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…
The original concept of the Masters of the Nyatiti programme included a side segment focusing on the orutu ‐ a one‐string fiddle from the same community. Because of time limitations, this could not be done fully; yet the idea of instrument comparison remained and was reintroduced through an instrument comparison forum held on day 8…
We drove back towards Stone Town and stopped at the Maruhubi Palace ruins. This palace was built by the third Sultan of Zanzibar from 1980-1982 for his secondary wives. It is now in ruins but you can still see the main buildings with baths inside, a massive overhead aqueduct that supplied water to the palace…
A wet and foggy morning drive to Butare with huge rewards – the wonderful drums and dances of the Urugangaze Ballet
Day 10 – Monday July 10th 2017 (as per team’s report): Two master class sessions with the 2 masters of the nyatiti (brought in from Lake Region) – William Omondi Ogutu (recorded on day 4 at his home) and William Odondi Matara, also known as Odondi Diel Matara (interview and several tunes recorded before master…
We started at the Ngalawa Hotel recording Kithara who we had to stop recording on Day 3 because of noise. It was great we could get them all to come to the hotel unexpectedly today. After this we drove back to Stonetown to record at the DCMA and the Culture Musical Club. The three groups: …
