The Pandemic slowed us down, but it couldn’t stop us. Having completed our Zanzibar trip in February 2020, The Field Visits of Singing Wells were put on hold for three years. But, we knew that our first visit when we could travel again would be Rwanda. We all arrived to Kigali on November 22, 2023…
A wet and foggy morning drive to Butare with huge rewards – the wonderful drums and dances of the Urugangaze Ballet
A beautiful sunny afternoon in Butare recording the Ababeramuco Group in front of the King’s Palace.
Sun 26th November AM – Highland Suites Hotel, Kigali In the morning we recorded a brilliant guitar player, Sudi Mavenge, at the Highland Suites hotel. We were supposed to record him yesterday, along with his son Shukran Ngaborutonesha and his other guitarist Eric Nova, but there was a huge rainstorm and the location in Muhange…
Sun 26 November, PM, Nyamirabo In the afternoon we drove to the Nyamirabo area of Kigali to record The Impano Group, (pronounced Imano group, silent P), which means “Gift” or “Talent”, a young five-part group that do modern takes on traditional songs and mix the inanga with the guitar. They have one guitar player, one…
We drove to Gikondo in the morning to record Abutazi. Abutazi are a group of two artists, Akayezu Jean Patient on the inanga and Fox Makare the energetic rapper. They are supported by their drummer Samy Iradukunda kut. Abutazi have been together since 2019 after meeting in music school. Jean Patient’s mother Sophie Nyasisenga (the…
The second group we recorded at Jado’s studio in Kigali was the Impara Band, one of the pioneer bands of Afro-Cuban music in Rwanda. Impara is Rwandan for Impala. The band was founded in 1975 and originally had 9 members. They lost 7 of their members during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The two remaining…
First day, first group, Inganzo Ngari Group, where we’re greeted by the Inanga and Ngoma and wonderful dancers celebrating Rwanda culture, from the Intore to the Agaseke…
