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…ked to Congolese rumba and West African highlife, but differs sharply from South African kwela, taarab, chakacha and kidumbaak; the most well-known Swahili music forms from the coastal strip of East Africa. The peculiarity of the Benga beat comes from the combination of a sharp lead guitar overriding the rhythm and bass. The pace of the guitars, with a steady rise to a climax or crescendo and an equally quick refrain, together with the arrangement…
Global Influences Project: Loop Library Page
…common focus on using music as a tool for community development. The group promotes traditional African values and acts in both education and local economy. Members also engage in traditional crafts like basket weaving and jewellery making for exhibition and sale. You can learn more about the group here. You can watch the full visual performance of this song on our Youtube channel by clicking here. Download the loop singingwells · SW Samples – Ekh…
Day One: The Iteso People and their Music Story
…nd the guitar-plucking amusing, especially when he wanted to listen to the news on radio. After high school he worked as a construction worker to fend for himself. Meanwhile he mastered his guitar, volunteering to teach kids music at the neighbouring Soweto slums. He continued offering private guitar lessons even after joining the University of Nairobi, where he is studying International Relations and Diplomacy. His first break in professional mus…
Our Sponsors Page
…2012 field recording visit to Kenya. Read all about it here. http://www.annewright.com/index.asp Institute of International Education Type of sponsorship: Field Recording Visit, Music of the Batwa, Uganda 2011 Through our relationship with The Ford Foundation we were able to apply for a grant from the IIE to fund our field recording visit to Kisoro in south west Uganda in 2011. Here we visited 6 Batwa communities and recorded their wonderful so…
Ketebul Music Group
…ablished in early 2007 with the ambitious vision to carry out research and promote the diverse fusion of traditional sounds of Kenya and East Africa through the documentation and archiving of the work of musicians who have shaped the various genres of music from the region over the past six decades. In broader terms, intensive research carried out by Ketebul Music involves the musicians themselves, their families, industry players such as producer…
The Music of the Mijikenda Album
…th captured in Kibarani village, further south from Sila, and then further south again, later in the day – Supaki Kalazo and Sengenya recorded in Junda, Mombasa. We then headed to the South Coast and recorded in Vuga, Kwale County. The ZigiDigi Cultural Troupe and Muungano Kayamba providing the music. The album also includes two ‘influences’ recordings – one including Ketebul artist Winyo with Nyerere Wa Konde and his son Mr Bado. The other is Win…
Kirundo Group
…been together for 2 years. Songs: Mwaludeje – Tradition after 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…
Day Four: February 19, 2020 (Maruhabi Palace) Story
…nger), Heri Kombo (drums) Songs: Mwaludeje – Tradition after 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 ma…
Get on the Map Page
If you are making music in East Africa, then we’d love to feature you on our map. Please fill in the options below to get in touch: To Upload music to the Dropbox – go to: http://soundcloud.com/singingwells/dropbox Note: submission of the form grants The Singing Wells project permission to embed any links contained within the form on the map of East Africa. Submission of the form does not guarantee that your group or music will be featured on t…
Day 1 – Saturday 1st July 2017 Story
…Dispute over which part of the region the instrument first originated in – South Nyanza or Central Nyanza; ‐ Discussion on the nyatiti gender taboo (whether a woman is or is not traditionally allowed to play the nyatiti and the reasons why); ‐ Mention of a Cultural Festival which takes place every year on 27th December and hosts several local nyatiti players; ‐ Discussion on whether a good nyatiti maker needs to be able to play the instrument as w…
Nyatiti Instrument
The nyatiti is an 8 stringed lyre from East Africa, played by Luo musicians. As well as playing the nyatiti – the musician also wears ‘gara’ or bells on the foot and an ‘oduongo’ metal ring on the toe, which is tapped against the edge of the nyatiti to form a beat. Nyatiti players will also typically sing during their performance. There is symbolism in the 8 strings of the Nyatiti in that the lower 4 string represent the first 4 days after a male…
Albums Introduction Page
…e Singing Wells project is to record and share the music we record in East Africa and one of the ways in which we can share this music is through our albums series. For each project we undertake, we curate an album of the resulting recordings. In most cases, this will include at least one recording from each group recorded. Where it works artistically, we’ll arrange the tracks on the album in chronological order of the recording date – so you can…
Stories Page
…met. Music Read some of our articles and stories behind the Music of East Africa. Dive into musical genres, different instruments and the musicians keeping these traditions alive. Picture We manage to take some beautiful photos on our trip. Find out the stories behind some of our favourite pictures we have taken on the field. Community Get to know some of the inspiring communities we have met on our trips, as well as some of the Singing Wells com…
Kahithe Kiiru Staff Profile
…ment. She has 8 years of experience in ethnomusicological research in East Africa, with a special focus on dance traditions of Kenya. She possesses comprehensive knowledge of qualitative research methods, data collection and analysis, and is experienced in academic writing, content creation and editorial.Kahithe has a master’s degree (MPhil) in Ethnomusicology and Dance Anthropology from the University of Paris X Nanterre and is currently finalisi…
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…or Singing Wells, a field visit is when we visit a specific region of East Africa and record musical groups in villages. On average, we do one field visit a year, recording roughly 20-25 groups, and a 100-125 performances. We have roughly 1,000 videos online. Our general setup for a recording is: a) Steve is in charge of audio and we typically have two general mics for the group and 5-6 specific microphones for singers and musicians, b) we have th…
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…