We have just heard the good news that the Institute of International Education has approved a grant to support the Singing Wells trip to Uganda to record the music and dance of the Batwa people. We are delighted that our proposal was successful and that the IIE agreed with our rationale for taking the project to the Batwa to increase awareness of their unique music and dance traditions.
In our proposal, we outlined our rationale as follows:
“The overall aim of the Singing Wells project is to identify, record, preserve and promote the cultural music heritage of East Africa. In taking the project to Uganda to document and record the traditional music and dance of the Batwa, we can help to stem the tide which is threatening to obscure the music traditions of this ethnic group. The SWP will ensure that the unique sights and sounds of the Batwa are fully and professionally documented, preserved for the future and promoted to a wide audience through all media platforms.
We also intend that the SWP will provide a positive and lasting benefit for the whole Batwa community. The immediate benefit will be a source of new income as each of the music groups will receive a gratuity payment for their performances.
The lasting benefit will be the preservation, awareness and appreciation of the Batwa people and their cultural music heritage. The SWP will literally put the Batwa back on the map as we add their music and dance to the ‘Discover the Music’ map on the Singing Wells website. We will make the recordings available to other NGOs and ethnomusicologists and we hope this will, in time, provide new opportunities and sources of income for the Batwa.
In planning our visit, we have worked closely with UOBDU and the Forest Peoples Programme to ensure that the Bawta community receive the maximum benefit from the Singing Wells project. “
To download our full proposal, please click here: Grant Proposal