Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…ched bundles are then sold at the market to businesses that are working on new thatched roofs or those needing repairs. A thatched roof lasts for between five and ten years. Then there are the charcoal makers and sellers. The thatch ladies ensure that the roads are dotted with thatch pillars. The charcoal makers burn the charcoal and then fill five foot high white bags of charcoal that line the roads in groups of 4-5. We often mistake them for nun…
Singing Wells – The Story So Far News
…ill help give much needed financial support to tribal music groups in East Africa. By supporting these artists, we can help them keep their cultural music traditions alive and give them opportunities to gain a sustainable income from their music. Thank you. Preview our book “Victoria, I’ve just received the Singing Wells Project book. It’s fantastic to see what the project is doing ! Thanks for sharing, Nick” Nick Blazquez, President|Africa, DIA…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…okay, very dark. The good news is we have good lighting equipment. The bad news, good lights attract bugs. These are Nile bugs, mind you, so in addition to the millions of little moths you’d expect, we had bat size critters, from very big grasshoppers to fairly intimidating beetles. Our recording sessions were part Singing Wells and part BBC wildlife documentary. We reassured ourselves that at least the bugs that whacked into you were unlikely to…
ATTA is following Singing Wells News
…featured on the front page of their website under the ‘ATTA Likes’ banner! Thank you ATTA – we will keep you posted on our travels in East Africa with news, photos and wonderful music! Victoria…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
…s playing Mbeta. We loved these musicians the fun of the traditional dances. You got mad at the stubborn girl, you got scared when the hunter returned and you celebrated for the new chief. On the way to Fort Murchison where we were staying, we saw some spectacular stormy scenes as we crossed the River Nile:…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…and in particular, collaborate with contemporary music artists to generate new material for ‘Influences’ – a series of new songs influenced and inspired by traditional themes. Our aim is to provide a lasting benefit for the Batwa community in Uganda and we are doing this through our continuing relationship with UOBDU. We were delighted to receive this message from Henry Neza, UOBDU Capacity Building Officer and our liaison contact with the Batwa c…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…to our equipment lists all of the time as we refine our methods and learn new techniques and face new challenges. For our next field recording trip to northern Uganda (December 2012), this is the list of everything we will be taking with us: 2 Apple 17″ MacBook Pro 2 MOTU Traveler MK3 Audio Interface 4 Headphone amps 8 Sony MDR-V600 headphones 2 Shure mics & stands 2 Rode Lavalier omni-directional mics 2 Rode NTG-1 condenser Shotgun mics 1 Matche…
UOBDU report on Singing Wells visit to the Batwa, Kisoro Uganda News
…all the music groups who performed for the Singing Wells project. The good news is that being involved in the project seems to have given the groups a new and added pride for their music and has inspired them to practice their dances so that they can confidently perform to more audiences. It is also clear that the financial contribution made to UOBDU by the Abubilla Music Foundation has gone a long way to improve the quality of life for the Batwa…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…ging Wells 2012 shirt! He also got one of our Polaroid pictures. This is a new innovation for us – every group gets to listen to their song back during their performance and we take a Polaroid photo of each person so they can take a photo home. Then a quick 50 kilometer ride back to Gulu (smile) taking photos the whole way home of great road scenes. We then bought some Ugandan instruments in Gulu and William, Akello and Hannah feasted on some gras…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…thern Uganda. Within minutes we were deeply immersed in the ‘classic’ East African road scene: big tall white bags of coal, with grass helmets, bricks in various stages of manufacturer (either drying or firing), pyramids of potatoes, tomatoes on patches of blankets under trees, tiny goats tethered near the road side to pick at a fresh patch of grass, bike rider riding with small loads or walking their bikes with large loads (this trips winner was…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…spend time doing work experience in preparation. I was introduced to this new way of displaying data when working for the Virtue Foundation in 2011. They were keen on this new technique and trained me to use it for mapping health data in Ghana (example shown below). This was in collaboration with Harvard University. Following on that I spent some time working with the GIS department at Harvard in Boston specifically learning how to use the mappin…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…e keys objectives of the Singing Wells project is to introduce tribal East African music to a new generation of musicians and fans who might not consider it relevant today, through The Influences Series. Some of my favourite prominent Benga musicians of today are Ogwang Lelo Okoth, Musa Juma (below) and Dola Kabarry (below). Instrument: The nyatiti has 8 strings and is usually played sitting down on a three-legged stool known as the ‘Orindi’, it c…
Day 9: Ketebul Studios with Ben Kisinja Story
…d Winyo on vocals. Watch this space. We also continued our work to capture new artists for Missing – Global Remix, our 2012 fund raising song. We had Prasad Velankar, a wonderful Indian percussionist join us to put on new percussion. He plays the Tabla at the speed of light and transformed the song. He was so good, we decided to put together a magic moment. Watch this space for videos. We recorded right through to 9PM and the ‘northern folks’ rush…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…Patrick saw them during the recce for the trip. Below is an image of the Ndere Troupe, who represent the music of the Alur, Acholi, Ateso, Langi, Lugbara, Karamojong and the Batwa (all tribes from the Northern Nilotic and Luo parts of Uganda), who all managed to travel south to their capital and perform traditional music together. We will then fly back to Nairobi and visit Ketebul music, where we can work on our Influence Series. Read more about…
Lango Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…o, Kefa M. (2006). Culture and Customs of Uganda. Ohio: Greenwood Press. (Lango at everculture – 2012) Lango – http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Lango.html#ixzz2AhrHntF4 …
Day 7: In Nairobi – sponsors, blogs and strategy Story
…tend to reject their parents’ and grandparents’ music, hoping to discover new music they can uniquely own. If we spent too much of our time showing only the videos of the few groups we think can be fed into more mainstream music, we are abandoning our mission to record all the styles of East Africa, so others can rediscover them. This topic became a major topic of discussion over our remaining three days and will be a key issue we address as we p…