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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…
Martin Fredrick Muyeshi Staff Profile
…ing Songs of Protest and the book Shades Of Benga: The story of Popular Music in Kenya, to which he contributed his photos. His work has also featured on Voice of America’s “Music Time In Africa” under the Host Heather Maxwell as well as the Singing Wells project, which focuses on archiving traditional music in Africa, among other projects….
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…ble. If you are a two year old and have been circumcised, for us, you are an adult.” Julius Ngoma (also called engoma or ng’oma or ingoma) are musical instruments used by certain Bantu populations of Africa. Ngoma is derived fromthe Kongo word for “drum”. Different Bantu-inhabited regions have their own traditions of percussion, with different names for their instruments….
Here for the Music? Page
If you are here to experience some of the very best music East Africa has to offer then you are in the right place. For some of our stories, videos and the chance to listen to some of our Singing Wells Albums, head to the links below. Stories Read some of our most memorable stories from the field, featuring stunning photography taken by our team. Learn more about the communities we meet, the instruments that are being played and the background st…
Our Sponsors Page
…ly 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 songs and traditional dance. We were also able to tell the story of their lives since they were moved from their forest homes in order to create a National Park to protect the mountain gorilla population in the area. We would like to thank the IIE for their generous support of the pr…
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…
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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…
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…
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…
James Allen Staff Profile
…Wells project with Ketebul Music, 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…
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…
Instruments Introduction Page
As we travel around East Africa, we find that we are at times, recording instruments that we have never seen or heard before. In some cases we manage to purchase instruments for our own Singing Wells instrument collection back in the UK. Where we find an instrument that we have not seen before, we make sure we record it, photograph it and research it. This page features a selection of the instruments we have found so far on our travels. The i…
Tabu Osusa Staff Profile
…tee of the “Spotlight on Kenyan Music“ project which seeks to discover and promote young talent, performing a blend of African music. The Kenyan government through its Ministry of National Heritage and Culture also supports this project. Tabu is also the Project Coordinator of Ketebul Music’s Retracing Series. Supported by the Ford Foundation Office of Eastern Africa, the Retracing Series is a research based documentary project whose main objectiv…
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…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…ere he has also toured extensively. Ontitri has been invited to perform in South Korea and Germany, not mention that he was one of the leading performers at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2014. Ontiri on the obukano and vocals was backed by Leonidah Basbori on tumba and vocals with Lavin Kwamboka, Cliff Mogeni Mogaka, and Omuya Cyprine Moraa all on background vocals. Fiston was on guitar with Dave on bass. Ontiri is married to Ruth Moraa and…
Group 2: Sophie Nzayisenga Story
…ather even played for the king’s palace). She was born in a village in the south of Rwanda. By age seven she was doing festivals and by nine years old she had left the country to play a festival in Bulgaria! She was accepted as a female inanga player because she started so young and people loved seeing this child perform. By the time she came of age people were used to seeing her. Since then she’s toured America, East Asia and Europe – last week s…