Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…es Isabirye said of the Busolwe Post Test Club , “They are a meeting point between formal education and village music. Although they perform traditional music, they also will also work in different formats, and are more formally trained. They act as music judges and help to identify new talent. Most of the members are teachers that are being trained and are training. They are highly creative and dramatic.” The Namaddu Troupe The second group was t…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…es Isabirye, our musical expert, about this group. “This group does not perform formally anymore, because they have no platform. The King invited them to play but no longer does. They have great songs, they have a great history but today they are silent. No one asks to listen to them. This is so sad. How do we revive demand for what was one of the sixth great ensemble bands commission by the king to play exclusively in the palace?” The Kika Boys C…
We’re discovering the lost music of the Ugandan Kingdoms News
…ld Reports section. Including: Some background and the beginning of our journey to discover the lost royal drums of the Buganda Kingdom Context on the Entenga royal drums we’ve been searching for The story of Musisi – a drummer from the royal palaces and the fall of the Buganda Kingdom Some information on the progress of the Bigwala trumpets – an instrument we restored on a previous field trip Interviews with the palace players and a great deal of…
Singing Wells surpasses 500,000 YouTube hits! News
…port. Our YouTube channe l features videos from our trips across Kenya and Uganda, including visiting the tribes of the Kenyan Coast, Central and Eastern Uganda, our work to share the music of the Batwa community and the Luo community. We’ve told the story of repatriating Kenya’s music heritage after 50 years and celebrated magic moments – where we’ve found an extra-special artist on our journeys and recorded their work. To celebrate our 500,000th…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…with a Nile Special (and their daily supply of one Pringles can) in hand before midnight. It felt good to be back on Ugandan soil in the familiar environment of the Airport Guesthouse. An early start the next day meant not staying up long on arrival – little did we know that a thunderstorm of biblical proportions was on its way….. A Note About Our Sponsors We are very grateful to have two sponsors for this recording trip. Firstly, The Mara Group a…
Sponsor a Singing Wells recording session News
…ng key talent and inviting them back to Nairobi for recording sessions at our partner Ketebul’s studios, and travelling into eastern Uganda to record several tribal groups in the region. Check out our previous work in Uganda. Now we’re looking for sponsors to help fund our important work discovering, preserving and promoting this traditional music. Find out more about donating to Singing Wells and sponsor our next trip here….
From the streets of Kisoro Uganda to a professional recording session… Story
…Tiny Moses, backed by Winyo, plays guitar and sings in the Ketebul Studios in Nairobi. We discovered Tiny Moses during our visit to Kisoro Uganda to record the Batwa trips. Along with Francis and his wives and Jovah, we brought Tiny Moses and his team back to Nairobi to record them in a professional studio. Johnny and Bishop, on guitar and bass respectfully, joined Winyo to help Tiny Moses. Go here to listen to the result. …
Singing Wells discovers ‘the voice’ Story
… This is Jovah Nyiramajoro. She is the leader of the Mperwa Dancers – the music group of the small community of Mperwa Batwa living on the outskirts of Kisoro, SW Uganda. She is a beautiful woman, full of joy and passion for the traditional music of her fellow Batwa tribes people. But wait until you hear her beautiful voice – we were blown away……..
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…otect the Mountain Gorillas that habitate in the park (travelling back and forth across the Uganda-Rwanda border). The Batwa are a marginalised people, living mostly by tenant farming in scattered villages around Kisoro. They live on the poorest land, and in many cases this means land high up in the green hills of Uganda far from trading villages. Our visit to record the Batwa was supported by UOBDU. What we discovered in the Batwa was musicians o…
Hitching a ride Story
…ur journey from Kisoro to the Birara community while we were in south west Uganda documenting and recording the music of the Batwa. It’s about 35kms by road, most of which is uphill, following the winding road through the stunning, lush countryside. This guy was lucky enough to have a bike and took advantage of the passing lorry. Most people seemed to be on foot and many of the Batwa make the arduous journey to town three times a week, without bei…
Current Leading Figures News
…stringed and wind instruments. However, Julius also feels it is important for Ugandans to experience music outside of their own culture; “it is the only way to test the other western cultures and learn from them. Also it helps Ugandans to improve on their culture and adding more creativity in music.” The Elgon Hero Brass Band produces music outside of the spheres of traditional African music, but according to both James and Tabu, this is not to i…
The story of Anyim Lac Story
…rved to protect the recording equipment but was also the ideal viewing platform for the younger members of the audience. We recorded four music groups that day, starting with the Rubanga Kingom Awach Boys, champions of the likembe. Two further groups, Kal Ker Kware and Waroco Tewkaro, gave us loud and very energetic performances featuring the pulsating rhythms of the bul (drums) and agwara (calabash drum) and some highly charged dancing. But sandw…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…the contract, Smithsonian had to keep nearly all of the albums ‘in print’ forever, for posterity. It honours this through its custom order service: “Whether it sells 8,000 copies each year or only one copy every five years, every Folkways title remains available for purchase.” Their mission, which the legacy of Asch, is ‘to document “people’s music,” spoken word, instruction, and sounds from around the world’ and is committed to ‘to cultural dive…
Amone Watmon Matthew Story
…eat of the equatorial sun and then invited the Watmon Cultural Group to perform for us. Their performance was exactly that – the group of dancers and musicians playing the calabash walked in from the right hand side of our ‘stage’ dancing and singing. We recorded two tracks in this lineup. He then began to perform on a stringed instrument, while singing along, in close rhythm with another player and a third playing simple percussion on a calabash….
A History of Recording East African Music News
…om 1978. He is stated to have recorded hundreds of tribes and is commended for forming close relationships with them, which allowed him to gain permission to record their music. Mary K. Oyer, b. 1923 Mary Oyer graduated from Goshen College – a private Christian college, historically affiliated with the Mennonite Church – in 1945, but was soon to return as she was invited to teach the General Education course integrating the study of music and vi…
Tracey Instrument Collection News
…gives it the ‘crackling’ sound. The legavaan is now actually endangered in Uganda, as it is demanded so much for drums, lyres and fiddles. Endara log xylophone The xylophone is 263.5cm long, made up of 16 roughly cut keys and tuned to a pentatonic scale. It is played using one beater, which is attached to the xylophone by string and can be played by up to five people at one time. This frame was actually made by Hugh Tracey, after he collected it i…