artist Winyo. Click here to download the podcast….