Group 6: Sudi Mavenge Story
…Rwandan board game) – this is about a Rwandan board game that people would bet their Inyambo cows for. If you won, you’d win two Inyambo cows. But if you lost, you’d donate your son to the King’s Palace to join the army. As the song says, if you’re going to play, be sure you’re ready. Simbi – this is a love song for Sudi’s wife, Simbi. It’s about how back when he was 27, many boys were running after her but they had no plans for marriage – but he…
Singing Wells Stories Page
…isten to a sample of the music that the Singing Wells project has recorded between 2011 and 2013, then please click here. Tiny Moses We met Tiny Moses during our field trip to record the music of the Batwa in southern Uganda in late 2011. He arrived at the Travellers Rest hotel with the other members of the Micyingo community. He turned up to record with his home made guitar in his hand. We recorded him playing a few tracks with his and then we re…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…ional Benga sound is about 60 years old with its formative years occurring between the late 1950s and the 1960s. Its roots run deep in age-old Luo musical instruments. Of the many traditional instruments that the Luo played, the most enduring and widely used is the nyatiti, an eight-stringed traditional lyre. In elaborate traditional Luo ceremonies, the nyatiti was accompanied by a set of traditional drums, cow horns, gourds, sticks, shakers and o…
Tracey Instrument Collection News
…ann speculates that the instrument came to Uganda with the Luo people from Sudan in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, and, after passing through the Basoga people, reached the Bagandan Kings. Originally the strings of this lute would have been made of twisted skin, but these have been replaced by nylon. Below you can see how the nylon has been twisted on a similar endongo to replicate the sound produced by the twisted animal skin. Endongo Mb…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…data? When displaying data it’s no secret that people often understand it better when it’s interesting visually; this is why we often use charts and diagrams rather than bodies of text nowadays. Most people’s brains aren’t able to see patterns in data easily, especially when the data set is huge, so representing it in this manner means you can understand it easily. Looking at a map of where an instrument is used makes a lot more sense than lookin…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…is seems to demonstrate how traditional music has created a sense of unity between many different tribes in one area. These tribes are grouped tightly together in the North, as shown on the map below, and situated in an area that has previously been a war zone. This might have meant that their tribal differences became obsolete. Certainly, in the documentary ‘War Dance’ by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix in 2007, people in the North dealt with the scars…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…g before we arrived at noon. Most of their songs are about peace and unity between the Marakwet and Pokot tribes. They are also about important historical events and praising ceremonies such as weddings, births, circumcisions and funerals. They are also used for passing information on from generation to generation. The younger generation also sing but they did not come today. They mainly have older members in their group. The group have never been…
Alur Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…ak Lendu. Origins: Their tradition states that they migrated from southern Sudan with other Luo following the Nile banks. Their original homeland is said to have been Rumbek on the confluence of the Nile and the Bahr-el- Ghazel rivers. The Alur legend of origin says that there once lived a great King called Atira. He is said to have been a direct descendant of God and when he died, his son Otira succeeded him. Otira is said to have in turn been su…
Acholi Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…Uganda. History: They came to northern Uganda from Bahr el Ghazal in South Sudan. In the late seventeenth century, they developed a socio-hierarchical system, in which communities, or chiefdoms, were run by Rwodi (rulers). They were traditionally hunting communities, whose economies revolved around hunting and breeding livestock. In the British colonial period, the Acoli comprised the majority of manual laborers and military. This damaged the econ…