Alur Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…. Location: The Alur live mainly in the Nebbi, Zombo and Arua districts in Uganda, but also reside in the Congo. They are part of the Luo group. Population: 460,000 History: Alur society has adopted a socio-hierarchical system of politically independent chiefdoms, which was one of the only sytems that was unaffected by the Ugandan ban on traditional monarchies in 1966. Language: Part of the Western Nilotic language group, their language is closely…
Acholi Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…rcts in Northern Uganda. Population: There are about 1.17 million Acoli in Uganda. History: They came to northern Uganda from Bahr el Ghazal in South Sudan. In the late seventeenth century, they developed a socio-hierarchical system, in which communities, or chiefdoms, were run by Rwodi (rulers). They were traditionally hunting communities, whose economies revolved around hunting and breeding livestock. In the British colonial period, the Acoli co…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…Chemurwombai. ‘Kiseng’ : a blessing and a thanksgiving to us for coming. A welcome blessing in which grass is given as a blessing and to honour us. ‘Kirongo’: part of a blessing to say good-bye and come again. Used in initiation rights for men. https://youtu.be/zdA6j78RZjU https://youtu.be/LpcsgT8LRUg https://youtu.be/GCbYevDBGBA Embolot The second group were the Embolot from village Kamogo. They live in the forest as farmers. Honey from the for…
Abubilla Music remix an original Batwa song for Influences News
…corded in the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi following our field trip in Uganda to record the Music of the Batwa. The lead vocalist is Jovah Nyiramajoro from the Mpwera community just outside Kisoro, supported by vocalists from other Batwa communities in the area. The song, called ‘Inyange’, is in praise of beautiful people who are compared to the beautiful white Inyange (Egret) bird. Musicians from Abubilla Music in London have added to the tra…
Day 4: the Pokot Tribes Story
…hilly, with round thatch huts peppered along the green and red hills. Like Uganda and Rwanda, the countryside here is green with slashes of deep red as the soil is turned or roads are made. We arrived at the location picked by 50 Cows, the fixer, but we decided it was too close to the road and asked to be taken to a more secluded spot near a village or homestead. We got what we asked for and were rewarded with a 4 km drive straight up one of the h…
Music of Northern Uganda News
…well known in East Africa and have performed at various state functions in Uganda and also at the Senator Leger Festival since 2004. They play many of the traditional Ugandan instruments including the adungu, agwara, ndara, rkikriki, obilo (a horn) and the oseke (pan pipes). Alur Kingdom Troupe playing the Agwara With time fast running out, Steve and Patrick headed back to Kampala to meet with two Ugandan musicians who had expressed an interest…
Singing Wells – Origins News
…tribes: the Mijikenda, the Luo and the Kalenjin. We have also travelled to Uganda to record the amazing musicians of the Batwa tribes, bringing many of them back to Nairobi to record them in Ketebul Music studios. We have designed two mobile recording units which can be assembled just about anywhere. The Ketebul and Abubilla audio and video engineers who support Singing Wells talk of the amazing experience working in the field. As Steve Kivutia sa…
Day 3: Kitale to Kapsokwony, Kenya Story
…the story of two bulls in Teriet’s family that we were stolen and taken to Uganda. The family dog was able to follow the scent and led a posse of 20 armed men 75kms to a butchers where sadly one bull had been killed. The surviving bull, Sigerer, was re-taken and brought back to Kitale. In celebration, the owner slaughtered poor Sigerer to feed the posse. As Kathy pointed out to Teriet, the real hero of the song was the dog, not poor Sigerer, who’s…
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…r with Singing Wells. “I didn’t really know what to expect of the Batwa of Uganda, and was blown away by the musicianship. I expect to be surprised again!” The last time he was there was about 20 years ago. He thinks the music will be similar to music he has heard in Northern Kenya. He says he is always surprised by the quality of the voices and harmonies. “It’s as if they’ve been professionally trained.” The tribes are generally pastoralists so t…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…power supply (a cabling issue apparently) we are soon recording the first ‘welcome’ song. It’s an extraordinary moment. Here we are on the highest point on the hill, overlooking a stunning array of green hills, all covered with a patchwork of fields or lush vegetation. Clouds settle in the valleys. Willy can’t believe he’s actually above the clouds so I take a photo to prove it. We manage to record three songs before the rain comes so we move ever…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…we made a decision to bring some of the Batwa singers back from Kisoro to Uganda. We spent Saturday and Sunday recording them and the results are fantastic. The whole way back from Kisoro to Kisumu we talked about the Batwa and how much we loved the singers. We thought about bringing them to Nairobi sometime in the future. We then decided the future is now and called Henry Neza to see if he would be willing to travel with a selection of singers t…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…, we officially finished our November field trip, which took us to Rwanda, Uganda and Lake Victoria. Tomorrow we head back to Nairobi where we will be greeted by the Batwa singers and musicians we invited back to record in the studio. They have been travelling since Tuesday, November 29th, by bus from Kisoro to Kampala to Nairobi. We will see them tomorrow night and begin to record them on Saturday, 3 December. The Singing Wells Team 1 December 20…
The Batwa Trail News
…to Singing Wells Hello Victoria, I thank you for writing to me! I was in Uganda on an organized tour and visited Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, Murchison Falls, Kibale Forest National Park, Queen Elisabeth National Park, Lake Bunyonyi, Kisoro (Nshongi Gorilla), Lake Mburo. While we were in Kisoro we received information about the Batwa Trail in the UWA (Uganda Wildlife Authority) office. I read more about the Batwa people in the latest Bradt guide. I am…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…s a either victim or an executioner well. To prove the point, we asked our Ugandan driver what he thought of the memorial. He said he now understood how his dad died – he was a Ugandan working in Kigali the day the slaughter happened. He is most likely buried in the mass grave along with 250,000 others. Nairobi: Observations and Reflections Arrived safely in Nairobi late Friday night and had an incredibly quick 20 minute drive from airport to hote…
Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga News
…project, Samba Mapangala and Orchestra Virunga are touring the UK later this month, in support of Samba’s new album Maisha Ni Matamu (Life Is Sweet) on Virunga Records. We first met Samba in Kenya, on a recording trip as part of The Singing Wells project. He sang as part of a ‘Welcome’ concert put together by our friends at Ketebul, along with Winyo and Ayub Ogada. We’ll bring more news on his new album as we have it, but until then you can view h…
Day 5: Recording the Mperwa Dancers Story
DAY 5: Welcome to the most beautiful setting for a music recording session. Today we visit the Mperwa Community. The second day of recording – beautiful sunshine in morning and there’s a patten emerging. Morning sunshine, afternoon rain, then the power goes out. Then the locusts attack. But let’s focus on the morning. This morning we recorded the Mperwa Dancers – the lead singer had a beautiful voice and we did an ‘Influences’ sessions with her….