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…boys to take into the bush to fight. But the Macedonia band began to play Uganda Land of Freedom and the rebels started to gather round, starved for music and a chance to relax. An argument broke out amongst the rebels – most wanted to continue the raid and kill the musicians but a small group started to argue that the band could serve a purpose and help provide welcome distractions for the rebels. Eventually, after a few tense hours of debate, t…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…l music. The Iteso (people of Teso) are Nilotes who live mainly in Eastern Uganda and in Western Kenya. The Iteso of Kenya are about 500,000, the majority of whom live in Busia County. Their music varies from traditional drums to string ensembles of impressive complexity and we were lucky to both witness and document this variety. The first location of recording was Atapara village of Ong’ariama sub-location within Amongura location of Teso sub-co…
Victoria Denison Staff Profile
…reconciliation, publicity and social media and website development. She has a passion for photography and has joined all three Singing Wells trips to Uganda (in 2011, 2012 and 2013) as a volunteer photographer & videographer….
Support Singing Wells Page
…s keen to hear from people who are happy to offer their time to help the project and from 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…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…k almost an hour for the two to figure out Akwabi’s unorthodox, expressive free style for most of his songs before the actual recording began at 2:00pm. After a few false starts we finished the recordings of Peter Akwabi at 4:00 PM with his latest song which is a tribute to D.O. Misiani, the maestro of benga music who died in the lakeside city in May 2006. Next on stage was Olith Ratego, a musician whose unique dodo style is one of the oldest form…
Martin Fredrick Muyeshi Staff Profile
…ry, specifically the episode “Death in Ten Minutes” as a cameraman. In his free time he was freelancing as a music photojournalist/cameraman to gain more experience. He also joined Royal Media Services’ Citizen TV where he worked on the TV programmes Tabasamu, Nairobi Law andMashtakaas a Director of Photography and a Lighting technician. He later joined Ketebul Studio, where he went on to work on several studio projects, among them the studio’…
The Northern Tribes of Uganda Album
…from our December 2012 trip to record the music of the Northern Tribes of Uganda. We began with a base in Gulu, with journeys to Acet and Paibona. In Achet on our first day of recording, we were blessed with a recording location in the shade and 6 groups who turned up to perform their Acholi dance music. Day 2 found us in Paibona, with our first introduction to Likembe music provided by the Rubanga Kingom Awach Boys. The youthful energy of Ker Ke…
Recording Resources Page
…gside some amazing musical technicians, videographers and ethnomusicologists. However, it has taken us time to really work out the best processes for working effectively out in the field. With that in mind, we have created some resources for other groups to use for working in the field. Please feel free to use the below resources for your field trips in whatever region you are based, and please do reach out to us. We love to meet others who are pa…
Day Zero: 6 March 2022 – Travel To Stream Story
…ons. Another possibility was to sell tickets with the use of online access codes that admit ticket holders into the virtual performance. The result was that a number of live streaming studios where performers book sessions to perform and stream their concerts sprung up in Nairobi. Some venues also adapted to hosting online performances, directly streaming shows to mobile devices and computers of audiences wherever they may be. With the prevailing…
Bigwala Instrument
We encountered the Bigwala during our field visit to Central and Eastern Uganda in December 2013. While staying in Jinja we invited a local Bigwala group, the Bigwala Cultural Group, to perform for Singing Wells. Click here to read our report from the field. Here is an extract from the UNESCO website, explaining about the Bigwala which was inscribed in 2012 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding: Bigwala music…
Watmon Cultural Group Group
…musicians led by Amone Watmon Matthew, which promotes the preservation of Ugandan cultural heritage through dance. The group is made up of up to 50 members, the youngest members being only seven years old. Matthew was born on the 25th November 1951 in Kipgum district, Awedi village in the north of Uganda. He was fond of playing music as he grew up, playing the nanga (a harp) in the field as he tended the family cattle or worked on the farm. He li…
The Batwa of Kisoro Album
The Singing Wells project travelled to Kisoro in southern Uganda in late November 2011. There we met and recorded the music of the Batwa communities. We were so taken by the music we heard, we then invited some of the musicians back to Nairobi to record more of their music at the Ketebul Studios. The album begins in the village of the Birara Community – with the village leader Francis taking the main role on the performance. The Mperwa dancers ar…
Bukaala Twesitule Troupe Group
…Lead vocalist: Jane Babirye Musical style is Baganda. Song meanings “Bana Uganda Banange”: It is about a particular brand of beer called Senator Lager. It has contributed to the local economic development because it uses ingredients grown in Uganda. “Abag’ageno”: Talks about HIV and the factors influencing the spread of HIV and how the community can come together to deal with it. Very tragic song telling the story of deaths with man sobbing at on…
Uganda: music of the Batwa Gallery
Images from the Singing Wells trip to Kisoro, Uganda where we recorded 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…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…avel away from their homes, but also to preserve 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…
What We Do Page
…usic of the Kalenjin, Great Rift Valley, Kenya Music of the Batwa, Kisoro, Uganda Music of the northern tribes, Uganda (Acholi, Alur, Langi, Iteso) Music of Central & East Uganda Music of Eastern and Central Kenya During each field visit we are invariably struck by a particularly talented or exciting musician or music group. When this happens we arrange for them to travel to Ketebul Music in Nairobi to record their music in the studio. Many of the…