Kangema Mwomboko Dancers Group
…group played 5 songs plus one magic moment: Mwomboko Ndongomothi Kariara Rumba Jeki Magic Moment: The group then focused on a minute of Wendire Mugunda…
Richard Sewanyana Group
…B Kizimula to meet with Richard Ssewannyana. As we believe Musisi is the ‘last surviving’ royal drummer, we believe Richard is the last surviving royal flutist. Please, let’s be wrong here. We first interviewed Richard: “I am Richard Ssewannyana, son of Paulino Kajubi, whos father was Buko Ssempiira. My village is Ndese, in sub-county Kasawo, of County Kyaggwe. My grandfather used to play the flute in the palace but he was aging and wanted a fami…
Day 1 – Saturday 1st July 2017 Story
…yatiti’s shape (resembles the traditional Luo hut shape), symbolism of the number (8) of strings of the nyatiti, his tuning techniques and order of string tuning, together with the story of his personal attachment to his instruments collection (owns 14 nyatitis). Upon our arrival to Kisumu City, we had another semi‐formal interview that would birth ideas for other hypothesis and arguments to follow up on. We met Meshack Okoth Okumu, who was to be…
Day Two: 8 March 2022 (Ilesi) Story
…o see them helping to keep their father’s legacy alive. All was done a few minutes to 8:00pm. After the routine photo shoot the Obasie Palnyang brothers and sisters were off to their serene village in Kodedema, close to the Kenya-Uganda border. After the long day, some of the Ketebul Music team decided to accompany our host, Jack Songwa, to unwind at a local pub, at the nearby Ilesi center. We returned to the Josephine Garden just in time for the…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…ified it to ‘Rodi Kopany’. When Ben Mukabwa returned to Kakamega after our last recording in Kisumu, Dave Otieno joined us in Rongo and teamed up with Fiston Lusambo to continue our experimental fusion of contemporary elements with traditional sounds of Western Kenya region. Dave and I go back a long way as we worked together on several musical projects under the Nairobi City Ensemble. Other notable projects with Dave were during the period of Spo…
Kithara Group
…ter that due to noise. We hope to have this group come to the hotel on our last recording day. We felt bad that they only were able to perform one song but they took it graciously. Performers: Rajab Suleiman (qanun and director), Mohammed Hassan (accordian), Fum Faki (bongo and tabla), Tatu Khamis Haji (singer) Songs: Chungu – means Pot, composed by Said Ali 10 years ago Usikhofu – means “Don’t Worry” Composed by Rajab 8 years ago Pendo Langu Ledh…
Makunga Group
…a (Wooden water troughs, played on ground like calabash, which was used in last song). The group started their performance with the most extraordinary set of customs – human shakers! We recorded seven performances: Intro, Freestyle recording of their entrance. Masasi: the celebration song after circumcision completed Nindo: Song on social issues Muhene: Song during girl ceremony where she reaches puberty and now must be hidden from village for 40…
Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…ession of the day than it started drizzling. Fortunately, the rain did not last long and by 7:00pm we were back on track with Julius Itenya and his Super Phoenix Band on stage. They were a well-rehearsed team and all went according to plan until a group of mourners appeared from nowhere with a coffin of a dead relative that had just recently arrived from Nairobi. Although the burial was planned for the following day, the emotional villagers were a…
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…a (Wooden water troughs, played on ground like calabash, which was used in last song). The group started their performance with the most extraordinary set of customs – human shakers! We recorded seven performances: Intro, Freestyle recording of their entrance. Masasi: the celebration song after circumcision completed Nindo: Song on social issues Muhene: Song during girl ceremony where she reaches puberty and now must be hidden from village for 4…
Mchele Mchele Sanaa Group Group
…This group, from the Sukuma community, was formed in 2010 and performs with a number of styles: Bukomia Lume, Buchheye, Wigashe. Their instruments are: Ng’oma (Drums), Pembe (animal horns, large impala), Firimbi (flute), and Njuga (shakers). …
Royal Entenga Drummers Group
Along with flutes, trumpets, strings and xylophones, the Entenga were part of a set of ‘royal instruments’ and much of the music was lost in 1966 when the palace of the Buganda Kingdom was attacked by government troops. The palace and instruments were destroyed, the King exiled, the royal musicians disbanded and much of the music forgotten. But in 2015 James discovered the sixty-something Musisi, possibly the last surviving drummer. Musisi was ju…
Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…rs of the group: Suleiman Makame (keyboard, director), Hassan Mahenge (Saxaphone, 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. Songs: Alamina Dura – The orbit of the Gods Pakistan – written by Siti Binti Saad who loved Pakistan when she visited Kasha – Kenyan Taarab love song. A man singing about…
Privacy Policy Page
…d safely. – remember any settings between visits – such as what worked the last time you visited. They also help to make our Music Map work properly, so you can enjoy the music of the Cookies are also responsible for making sure that you don’t have to view the ‘Splash Screen’ each time you come to the site – thanks to cookies you only see it the first time. Opt-in It is possible to configure your web browser to either accept or reject cookies fr…
Day Three: January 20th, 2019 Story
…orms in the Busumabudo style. Lake the Snake Dances we recorded during our last trip, this group is part music, part circus, part acrobatics. A wonderful crowd pleaser! We recorded five performances: Busumabuno Kulima: A song about farming Watoto wakalime Freestyle on Kulima Magic Moment Busumabudo, focus on percussion https://youtu.be/dHeTdA5m5gQ Group 3: Awilo: The group, which is a comedy circus act, is from Ikungu lya nkoma and performs in the…
Day Two: January 19, 2019 From Tarime to Buturi to Bariadi Story
…(drums, with a kick) and Njiga (shakers from gourds). It is worth taking a minute on the drums. They were typical African drums, but set up Western Style on a steel rack and they leaned one large bass drum against the rack. The drummer then built a separate wooden kick pedal, so he could play all the drums with his hands and kick with his feet. We had not seen this before and it meant the group has a very traditional sound but a very modern feel,…
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…be seen by our wide camera and many of the musicians have an attached microphone. While generally this isn’t a problem, there are times when the group is constrained. So, we often do another take which we call ‘free style’ where we take our cameras off tripods, and our video team simply follows the group around as they dance and sing. This provides a much more free feel, although it does mean we can miss part of the performance, so we always try t…