Before They Pass Away News
…aph some of the world’s last surviving tribes. His book, Before They Pass Away, is a fascinating insight into these communities’ ways of life. Nelson’s breathtaking photographs capture how these last remaining tribes continue their lives amid a changing world. But rather than charge in and start pointing his camera at these people, Nelson had to get to know them and to gain their trust. When he met the Chukchi people, the elders told him: “You can…
Happy new year from Singing Wells News
…hide to size and string the drum – ensuring it’s in tune. Here’s how it’s done. 5. We visited the Ketebul team in Nairobi and interviewed Tabu In early 2015, one of our team members moved to Nairobi and so went to visit the Ketebul studios and meet the team. Harriet interviewed Tabu, who talked about some of the most exciting upcoming artists in Nairobi who are using traditional music to influence their work, as well as the importance of the Singi…
Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…Malinywa. Their instruments were: Ekongo: Thumb Piano Embaire (13 slab xylophone) Endingidi: Tube fiddles Omulere: Flute Engoma: Drums Efumbo: Long drum Engalabi: Shorter drum, but still ‘long’ Ensasi: Shakers Ekwanzi: Pan Pipes They performed four songs: Olumbe Namuna: This was a song about aids, beautifully but mournfully sung. You could feel the sense of loss as the female singers performed. Animals were sacrificed during the story to bring hop…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…few whiskeys). Most of us then went to bed for the night, deciding to have one final evening free of our London friends. Patrick, however, woke up in time to be a ‘greeting party’ to the London arrivals. Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team Representing the AMF are Jimmy Allen (Founder), 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 di…
Discussions on music and culture with a young Kenyan News
…rally. Why do you think that is? Well, we’re adverse and stubborn. We run away from tradition. And we’re heavily influenced by the west. I think a big part of that is because film as a form of media has a massive effect on people and how they perceive themselves. We watch a lot of western media, so a lot of our ideals are based on western notions of what great life if like. It means that people aspire to western ways of things, and so we don’t emb…
Singing Wells is on Bozza! News
…is available to emerging and established artists from around the continent and can be easily accessed by visiting www.bozza.mobi from mobile phones and PCs.” Thabiso Mohare, Head of Brand & Marketing…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…we loved about Uganda is all the great the instrument bands, from the Xylophone, to the Likembe, to the Adungu to the Calabash. When you hear these bands live you are awash in sound as 5-10 instruments, sized for multiple octaves, overwhelm you. So here are a few of our favourites: The Xylophone: One of the Royal Instruments. Here is a whole village dedicated to the music and dance of their instrument The Adungu: One of the most beautiful Ugandan…
Hitching a ride Story
Nick took this picture on our journey from Kisoro to the Birara community while we were in south west Uganda documenting and recording the music of the Batwa. It’s about 35kms by road, most of which is uphill, following the winding road through the stunning, lush countryside. This guy was lucky enough to have a bike and took advantage of the passing lorry. Most people seemed to be on foot and many of the Batwa make the arduous journey to town th…
Current Leading Figures News
…retary for Humanitarian affairs, stated that ‘Northern Uganda has suffered from one of the most under published and holistic humanitarian disasters of our time’ (14th April 2004). For Odwar, creativity is the best way to help Northern Ugandans overcome this hardship, “In times of trouble, art has helped us to come to terms with our situation, to express our hopes for the future and to keep alive the artistic values of our culture.” It is especiall…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…ng every opportunity to promote African music. However, he could not stay away from Africa long, and in 1946 realised someone needed to fully dedicate their time to “appraising the social value” of traditional African music, otherwise it would disappear. Tracey would have to step up and be that someone, especially at a time when African radios wanted to broadcast in their own regional vernaculars but had no recordings of regional music to play. He…
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. …
ILAM, Repatriation and Jimmie Rodgers/Chemirocha News
…ing with ILAM to begin to repatriate these recordings back to the villages from which they were taken. We hope to start with two pilot villages in July, where we can a) identify relatives of the original musicians, b) ensure that we can leave the recordings in a sustainable way, with villagers having access to the recordings and c) record new village music that builds off the earlier recordings. The Ketebul team is working closely with ILAM to ide…
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…rnment program on culture, we need to give the artist the stage and a microphone and an audience. Let people rediscover their culture through great artists doing great things. You don’t rediscover you heritage with a government policy. James: Exactly. One other issue. Part of the problem we have is our ‘everything now’ culture. 50 years ago, if you got a job, you knew that if you worked hard and stayed with the job and got promoted you could buy a…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…ng Bender is a very dear German friend of mine. He was working in Sierra Leone and took the music from the radio station there. During the civil war the radio station as burned down. Thankfully, he had all the archives. Finally, on a personal side, I’ve travelled Doadoa Uganda, where I played the Jovah CD, and the audience cried. I travelled to Zone Franche in Marseille and MaMA in Paris France. “ Thanks for the update Tabu. Ketebul continues its…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…onsuming music. In Africa – 60% have electricity whereas 86% have a mobile phone. This is again another area in which the Singing Wells project may be interested in the future – mobile phones and ring back tones as a method of delivery for music. Mike and I also attended the African music networking session which became the launch for a new initiative by the Cape Verde government. It has been calculated that music is their biggest export and so ha…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…ce) and ‘Nasale’, playing traditional instruments such as the Embaire (xylophone), Ndingidi (tube fiddle) and Efumbo (long drum). Once the recording sessions are finished we will pack up the studio and drive the short distance to Mbale, the location of our recording session on Thursday morning. Day 4: Mbale & Nakisenyi – Music of the Bagisu and Basoga On this morning we will meet the Elgon Ngoma Troupe who perform Bagisu music. Steve met the leade…