Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…nts and vocals that will be used and make sure these have appropriate microphones and will be seen by the video team. The purpose of Video 2 is to zoom in on these performances so we want our ‘leads’ stationed close to Video 2 if possible. Song Length Our first job is to record the song as written no matter the length. But it is very common for the groups to honour the Singing Wells team by extended their songs – this is a huge complement to the a…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…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, audio, then Video 1, 2 and 3 confirm they are ‘speedi…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…er time with us about hearing the sounds of African music. Last night, she and Andy played together, with Andy working out a guitar part. So first, we recorded the two of them. Then, we decided that if she was writing about hearing the sounds of African music, she should hear the sounds. So James worked with Jovah on a beautiful line, where she sang about the Batwa people being driven from the parks. Then Passy worked on a separate melody line fol…
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…There’s ethnographic information about the tribes and the history of the bands, and some tracks even include the recommended dance steps that go with them. There are still bands performing in the muziki wa dansi style, which enjoyed something of a resurgence with the 50th anniversary of independence. One is King Kiki, who has been playing rhumba-inspired music in the Tanzanian capital, Dar-es-Salaam, for over 50 years. But he admits that this mus…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…nior was a great teacher, teaching many people how to play the tube fiddle and xylophone. He would showcase Ugandan music at the Ugandan museum, together with lots of other musicians of his time. He gave dozens of workshops in Europe. But he was illiterate. Peter Cook was taught by him. And his son Andy Cook who lives in Edinburough. “ Here’s their music And that was it for Kampala. We packed and divided up. Jimmy, Tabu and James drove together to…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…uring her school life she was best dancer in 2007 and 2010 in high school, and best dancer in her university in 2010 and 2011. Musoke Meddy: He is a senior member of Nile Beat and the treasurer in group. Meddy was voted the best dancer in the Uganda in 2004 and in 2008. The Group performed five songs: Ikobo Kobo: The name is a type of herb. It is a song about a girl who is very bitter because her mother will not let her play with her friends freel…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…y along age lines on the fundamental issue of fish vs. sleep. Tabu, Jimmy, Andy and Vicki voted sleep and we had food delivered to our cottages, ate and went to bed early. Steve, Patrick, Jacinta, Nick and Robert voted fish and went off the local casino for ‘the best fish in Uganda.’ Tabu was smartest of all, of course, and convinced the kitchen to cook fish in the traditional Kenyan style AND went to sleep early. We loved recording at the hotel s…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…d like a dance off between the ‘male dancers’ standing in the back of the band and the xylophone players, urging them on with faster and faster beats. One by one the dancers would jump over the xylophone players to perform in front of them. The players would give the dancers fantastic beats and eventually they would retreat and another dancer would join. All great fun. James Isabirye says, “This area, where they come from is known for the Xylophon…
Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…was a hill, with the school and a couple large trees, under which our two bands rested and changed clothes – each song brought new and more beautiful costumes. Before the performances started we also spent quite a bit of time filming ‘drum tuning’, which involves a lot of fire, a lot of water, some spitting and very careful brick placement. We had two groups. The “first group” started with a drum solo, but then handed over to the second group to g…
Who’s looking at you? Story
…This little fan joined us along Lake Victoria to record some of the best Nyatiti players in Kenya in November 2011….
Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…is a big inspiration. His music had a lot of good messages about identity. Best and worst Singing Wells moment? The worst was the day when Jimmy poured water on Andy. He was trying to get something from the tent and somehow, I’m not sure how it happened, he ended up soaking Andy. Actually, thinking about it now it wasn’t the worst, it was pretty funny! The worst was driving from Mombasa to Malindi at night, it was dangerous. The road was narrow, u…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…ant 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 of extraordinary talent and their music provides a soundtrack for the costs of all simple solutions; well-intentioned actions to protect an animal species have marginalised…
Current Leading Figures News
…East African music industry’, Tabu has been a promoter, producer, composer and band manager and, since 2007, the founding Executive Director of Ketebul Music. However, the projects in which he is involved reach far and wide, with his expertise and passion not just being limited to the invaluable work he does at Singing Wells and Ketebul Music. Tabu co-chairs the committee of the “Spotlight on Kenyan Music“ project – a video from the 2013 festival…
Singing Wells in Numbers…. News
…Andy did a litte homework for this one: Number of recordings of groups: 374 (this does not include other recordings like Magic Moments, Influences, etc…) Number of groups recorded: 83 Number of hours of music: 27 hours and 30 minutes. …
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…ned. I know that Hugh Tracy blamed Christianity. The churches came to the land and convinced the people that the old ways were evil. Traditional instruments with drums were part of the pagan culture and needed to be erased. Traditional songs about spirits, about witch doctors needed to be ended and replaced with Christian music. James: I think that explains some of it. But the church no longer does that and yet we still reject the old ways. I thin…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…of Independent Music. Horizons joined up members from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. We were pleased to be sited next to New Zealand across the way and next door were South Africa! Podcast Andy recorded a few snippets of audio for an upcoming podcast – which will feature on the site soon. The Team A big thanks to Mike and Louise who were marvellous evangelists for the project over the course of the 4 days. Here is a picture of us all at o…