Day Five: February 20, 2020 (DCMA) Story
…udeja – Kirundo group started with this song they had composed. Tarajazz joined in. Nyumbani – Tarajazz started and Kirundo joined in. They improvised together. It was wonderful to see the combination of traditional instruments such as the Tanzanian drums, Kaliba, shakers and sticks along side more Western instruments such as the piano, saxophone, cajon and high hat. Culture Musical Club Taarab Orchestra – this culture club is one of the oldest…
Day Three: Bungoma Town to Kakamega Story
…rning to education and getting a three year business degree at Dominion Training Center. We then spoke about the songs they were performing: Chapa Llale: This is a love song. Nasenya: A song about a man that gave his girlfriend special potions to love him more. But it failed to make her love him more and only led to more friction and fighting. Namusia: This is about a group of people known for their witchcraft. Magic moment 1: Ndirenje: Wilbert pl…
Winyo Staff Profile
…apparent once you hear him sing. His voice has been likened to that of a singing bird. He is a singer/songwriter of great sensitivity and an acoustic guitar player, backed by his 5-piece band of accomplished musicians. Winyo derives his music and musical strength from his fore fathers whose African music was rich in melody and traditional harmonies. His musical style ranges from traditional Luo melodies infused with witty story lines, afro fusion…
Tabu Osusa Staff Profile
…ng Series. Supported by the Ford Foundation Office of Eastern Africa, the Retracing Series is a research based documentary project whose main objective is to research, archive and document the musical culture of Kenya. Tabu is the East Africa Project Co-ordinator for Singing Wells. His extensive knowledge of the East African music industry is integral to the strategic planning of the field visits and identifying inspirational, cultural music group…
Unyago Group
…d things that women talk about to themselves – very suggestive songs but using innuendo, so all deniable if called out. Traditionally, these were all songs that were part of wedding rituals and used to prepare the bride. Songs about girls becoming women. The singers come from the Wagindo people, who came from Malawi to Zanzibar, probably through the slave trade. When the British stopped the slave trade they then stayed. This band has a strong Afri…
Fanuel Amimo Group
…tinues to play omutibo. Raised in a family of musicians, Amimo started playing in early childhood. H recorded his first single in 1964 with David Amunga as producer, in a studio owned by Andre Crawford and Betty Tete. His second record was produced by Sammy Osere for Lamore record label, while his third song led to his fall out with Polygram records in 1974. After that, he started producing himself and established his own label entitled African Be…
Uganda: Music from the Central and Eastern Region Gallery
…Images from the Singing Wells field recording visit to Uganda 2013. Our journey took us from Entebbe to Kampala, Kidinda, Bukada, Mbale, Jinja and the small village of Idudi near Iganga where we recorded music of the Baganda, Bagisu, Bagwere, Basoga and Banyoli. We were fortunate to receive sponsorship from The Mara Group and Gorilla Tours for this visit and many of our photos feature our thank you message to both organisations. …
Here for Research? Page
…ou’re looking for in-depth reports from our time in the field, or easy to find information regarding the groups we have met, you are in the correct place. Below you will find all of the research we have collated within our 10 years of experience recording the music of East Africa. Field Reports Our daily reports written from the field during our yearly trips. Head here for detailed information about the performances we record, the musicians we mee…
Day One: The Iteso People and their Music Story
…ere: Omuian’gi: A song about ‘in-laws’, where the in-laws are always complaining about the cooking of the daughter in law. They are never satisfied. Imadede: The name of a man with horrible manners. He gossips. He poisons neighbours if he is jealous of their success. In the song, the performers ‘call him out’, letting the whole village know this is a man of bad character. Achaung Kakolong: This is a song sung during droughts. Everyone in the villa…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…” and “Agneta Mama”. We also recorded an Influencessession with Fadhilee joining them on the third guitar. Finally, the last session of SW Western Kenya fieldtrip was recording Johnstone Mukabi, the son of legendary George Mukabi, founder of omutibomusic genre and one of the most prominent figures of Luhya music history. Travelling from Eldoret town, Johnstone arrived to the set late and upon arrival immediately sat behind his guitar for recording…
Our Sponsors Page
…would like thank all the organisations and individuals who have supported Singing Wells to date, including the following: The Ciputra Group Type of sponsorship: Supporting Singing Wells projects in 2014 Thank you to The Ciputra Group for their generous support in 2014. Funds will be directed towards the Singing Wells project to repatriate the music recordings of Hugh Tracey currently archived in the International Library of African Music (ILAM) to…
Day Five: January 22, 2019 Mwanza Continued Story
…He was the Prime Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania, from 2008-2015. He is now a Patron of the Cultural Yamnyausi Foundation. That evening both Ministers hosted a fund raiser for the Foundation and invited Singing Wells members as special guests. We were greatly honoured to be part of such an important evening and enjoyed the entertainment and the MC’s skill as a fundraiser! Meeting with Mizengo Kayanza Peter Pinda….
Guy Morley Staff Profile
…d Director of No Nation. No Nation is an independent UK based arts programming and promotion company. Some of the festivals that Guy has programmed include The Big Chill, Brighton Festival and African Soul Rebels. Guy is also a freelance music promoter and DJ. In the course of his career he has produced a radio show called Afro Base, on Juice 107.2 and Totallyradio.com and been the resident DJ in several venues in Manchester. Working under the nam…
Ketebul Music Group
…r, but succinct, popular version of the academic report and is contained in an attractively designed booklet. To reinforce it is an audio CD featuring re-releases of previous recordings along with a video documentary carrying intensive interviews, analyses, stage performances and archive footage. The global remix of the Abubilla Music song ‘Missing’ was partly recorded at the Ketebul Music studios and can be seen in the video above. …
3. Background of the Naizungwe drums Story
…pdate on the progress of the Naizungwe drums, James Isabirye, who is co-ordinating the project gives us some background information about the drums and the traditions from which they come: Where do they originally come from and who played them? Uganda has about 65 ethnic societies according to the 1995 constitution. Each ethnic society had a way it was organized socially before the advent of colonialism. Most of the societies were and still are or…
Day Two: February 17, 2020 (Stonetown) Story
…ki who teaches music in the DCMA. Kidumbak is a musical style with three main influences: Taarab, Unyago and Rumba. Dumba stands for a large drum. So Kidumba is a smaller, bongo style drum. Adding Ki to the beginning of the word makes it small. Mohamed Othman had no musicians in his family. He became interested in Kidumbak style music at 16 and taught himself the violin and bass. He went to Egypt off and on for six years on a scholarship from the…