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…no better than the other Batwa so I thank you for choosing me. I am happy 1000 times over. My message represents the rest of the Batwa people. I listened to the recording of my song – it was so nice, so sweet.’ The day ended with her joyfully dancing to her own record, with her newborn baby in her arms. It was a moment that made so much of the work put in by the entire team completely worth it. And it has inspired us to continue searching for more…
What We Do Page
…We are committed to supporting traditional music performance in rural East Africa as we believe that this not only serves to promote and preserve the cultural heritage of a community but is also a key indicator of the sustainability of that community. “While fragile, intangible cultural heritage is an important factor in maintaining cultural diversity in the face of growing globalization. An understanding of the intangible cultural heritage of dif…
Mission Page
…and with Singing Wells we aim to: Preserve the rich music heritage of East Africa Introduce East African tribal music to a new generation of musicians and music fans Offer tangible and lasting benefits to the musicians and village communities we visit Encourage the development of village music groups, particularly within the young community, and demonstrate that preserving cultural music heritage will help sustain a vibrant and successful communit…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…rs. Some of the instruments that Mr Mukadisi has in his position are over 100 years old. Once the correct tree has been found that is of an appropriate age, around 10 years old so the wood is fully formed, it is chopped down and into smaller pieces to begin the drying process. When the wood has appropriate time to dry, it is prepared for chopping and shaping, and the next process of preserving the wood through the use of animal dung. More on that…
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…rage, 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 three video cameras operating – one wide shot for full performance, one close up to capture details of instruments and one roving…
The Music of the Mijikenda Album
…echemeko Raha and 4 the Mzinga, both 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…
Martin Fredrick Muyeshi Staff Profile
…Broadcasting Cooperation’s Metro FM Radio as a Production intern from Jan 2006-June 2006. With the experience he had gained at KBC he then moved on to Nation Media, where he joined the station’s celebrated investigative journalistsMohamed Ali and John Allan Namu at NTV, working on their investigative feature documentary The Inside story, specifically the episode “Death in Ten Minutes” as a cameraman. In his free time he was freelancing as a musi…
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…ck in 2011, we had a mission to preserve the rich musical heritage of East Africa, by filming different musical groups on our yearly field visits. But aside from this, we have always aimed to showcase this incredible music with the wider global music community to show just how innovative and exciting this music is. With that in mind, as we approach our 10 year anniversary, we want to truly combine these two missions and celebrate how music in the…
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…
Video playlists from Kenya 2018 Story
…l Omong’oluk Traditional Dancers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILMAhvkRtg0&list=PL6jxUA468Mq9LNfV2MxN2k1JwC-xu5n06 Samuel Namatete https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtkGVQFNoPw&list=PL6jxUA468Mq-RUCpUdIrKZrrZyRF216Mz Pius Wafula https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUa3LzYZ8G8&list=PL6jxUA468Mq-JL9a_FMhl3js2eQdqUBVn Shem Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cewr4zGeAXo&list=PL6jxUA468Mq_qagUS8lrS4ItNX84ceQc_ Peter Awkabi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
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…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…at he has become, gave an exemplary performance without any re-takes. By 7:00pm his session was completed and he was on his way back to Kisii County. The next group was Otacho Young Stars who began their performance at 8:00pm. Otacho Young Stars were also no strangers since we recorded them in 2011 as part of the Singing Wells project. These musicians are now in their 30s and no longer answer to the name Young Stars and are appropriately simply kn…
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…
Here for Research? Page
…interviews, historical information and first hand accounts of the way East African music has developed and grown. Instruments In depth information and photography of the different musical instruments used in East Africa. This database is constantly evolving as we discover and record more instruments. The instruments are tagged by their ethnicity, their recording location and the type (simply broken down into stringed, percussion or wind at present…
Day One: The Iteso People and their Music Story
…Relations and Diplomacy. His first break in professional music was at the 2008 edition of Spotlight on Kenyan Music, where he represented Nairobi with his song ‘Jawabu’, which features on the compilation album. Other than the guitar he also plays the drums and the chivoti. We welcome Fadhilee to Singing Wells and hope you enjoy his contributions! From Obekai, we drove to Kodedema, to record Obasie Palnyang. The group was founded in 1958 by Obasie’…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…the local mountain) Ngoma (generic term for drums) Troupe and starting in 2009 played all sorts of functions that would bring money in to support the band members, all of which live on the premises. Shortly after, a friend of Julius’s donated some brass instruments and Julius started a brass band, called the Elgon Hero Brass Band. When you combine the two bands, the traditional and the new brass sound, Julius says, they blew audiences’ minds. As t…