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…
Happy new year from Singing Wells News
…irye to preserve this fantastic traditional instrument, so in 2015 we went back to Uganda to check on the progress of the project. 4. We learned about the art of drum making During our 2015 trip to Uganda, we had the privilege of being able to watch and record the making of the Entenga drums. It’s an incredibly skilled job, requiring the maker to cut up a tree and shape the wood, soak and cut cow hide to size and string the drum – ensuring it’s in…
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…
Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…ging out with the team and trying to absorb some of their street cred, was to chat to the main man: Mr Tabu Osusa. Sitting across from me in his office in his bright yellow patterned t-shirt and flat cap he looked laid back as he sipped his cool beverage. His easy smile broke every time I said something that amused him. Here’s our interview: Who are the most exciting modern artists you’re currently working with, and why? Some of the most exciting…
Winyo’s a pretty good photographer too… Story
Our top 5 Singing Wells songs for March News
…site, getting to know the amazing traditional music of East Africa! It was tough to pick, but for my first blog post I thought I’d share my top 5 songs so far. 1. Otacho Young Stars – Amilo Love The Singing Wells team first encountered the Otacho Young Stars group on a trip to record the music of the Luo in Western Kenya in December 2011. They were later invited to Ketebul Studios in Nairobi to form part of our influences series. I love this song…
Hitching a ride Story
…y 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 three times a week, without being able to hitch a ride….
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…hed to protect the Mountain Gorillas that habitate in the park (travelling back and forth across the Uganda-Rwanda border). The Batwa are a marginalised people, living mostly by tenant farming in scattered villages around Kisoro. They live on the poorest land, and in many cases this means land high up in the green hills of Uganda far from trading villages. Our visit to record the Batwa was supported by UOBDU. What we discovered in the Batwa was mu…
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…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…7, private funding had dried up. His son, Andrew Tracey, took over as Director and Rhodes University, in the East Cape province of South Africa, agreed to host the ILAM. Its aims are ‘to discover, record, analyze, and archive the music of sub-Saharan Africa, with the object of establishing a theory of music making in Africa and assessing the social, cultural, and artistic values of African music’ and, as it is owned, with the exception of the inst…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…schools from the archive. In that way, (students) can be able to remember and to understand what was there before […] With the recordings, we can give (students) some background and some context; they would be able to understand and go find out more by themselves […] My thinking is that a culture that doesn’t have a history is a dead one.” His recordings are available to play online, for anyone, in the Klaus Wachsmann Collection at the British Li…
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
…ned. I know that Hugh Tracy blamed Christianity. The churches came to the land and convinced the people that the old ways were evil. Traditional instruments with drums were part of the pagan culture and needed to be erased. Traditional songs about spirits, about witch doctors needed to be ended and replaced with Christian music. James: I think that explains some of it. But the church no longer does that and yet we still reject the old ways. I thin…