Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…erwise there is no other contact. During their time, they are taught songs and told stories about the ritual itself and preparing them for man hood. In Lewis’s case he was taught that he can no longer live with his mother and must never enter the kitchen again, as this was the place for women and children. They are also taught what will be expected of them on the day of the ritual and after as they start their lives as men. On the day of the circu…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…did this twice, once with and one without the ladies humming (they needed to hum to get the beat right). Kangema Urban Women Group The group is led by Jacinta Njoki Mwangi and formed in 2006. The group plays in thee Gitiro style – the dance performed by women during ruracio, a dowry payment occasion. Gitiro: led by Jacinta Njoki. Ndumo (ya iritu): led by Jacinta and Mary Njoki. Kibuthi: led by Jacinta Njoki. Kangema Mwomboko Dancers The group is…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…na ivinda (Chasing After Time). This song talks about the President’s call to stop corruption. The call to chase after time comes from the society that won’t condone these malpractices. Kaniini Kaseo The group is led by Mumbi Wambua, in Kyolo style. The group is also from Kamba ethnic community (ukambani wa kitui) and also from the village of Kiongwe. They have 16 members and were formed in 1980. They performed 3 songs, all of which use the Ileve…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…with her. We wanted to bring them back to record a few tracks on their own and to have them work with other artists. They took the lead with two tracks: Ayomba: This song is about the fact that the husband always cheats on the wife. Tweyanze,featuring Matia: This is a traditional thank you song that they had performed to us on our first day as part of the Kika Boys Cultural Troupe. Maita joined the two of them with guitar and backing vocals. Here’…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…taking, hugs and farewells. We also said goodbye to a wonderful hotel filled with amazing hostesses that treated us very well. We then drove straight back to Kampala and even passed the President’s car on the way (it was unclear if the car held the President). We returned to the Kampala Imperial Hotel and some of us were delighted to find a English football match on the TV (Arsenal vs. Southampton). And we were greeted by Air Conditioning which is…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…s also trying to start a gourd revolution so people start using them again to store liquids and stop using plastic) The coordinator and lead female vocalist in the group is Irene Nabirye. The group is made up of 6-7 Bigwala players and drummers, plus dancers and singers. They performed four songs and then we did a magic moment with their instruments; these were: Muwe Bwobona Asaba: When someone asks you kindly assist them Mperekera Omwana Womuremb…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…e two bands. For income, they do performances and also work four acres of land to feed themselves. Many of the members also do arts and crafts or a skilled trade – Julius’s dream is to open up a hair and beauty studio so they can support the bride with her beauty and music. We are here on site to listen to three different groups. The Elgon Ngoma Troupe Julius wanted to make sure we opened our morning with him with two major performances from the E…
Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…loss as the female singers performed. Animals were sacrificed during the story to bring hope and health to the village (very brutal throat slitting of a fairly battered foam cow, lamb and chicken). Bamiisi Muwulire: This was a song to rally people to listen to the stories of the band. Daudi: This was really a dance, a performance play, with many actors. The story was about a village boy that had gone astray – lots of partying, lots of late nights…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…the group because they have talent. They are good at it. My parents tried to stop me from music and I refused to listen. They are the same. It is a higher calling.” We agree with James. This group is fantastic, energetic and committed to their music. Again and again in our trips to Uganda we find that the rural youth of Uganda are passionate about tribal music; sadly, this is in direct contrast to Kenya, where we find the interest of the rural yo…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…under), sound engineer Andy Patterson and Vicki Denison, charity administrator and fundraiser. Our BA flight from London arrived on time at Entebbe at 22.30. We didn’t have the same delays at customs as the Ketebul team and we were at the airport guesthouse 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…
Amone Watmon Matthew Story
…We had spent 4 days in the north of Uganda, travelling back through Soroti and into Kampala, where, arranged by Jimmy of the Adungu Cultural Troupe, we arrived in the Naguru area of Kampala. Jimmy led us to another location for the recording, away from the road – a space in front of a house where Matthew Watmon lived. We were introduced and in the time before the group had even managed to begin to unload the recording equipment, he had invited us…
Room with a view…but where is it? Story
…ost end of the Virunga range. On the right is smaller Mount Gahinga (3474m). During the Singing Wells field visit to record the Music of the Batwa, we stayed at the Traveller’s Rest Hotel in Kisoro and this was the view which greeted us each morning. It was a wonderful place to stay and the staff were incredibly helpful and let us set up a recording studio under the verandah in the garden, much to the surprise of the other guests who were there fo…
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. …
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…
The Birara Batwa Community Story
…he Singing Wells project is to make traditional East Africa music relevant to today’s artists and audiences. We want to celebrate and promote the music heritage of East Africa in a contemporary context. We are doing this with ‘Influences’. We were staying at The Traveller’s Rest Hotel in Kisoro and the staff kindly allowed us to set up the studio under the verandah and it was there that we recorded our first ‘Influences’ session – a fusion of Batw…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…new techniques and face new challenges. For our next field recording trip to Uganda (November 2013), this is the list of everything we will be taking with us: 2 Apple 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 Matched Pair of AKG C414 XL Microphones 1 Matched Pair of Rode NT5 Microphones 2 Rode profess…