Day Five: February 20, 2020 (DCMA) Story
…wo songs. They produced a wonderful, dynamic fusion of Taarab, Traditional African rhythms and contemporary Western and African sounds. Performers: Tarajazz: Suleiman Makame (keyboard, director), Hassan Mahenge (Saxophone, assistant director), Mahsin Basalama (contra base), Christopher Weston (Cajon and high hat), Regina Juma (singer). There was supposed to be a violin player but unfortunately he couldn’t make it. Kirundo: Lukoa Nenes (sticks),…
Day 5 – Wednesday 5th July 2017 Story
…Bomas of Kenya in the 1980s. He remembers he had gone for 6 lessons (at a 100 shillings) only and then continued practicing and experimenting by himself. It was equally interesting to hear his theory of the name nyatiti, which he translated from the Luo word nyar as queen and titi, making it “the queen of the clan”. The most interesting points Ayub had made were on the difference between playing at home, in an informal or traditional setting and p…
Kirundo Group
Kirundo performs in a fusion of traditional African rhythms from mainland Tanzania and Pemba, and contemporary African sounds. The three young men are all students at the DMCA performing with a well known drummer and teacher of music. This band has 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 someo…
Tarajazz Group
…rom 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 grou…
Nile Beat Artists Group
…previous member of the band was Seby Ntege, who left Uganda in the early 2000s and moved to the UK, keen to evolve his sound. He plays the Kora, and much of his writing combines West African instruments with an East African writing style. Song Meanings “Ikobo Kobo”: It is a type of herb. It is a song about a girl who is very bitter because her mother will not let her play with her friends freely. The mother explains to her that she was barren but…
Day One: February 16, 2020 (Ngawala Hotel) Story
…o (accordion) and Fatima Yuma (bongos). The group has been together since 2009 and play traditional Taarab. All songs are about love (love lost and gained) and all secular They usually perform in Kisawandui. They played five songs:Bashraf of Alia: Instrumental Usione Chaelea: Means that you don’t really see the subtlety in something. Mbiyo Za Sakafuni: This is about too much haste and costs of being too fast (literally it translates as ‘speed on t…
Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…rom 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 grou…
Day Four: February 19, 2020 (Maruhabi Palace) Story
…kidumbak music. Kirundo – this group performs in a fusion of traditional African rhythms from mainland Tanzania and Pemba, and contemporary African sounds. The three young men are all students at the DMCA performing with a well known drummer and teacher of music. This band has been together for 2 years. Performers: Lukoa Nenes (sticks), Joshua Muyumovela ( shakers), Nyemo Mopana (guitar, kalimba (hand held thumb piano), lead singer), Heri Kombo…
Page
…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…
Global Influences Project: Loop Library Page
…Ekhunjwe Musical Group – 153BPM Ekhunjwe ya Abasamia was 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 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…
Day Two: January 19, 2019 From Tarime to Buturi to Bariadi Story
…heri amukeni tucheze tunaenda (good bye dance) – songs 4 and 5 song as one Freestyle: We then recorded the band in freestyle. https://youtu.be/XoaHli19b2U One observation from Day One: These groups have the energy and youth of many of the groups we recorded in Uganda around Lake Victoria, which makes a lot of sense as these groups are from areas very close to Uganda. What you feel when you record these groups is that the music here remains very…
Day 1 – Saturday 1st July 2017 Story
…ch 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 well; ‐ Names of…
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
…in Arabic as ‘having joy with music.’ Taarab’s origins are in the late 1800s. Mohamed Ibrahim, studied music in Egypt, where he learned to play the Qanun and returned to Zanzibar to form the Zanzibar Taarab orchestra. Of course, there are a variety of musical styles in Zanzibar, including (every use of quotes in this post are direct quotes from the DCMA): Ngoma: “Ngoma literally translated means drum and is a term to encompass all local tra…
Influences songs from Singing Wells Group
…e keys objectives of the Singing Wells project is to introduce tribal East African music to a new generation of musicians and fans who might not consider it relevant today. So, we have developed the Influences series – a fusion of traditional and contemporary styles. Each time the Singing Wells team embarks on a field recording visit we are joined by a talented musician who works with us on ‘Influences’ songs. They work with us in the field and al…
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…
Our Sponsors Page
…a Group for sponsoring one of the field recording days during our visit to Central Uganda in November 2013. The donation was dedicated to our recording day in Mbale. Click here to read our field report from that day. We were also delighted to welcome Brad Gibbs from Mara to our recording session in Entebbe on our last day in Uganda – click here. Click here to find out more about Mara and the projects supported by The Mara Foundation in East Africa…