Kochia Traditional Dancers Group
…as a strong history, being found in 1965, and since then its members have dedicated themselves to entertaining guests at countless national celebrations and holidays, private events, as well as internationally as part of the Folklife Festival in the UK and in the USA at the Smithsonian Folk Festival. As well as this they are determined with their performance to preserve the incredible Ramogi dancing, a mainstay of traditional Luo culture. Ramogi w…
Watmon Cultural Group Group
…lout of the war against Idi Amin’s regime, many people were looking for an escape, and the troupe presented just such an opportunity. The group performed for President George Bush during a state visit to Uganda. They were also recorded in 2012 for the BBC’s World Routes album, presented by ethnomusicologist Lucy Duran. Their performance was described by Sounds and Colours as an ‘instrumental extravaganza’. Sources: Sounds and Colours www.dailymoni…
Ayub Ogada Group
…day at his home in Nyahera location, not far from Kisumu town, and conducted a long yet free of form type of interview. Although a Luo himself, Ayub had never learned how to play the nyatiti in a traditional setting. He picked it up later in his career and studied from a player/teacher at the national cultural centre of Bomas of Kenya in the 1980s. He remembers he had gone for 6 lessons (at a 100 shillings) only and then continued practicing and…
Bukaala Twesitule Troupe Group
…meanings “Bana Uganda Banange”: It is about a particular brand of beer called Senator Lager. It has contributed to the local economic development because it uses ingredients grown in Uganda. “Abag’ageno”: Talks about HIV and the factors influencing the spread of HIV and how the community can come together to deal with it. Very tragic song telling the story of deaths with man sobbing at one point. “Akabira” (Worship Song): Means a small forest wher…
Group 4: Urugangaze Ballet Story
…fog (limiting visibility to 5 meters). Here’s a bit of the rain! We survived and arrived at the Ethnographic Museum, where we recorded two groups. The first was the Urugangaze Ballet, a group of 55 performers in total (we saw 21 today). They are all made up of locals of different ages, the furthest being from Nyanza. The group was started in 1991 by Tomas Bazatsinda, and since then has only grown, performing at weddings and ceremonies around Rwan…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…s led by Wilimbwa Julius. Julius is a member of the Bagisu tribe, who founded it in 2009 as a group for orphans or disadvantaged youths. Julius helps these students develop their natural talents to the next level, in the hope of finding work with their skills. He struggled through his teens with no support, but found his way gradually as a musical performer, working with the National Theatre and various troupes around Mbale. He was always extremel…
Day 2 – Sunday 2nd July 2017 Story
…not all know how to do it correctly. Meshack Okoth Okumu K’orengo then played for us, accompanied with a choir of 5 men of different age, 3 tunes on his nyatiti. The tunes were recorded as follows: Koblo gi long maratong’ Owino Konjwang’ Ojung’ Kogera The recording of songs was followed by a short interview. Probably the most interesting finding of this session was the fact that younger traditional players do not (or only exceptionally) compose ne…
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…groups on our yearly field visits. But aside from this, we have always aimed to showcase this incredible music with the wider global music community to show just how innovative and exciting this music is. With that in mind, as we approach our 10 year anniversary, we want to truly combine these two missions and celebrate how music in the modern age can transcend global barriers. Alongside our partners, London record label, Abubilla Music, and Keny…
Support Singing Wells Page
…ing and performing in the future. The songs and videos we record are archived and published, giving each group further opportunities to gain an income from their music. Our Gift to You As well as a special thank you on our website, we’ll send you details of the song your donation funded and an MP3 download of the track, plus a commemorative digital Singing Wells poster. Donate £25 and Sponsor a Song CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW * Please note: donation…
Group 2: Sophie Nzayisenga Story
…d Nyangezi. Nyangezi: Magic Moment Kamananga: Magic Moment For more recordings, here’s a link to Antonovka Records recording of Sophie, recorded in October 2018 and featured on Bandcamp: click here. …
Day Three: Bungoma Town to Kakamega Story
…ilbert told us the history of the band. The band, Bungoma Roots Band, started in 2005 when all the members were young men at the Kumugui Secondary School, in the Michimeru Village. Wilbert and his school friends formed a band and competed with other school bands. They were quite good and had all their school fees paid for. During breaks from playing at the school they took up ‘Marketing’ and showed up at any events that were being held. After grad…
Privacy Policy Page
…tout There is also the chance that other services on our site – such as embedded videos from YouTube, may also cause cookies to be saved to your machine. The other services we use on our site include Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. Why are we telling you this? Well the European Union have introduced a new directive that makes it a requirement for websites to get consent for using cookies. Nothing has changed at singingwells.dev – except for the li…
Andy Patterson Staff Profile
…composers. He has worked with Abubilla Music for around 5 years and has co-engineered and produced all of the releases to date. His past clients have included the late Gerry Rafferty, Q Radio, Bauer Media and Live8. His role for The Singing Wells project sees him heading up the engineering team in the field. He also works on the post production back in the UK and is responsible for the Singing Wells podcasts. For more information, please check ou…
Day Five: January 22, 2019 Mwanza Continued Story
…p: From Kagera Bukoba and part of the Wahaya Community, this group was formed in 2000 and performs in the Akasimbo style. Their instruments are: Kangote (Drums), Akafotho (hand whistling), Enganja: Clapper – two wooden ‘bricks’ struck together, and they wear Ebisheshe (grasses). We recorded four performances: Wachumba Walya: A song about someone who is too mean-spirited to support his community even though he has lots of money, it is about a man “…
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…. The stories that we have heard, through song or interviews, have far exceeded our expectations for the project. What started as a tiny experiment into recording a few groups performing in their villages has grown into something far beyond what we imagined. What we have captured in our videos and audio recordings is extraordinary artistry and musicianship, reflecting years of training and practice in the ‘village classroom.’. Each of these musici…
Recording Resources Page
…ith almost 10 years of experience in the field, we feel incredibly privileged to have worked alongside some amazing musical technicians, videographers and ethnomusicologists. However, it has taken us time to really work out the best processes for working effectively out in the field. With that in mind, we have created some resources for other groups to use for working in the field. Please feel free to use the below resources for your field trips i…