Recce to Tanzania for our 2020 Field Visit News
…artists when we visit again with the full team in a few weeks time. Thanks to the good people at Dhow Countries Music Academy for helping us with the information and contacts from their database. Getting a private crash course on the ganun from ganun virtuoso and teacher Rajab. In a few previous instances, the importance of Singing Wells is emphasised when someone we record passes on some time after we record them. We were reminded even more of th…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…e proven wrong. Musisi is looking for more drummers and the ones we talked to today are desperate to find others that played with them. Richard Ssewannyana We first travelled about an hour from Mukono to the village of Bamusuta B Kizimula to meet with Richard Ssewannyana. As we believe Musisi is the ‘last surviving’ royal drummer, we believe Richard is the last surviving royal flutist. Please, let’s be wrong here. We first interviewed Richard: “I…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…ly. 4. Cutting and soaking the cow hide “You then size up the skin for the top and bottom of the drum and you let it soak in water for 24 hours until the skin is soft. You use the skin of a cow to do this, and we pick Uganda’s breeds where skin is very strong.” He cut and fit two pieces. The first, in the form of a circle, is for the top of the drum. He cut the skin about 50% bigger than the drum top by putting the drum head down on the skin and c…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…g the trumpeters Interviewing James in more detail about his life and work to restore the Bigwala trumpets. Part One: detail on the instruments The Bukakaire Bigwala Players are made up of three separate groups of musicians: the trumpets, the drums and the xylophone. Let’s look at each in turn: The Bigwala trumpets These trumpets are made of long gourds and a trumpet group is made up of at least five trumpets (or more), each of which plays a speci…
Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…and was carrying what I can only say was a magic electric gun. He told me to stop brushing my teeth and lie down and he began to shoot the government soldiers around us. While we were sitting there, his assistant came in and reported that the soldiers had broken into the palace and were in the Queen’s gardens. The King asked him to go out and report any news. He came back 10 minutes later and said the soldiers were now far closer having broken in…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…e and instruments were destroyed, the King exiled, the royal musicians disbanded and much of the music forgotten. In 2013, we considered any idea of reviving the Entenga to be very unlikely, because we thought all the drummers who had played in the palace before 1966 had died. But in 2015 James discovered the sixty-something Musisi, possibly the last surviving drummer. Musisi was just a teenager at the time of attack and barely survived the night…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…anking us. It was simply their joy. It was very deep. And it made me think back to my village life. When we gathered for big celebrations, the entire village took to the road to walk for miles to a central location. We walked all night. And we sang all night. The old people walking with the children, all of us singing. And now we have a nice road that probably gets us to that site in 20 minutes by car. But what have we lost? We’ve lost the connect…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…g’ Kabaselleh, a Luo pop artist who occasionally teamed up with Laban Juma Toto, formerly of the Hodi Boys band, to produce some of the best rumba melodies sang in the Luo language. Kabaselleh’s love for rumba saw him adopt the name of Congo’s celebrated pioneer musician, Joseph Kabaselleh ‘Le Grand Kalle.’ Some of Ochieng’s sons like Babu Kabaselleh and Reggie Kabaselleh are now well-known musicians in their own right, same to his siblings who ma…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
…tion 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 minutes due to traffic! We all crashed early knowing we had almost a week i…
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…
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 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’…
Interview: fusion band Ndoto Afrika News
…logy that they no longer are willing to sit by the evening fire and listen to stories. So we will have to transmit these stories to their iPhones and iPads in the form of music, the universal language. Where are you from? From Kenya, in the East of Africa. To be more specific, we hail from a small village in Siaya County where most of the renowned Luo musicians come from. Ever heard of Otieno Aloka (the famous Ohangla artist)? He is our next door…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…d 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 most welcome by those of us from the North but feared and mistrusted by th…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…ments in the department’s workshop and teaching them to the music students and to music teachers who came for in-service courses. Like Musisi, Busuulwa had not found conditions good for him at the palace and after the attack on the palace and the flight of the Kabaka (King) into exile in London, Musisi no longer had a patron so they were both enthusiastic about working at Kyambogo. Sadly Bulasio Busuulwa died during that awful period of turmoil un…