Current Leading Figures News
…s the project coordinator of the Retracing Series, documentaries which aim to to research, archive and document the musical culture of Kenya, the latest of which ‘Retracing Kenya’s Songs of Protest — Music as a Force for change in Kenya 1963-2013’, was released recently. His extensive background of involvement in the East African music industry can be found on his About Page at Ketebul Music and his thoughts on some of the central issues surroundi…
The story of Anyim Lac Story
…the story of one of those moments. Our story: discovering Anyim Lac It was day 3 of our field recording visit to northern Uganda. We were staying at the Acholi Inn in Gulu and, as usual, gathered in the early morning for the day ahead. We travelled about an hour from Gulu to Awach and the small community of Paibona Tuga which is well known for the music of the likembe, the thumb piano. We found the ideal setting for the performances – under the sh…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…o on the Putumayo site, he highlights the positive change that you can see today; ‘one can hear world music in television commercials, film soundtracks and other mainstream outlets on a daily basis. A hit world music album that may have previously sold only 15,000 copies today can sell hundreds of thousands of copies.’ Putumayo is living proof of this, as they have sold over 20 million CDs since it began, showing world music can be commercially vi…
Amone Watmon Matthew Story
…e. His aim is to teach his children (even those that are not his own) the music of his heritage. We are proud to have worked with the Watmon Cultural Troupe and the resulting recordings and videos are a treat. Click here to go to the Singing Wells group page. You can view more videos from the group on YouTube (click here) where you can also make a donation to support the group through our charity, The Abubilla Music Foundation. …
Archiving Guidelines News
…stitutions, with materials that need to be preserved for differing lengths of time. It also provides information to be passed on to guests of the archive wishing to play materials. Advice can also be found on the Council on Library and Information Resources website. Section 5 of a report, Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling: A Guide for Libraries and Archives, provides a lot of information on specifically long term storage of magnetic tape. A repor…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…rnational Library of African music in 1954, where his 20000 recordings are today stored. The ILAM will be explored further in a later blog of this series. There are a few of Hugh Tracey’s recordings available online on the British Library Sound Archive, under the David Rycroft South African Collection. However, to play these you need to be studying further or higher education to obtain access to these. More Hugh Tracey, his Sounds of Africa and Mu…
Tracey Instrument Collection News
…earliest Ancient Egyptian harps – with the cowhide that stretches over the top of the resonator used to keep it in place. Written on the side of the skin of this ennanga is ‘SSENDEGGE’ which may be the name of the actual maker of the harp, but the harp was obtained by the Traceys by the renowned ennanga player Evaristo Muyinda. The ennanga was formerly the instrument played by the master of music of the Kabaka (King) of the Bugandan people. He wou…
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
…y wanted what is best for me, but this is part of a larger problem we have today. I’ve taught for 20 years now and my concern is that our entire system is training us to be like a white person from England or America, not to be Ugandan. The English and Americans don’t want to know me because I am like them – they know I am not. They want to know me because I am Ugandan, because I am different. And yet that is not what we teach. Tabu: Exactly. Rath…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…lves as being part of Kenya. It took three days of driving across a desert to find them. When they talk about Nairobi, they talk about Kenya and think of it as another country, separate from their own. Songs of Protest: Another project, which took so long for us, was the Songs of Protest Project. We invested a huge amount of time on the book, working on graphics. We were so committed to a great product. My highlight was a group, Jabali Africa, and…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…d Guy Morley who used our stand as a meeting place. We were delighted also to find that there are quite a few other people undertaking similar projects in Colombia, Cameroon and Madagascar – and we look forward to inviting these groups to become partners in our association of sound recordists, once we set it up. There were a lot of countries represented at Womex – showing the important shift that governments are making towards music as a whole – s…
Obuell-Lira and the Macedonia Band Story
…, the Uganda Army re-took control of the area. One of their first acts was to go to each village and accuse them of collaborating, typically killing the men under the assumption that they must have fought with the rebels. For Joshua, this was a terrifying moment because the band was known to have played to the rebels. Again, a group of soldiers came into their village and again their mission was to kill the men and boys of the village. And again,…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…on Ngoma Troupe. As we drove into the centre’s compound, we were surprised to find a large group of teenagers playing an assortment of brass instruments and drums in a marching band format! Elgon Ngoma Troupe is an interesting group led by a very charismatic director called Wolimbwa Julius. Most of them are former street kids and, apart from learning music and performance at the centre, they also live there and till a modest garden, producing crop…
Clowns Story
…On our first recording day during the Northern Uganda Field trip 2012 we had the pleasure of working in front hundreds of children who slowly climbed a tree to watch the proceedings. They were delighted by the cameras and we had a lot of fun showing them their smiling faces. This little boy was the biggest show off….
Group of the Month – Otacho Young Stars News
…ndy taking the collected rainfall of the past hour, in the face from the roof of the tent…. We then moved from our original recording location to the DRC – not the Democratic Republic of Congo, but Dinky’s Resort Club, down the road in Rongo. We set up the recording gear at the back of what looked like an old dance hall – the grass at the rear of the hall forming a natural arena for our groups – one of which was the Otacho Young Stars. We later me…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences. The last five years has only re-enforced our commitment. On our first goal, we only have to remember that we were probably the last folks to record Okumu K’Orengo, one of the great Nyatiti players, before he died. On our second goal, we only have to remember Francis and Jessie playing together in Kisoro. And as we plan for our next trip to Kampala this Au…