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…undcloud for their continued support in the Singing Wells project. You can sign up for a free Soundcloud account which will give you the ability to comment on our recordings. To find out more about Soundcloud, go to: http://www.soundcloud.com Nebulo Strata Type of sponsorship: discounted services Nebulo Strata have been on board from the start of The Singing Wells project, helping to design and put into practice our ideas for our website. Our we…
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…mas of Kenya, a national dance troupe tasked with the mission to preserve, promote and showcase Kenyan traditional music and dance worldwide. She has been a scientific advisor with Ketebul Music since 2015 and worked on Ngoma Zetu (2016) and Singing Wells Masters of the Nyatiti(2017) and Signing Wells Western Kenya (2018) projects. We loved having Kahithe on board with us for several of our projects, as her expertise gave a different level of unde…
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…Kayamba (Shakers). These young performers are amazing and if they are a sign, then the future of Tanzanian music is alive and well! We recorded three performances: Tamasha la kumi: a song about ten principal rules on how to live a meaningful and productive life within society. Mapambano: a song against FGM and early girl child marriage. Vibibi Viwili: a warning song on alcohol and drug abuse. Group Four: Hiari Ya Moyo: This group was formed in…
Ndagwa Msanga Group
…mmunity. Their instruments are all about percussion: Ngoma (Drums) and Kayamba (Shakers). These young performers are amazing and if they are a sign, then the future of Tanzanian music is alive and well!…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…is is Tanzania’s most famous drummer. The ‘Mzee’ in front of his name is a sign of respect – think, ‘Old Man Morris’. He was born in 1920. At two years old, he lost his sight as a result of a bout of small pox. He died in 1999. Throughout his long life he drummed. Here’s Leo Mkanyia , our 2017 Influences Artist, describing his experience listening to Mzee Morris’s music: “He wasn’t normal. He plays his drums like a guitar. You have to listen ver…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…am so we get all names/spellings correct. Finally, audio and video need to sign off that it is a good take and we move on. Breakdown Typically, the interview team is continuing interviews during recording, preparing the next take. They also handle the end, usually asking a whole new set of questions about the songs. The video and audio group then break down most of the set, but Audio 1 creates a mix of the session and plays back key songs, while c…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…and all get out of van and go through a metal detector. There was a large sign telling us not to bring in pistols and rifles. The van was then searched. At airport, we had to unload bags at departures, take them by trolly to bottom of stairs. Take all bags up the stairs. Find new trolly and proceed to next stage. All this would be fairly straightforward except we had 34 bags. There was then a line waiting to go into airport. The security guard mo…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…to the ‘bounce’ (final audio) and the three videos used in that take. Time signatures are vital here and as we keep our take list, we keep a record of when the videos stopped and started so we can recover quickly. Fourthly, we need to run our blogs and Facebook entries ‘live’ during our trips, when we get the most interest in Singing Wells. This requires the refilling of all photos to groups and villages so these can be used in different file size…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…h door is a shop. You seldom see anything that has anything to do with the sign out front. Then there is the box. This is about twice as wide as the door. If the door is open, the shop is open. Usually five men in plastic chairs are scattred in the entrance and something is being sold. You don’t go into the box. Its contents come out by request. Then there’s the third store – it is a little shed or lean to made from scraps of wood or just a sheet…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…e high shrill you can hear the women making is called ‘Kijere’ and it is a sign of happiness. Our main aim is to keep peace and happiness in Gulu, the war has destroyed enough! How has the music you perform changed over time? I would say it is the same. I have no right to change it, I want to preserve it as much as possible for the future generation. However now the music means something different. When we sing about war and peace we are referring…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…sionists on Bul (Drums) and then about 8 dancers. It is always a very good sign when we get to record a group of young performers. It means the music is alive and well in the community. Between Pajotu and the Ribbe Ber Drummers, we are confident that music is alive and well in Acet. Here’s Balo Murali: https://youtu.be/psNObM1Qwdc Oriang’ Kinene After a quick ‘magic moment’ with the Ribbe Ber drummers again we then brought on Oriang’ Kinene who sa…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…s free and open source which means any researcher can work with the source code to extend and improve its functionality, so it is constantly developing and improving. It’s also web-based so it’s easy to access and share, which is exactly what we want in order to carry on building the Singing Wells community. Rosie has made some ‘how-to’ guides on how to add to a map yourself which you can access easily on our website too, in a few steps, ‘Housekee…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…iage, they organize a big ceremony where all potential partners meet. As a sign of friendship, food and alcoholic drinks are served during this ceremony. Only the best dancers will get partners, so there is a lot of competition during the dancing. Now it is performed during weddings and learnt at school: 4. We will then record a group performing the Dingidingi, usually performed by the young girls of the Acholi, and their movements are meant to im…
Day 3 continued – an interview with Steve Kivutia Story
…is mother wouldn’t let him sign up so he joined Creative Edge a graphics design firm, and then Smoke and Mirrors a multi-media company in 2003-2004. In 2005 Steve moved to Eye 4 Design but later that same year he met Tabu through a friend who sang with Tabu’s band, He knew of Tabu because of his legendary status within Kenyan music. Tabu invited Steve into a meeting where he brought some songs he had worked on. Steve was still a big Hip Hop fan an…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…vember, hoping he could make it to Nairobi by the 2nd of December. It is a sign of Henry’s amazing devotion to the Batwa cause that he said yes to such a request. First, their travel story. He was able to contact all the singers on the 29th of November and he arranged all travel papers by the 30th. They then left the morning of the 30th and travelled by private van from Kisoro to Kampala, arriving in Kampala the same evening. They spent the night…
Day 5 (PM): The ‘Togetherness Group’ from Kanyabukunga Story
…nga. They are led by Gadensia Kampire. The SWP crew poses next to the road sign with the empty field behind. Soon, however, the area was filled with lovely children, here to watch some wonderful dancing and singing. As we unload the vans, the ‘Togetherness’ group are waiting to greet us on the ‘stage’….. The performance is fantastic… here the group are singing ‘Waratsinze Sikota’ in praise of God, but lamenting that the Batwa people had lived in t…