Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…by all as the pioneer of omutibo, arguably the most popular musical genre in the region. It would not be our first meeting with Johnstone Mukabi since we had previously featured him on the Singing Wells project in April 2018. He later came to Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi in May that year and recorded a few songs that are yet to be officially released. Going through a narrow winding road we arrived at the Small Matters Park, our first location…
Global Influences Project: Loop Library Page
…ral Group – 154BPM Nyatiti group – 158bpm Kidinda Cultural Group – 158bpm singingwells · SW Samples – Adungu Cultural Troupe 111BPM Adungu Cultural Troupe – 111BPM The Adungu Cultural troupe are based in Kampala, Uganda and the main focus of their music is (you guessed it) the Adungu. You can find out more about the band here. You can watch the full visual performance of this song on our Youtube channel by clicking here. Download the loop Aloka Oh…
Day Two: February 17, 2020 (Stonetown) Story
…, reminiscent of the rhiads in Marrakech with lots of small courtyards. In the Emerson Spice Hotel we filmed the first two groups in a courtyard usually used for meals in the hotel. While it became very hot as the sun hit the stage for the second group, the overall setting was beautiful – a lush green courtyard, with incredible music. The hotel was very gracious to allow us to record in their ‘secret garden’ especially when our recording sessi…
Support Singing Wells Page
How you can sponsor the Singing Wells Project Singing Wells is a charitable project, managed and funded by the Abubilla Music Foundation a UK registered charity (reg. no: 1142173). Our work to record, archive and share the music of East Africa is funded by donations. Funds are used to support our field recording trips, provide a permanent music archive and also to help the communities we visit gain an income from their music. You can help us sup…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…reached our destination in no time, given the vastly improved road network in the region. Along the way, we passed through Rodi Kopany, a small center with an interesting historical background. The name Rodi Kopany was derived from the words ‘Road Company’ because back in the day a campsite for the laborers building the tarmac roads in the region was located there. It would appear the full name of the company in English was too much of a mouthful…
Day Two: January 19, 2019 From Tarime to Buturi to Bariadi Story
…be/u7xcXahAlzI Group 2: Upendo Jazz: The group is from the Murangi Village in the Mara Region and their community is Wajita and their style is Vidogori. They were founded in 1999. Their instruments included: Ngoma za Budogori (drums, with a kick) and Njiga (shakers from gourds). It is worth taking a minute on the drums. They were typical African drums, but set up Western Style on a steel rack and they leaned one large bass drum against the rack. T…
The Luo of Kenya Album
This album features a selection of the music recorded as part of the Singing Wells trip to record the Music of the Luo in Western Kenya. The album begins in Rang’ala village – with The Sega Sega band led by Osumba Rateng, and then a Dodo group led by Ogoya Nengo. We next move to Aluny Village – with performances from The Joginda Boys, Otieno Aloka and the late Okumu K’Orengo and his Nyatiti Group. The Kochia Traditional Dancers gave a very visual…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…nist is popularly known). After taking a few photos to prove to the award-winning cartoonist that we actually visited his ancestral home, we continued with our journey. Our location for recording that day was Dunga Hill Camp, right by the shores of Lake Victoria. After a quick survey, our camera crew settled for a spot indoors, next to the fireplace. Lined up were three musical acts and the first to arrive was Peter Akwabi, one of the few survivin…
FAQ’s Page
What is the Singing Wells project? Singing Wells is a project jointly operated by Ketebul Music, a non profit music studio in Kenya and the The Abubilla Music Foundation, a UK registered charity. Our goal is to preserve the music traditions of East Africa and make this music relevant to the next generation of musicians and fans. Who works for the Singing Wells project? Our team is made up of audio and video engineers from both Ketebul Music and…
Day Two: 8 March 2022 (Ilesi) Story
…back them up. One of the band members played the harmonica but it was only in the C key and so it was left out of the recordings of songs on different keys. Guest musicians Fiston, Ben and Gido also had to take a little time to play in sync with the polyrhythmic beats of the Iteso of Western Kenya. When the tuning session was finally figured out the actual recording started at about 17:00 hours. The three sisters and their two brothers have pleasa…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…ungu), Wamumdu Albashir (bass Adungu), Kyasowbayo Joseph (xylophone) and Dkining David (tube fiddle). The songs played were: “Isongja”: a pre-circumcision song and dance where boys are challenged to get ready for the ritual. “Kadodi Imbalu Dance”: this is about the circumcision ritual itself and involves the boy being reluctant and getting help from others to be brave. The song closes with a section about the boy having and surviving the ritual. “…
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…surance, our plates, and at times, they just wanted to know what we were thinking. So lovely. So many stops. But we digress. From the Dodoma Hotel, we drove about 90 minutes to Nzali to record four groups: Group 1: Makunga: This group is from Dodoma and the Wagogo Community, which they argued is the main indigenous community of Tanzania (always from the land, never migrated into Tanzania. The group was formed in 2018, but was built on a much old…
Imachina Group
…them to pick their favourite processions and then play a couple songs within these. They played: The Shirembe procession, which is a special funeral for a very big local hero, where you might even stage a bullfight on the grave. The songs included: Kutaywa: Literally means a ‘cock’ and is to let you know that this is a great man, who ‘rules the roost’ so to be speak. The singer mourns that a great man is lost and there might be no one to take car…
The Batwa of Kisoro Album
The Singing Wells project travelled to Kisoro in southern Uganda in late November 2011. There we met and recorded the music of the Batwa communities. We were so taken by the music we heard, we then invited some of the musicians back to Nairobi to record more of their music at the Ketebul Studios. The album begins in the village of the Birara Community – with the village leader Francis taking the main role on the performance. The Mperwa dancers ar…
Day Zero: 6 March 2022 – Travel To Stream Story
…sic were prompted to reconstitute our infrastructure and operations by obtaining software and equipment necessary to set up mobile live streaming studio services and travel to provide live concert streaming opportunities for musicians based in remote areas. Our mission to travel and stream in Western Kenya was made possible by funds from Hivos, with the additional support from the Abubilla Foundation. Travel to Stream After one week’s training and…
Aynu Traditional Group Group
…ion. The Lugbara Tribe Population: Around 900,000 History: They were known in the 19th century as ‘The Naked People’, due to the lacking importance of clothes in their culture. In the early days, the Lugbara were a mainly chiefdom-based community. They did not have kingdoms and kings presiding over them as like other ethnic groups in Uganda. They mainly had chiefs who were their leaders. They formed friendly alliances with neighbouring chiefdoms t…