The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…bdul Karim, now runs the outlet with no less great passion. It is a shrine for many Kenyans who have either been away from the country for long or reside outside the capital. They visit it to collect old hits every time they are in Nairobi. Melodica has also received numerous musicians eager to experiment with Kenyan styles and Western-based researchers anxious to locate a local music archive. Melodica produced Juma Odundo, Adams Nyahone and Ochie…
Latest Field Trip – Kenya 2018 News
…We’ve returned from our latest field trip, this time to western Kenya. Field reports coming soon….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…ottle percussionist.’ In the 80’s, Shem formed a new band, Les Bunyore , before reforming Abana ba Nasery in the ’90’s. We recorded six songs with him. Muhanna Mulando Obuyanzi Kali Munda Olubo Mary Queen John Nzanze One of the founders of “African Twist”, John enjoyed a major hit with ‘Angelique Twist’ in 1961. Born in 1940, he started playing his father’s guitar at 12. His band, Air Fiesta Matata, achieved fame, having come in third in the 1968…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
…ied to an educated man. This song challenges the woman to get an education in order to be at par with the prospective spouse. We then wrapped up and took lots of final pictures, including of three children, practically our only children from the trip! We packed for a final time and departed for Nairobi. We made pretty good time to Ketebul music, where we unloaded our gear. Then we headed for the Fairview, a 20 minute drive that took about 90 minut…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…cation in a hut built specifically for the ritual. There they are isolated for seven days before the circumcision itself. The boys are then led by 3-4 men, their ‘God Fathers’ who are assigned to look after them through the ritual. In Lewis’s case, he had one God Father, who played a supportive role throughout. In Steve’s case, there were three men, who took on a ‘good cop’ and ‘bad cop’ role – one always helping and reassuring the boys, and the o…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…d musical styles. While this is being done, the video team picks the site (for best visual impact, performance area, quietness) and then audio and video set up as a single team. Song Recording The interview team then gives the gives ‘Mr Clapperboard’ the song list and introduce the group to the audio/video team. Mr Clapperboard then confirms each song with the group leader, writes down all group/song/take information, and kicks of song. In order,…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…ambani District. 12 women and 2 men, formed in the 80’s and inspired to perform at political forum. The group also uses the Vilingi (whistle). They performed 4 songs: Kiuluni Kui Landeni (going to London) Mbovoi Kisanga Kumbaka Asee The group is led by Margaret Mbia and plays in the musical style of Kilumi, wathi wa kikamba. They are also from the Kamba ethnic community (ukamba wa kitui). They have 15 members and are inspired by kithio kya mukambu…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 0 – London/Nairobi Story
…to our Field Reports. We spent our Saturday packing and preparing the vans for the trip. Let’s remind you of our team – we cheated and took photos from the trip that follows: Tabu Osusa STEVE KIVUTIA & PATRICK ONDIEK NICK ABONYO GREGG TWENDA LEWIS KOOME RALPH SIPALLA JONAH KEGAH KENNETH KIPSANG Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team For this trip, we are Jimmy Allen (Video 2) and Andy Paterson (Audio 1). We spent our Saturday travelling from…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…ep and about hard working women. Unlike those days when women used to wait for men to provide for everything, nowadays, they wake up early and go to work. Olugend’olw’ebukakkata: He went to visit a village called Bukakkata. He found a girl who was seeing two men who didn’t know each other. She was still in her parents’ home so she was not allowed to be seeing men. One day, the parents found a man peeping through the window and canned him because h…
Kenya’s Amazing Musical Instruments News
…ument sound more like a bass. We were treated to an impressive Nyangile performance by a group called The Young Stars in the village of Rongo, not far from Homa Bay in western Kenya. Watch them here: Burkandit The Burkandit is a type of home-made guitar that features in Kalenjin music. We saw one being played in 2012 by the masterful Ben Kisinja in Kapsokwony, not far from Kitale. At the time Ben was joined by a percussionist playing the karachime…
Interview: fusion band Ndoto Afrika News
…about yourself and Ndoto Afrika – what’s your story? They say stories live forever and one famous Kenyan writer keeps saying that a story is good, until another is told. We are here to share with the world how wonderful it is to be born and raised in Africa. Sadly, the urban African youths are so consumed with the modern technology that they no longer are willing to sit by the evening fire and listen to stories. So we will have to transmit these s…
Before They Pass Away News
…mburu people in Northern Kenya as they travelled across the land searching for new plains for their cattle, and the Maasai in Tanzania. Singing Wells too has travelled extensively across Kenya, meeting remote tribes like the Pokot Tribe, the Marakwet Tribe and the Ameru Ethnic Community. In a Ted Talk, he shared some of the fascinating rituals that he came across on his travels. Nelson’s objective, he says, was to reveal ‘beauty’. “I believe that…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…bale to Nakisene (from Mbale south toward Inganga, turning East toward the Kenyan border, just before Buggiri, we turned toward Idudi). The Recording Site: The village was far off road, along a dirt path perfectly suited to cows and motorcycles, but slightly more challenging to big vans of the four wheel variety. But, as always, we made it to the location, passing lovely red-mud huts along the way. The village was a large one, probably 7-8 huts su…
Happy new year from Singing Wells News
…one of the last remaining drummers of the Buganda Kingdom in Uganda. He performed for the King during his time at the Buganda Palace before fleeing in fear when the government arrived to shut the palace down. Here’s is Musisi’s incredible story. 3. We checked in on the preservation of the Bigwala trumpets The Bigwala is a trumpet-style instrument made from gourds. Singing Wells has been supporting the work of James Isabirye to preserve this fantas…
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…
Singing Wells surpasses 500,000 YouTube hits! News
…work. To celebrate our 500,000th YouTube hit, we’ve put together a selection of our most popular videos. We hope you enjoy, and please keep visiting our channel and sharing the traditional music of East Africa with the world. Recording Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club perform in Gede, Kilifi, Kenya on our Singing Wells Pilot trip in 2011. A brief collage of the story of the recording of the music of The Batwa in Uganda and then back in Nairobi at Keteb…