Day 4: Tuesday, February 21st, 2017 Story
…wanted to record a fuller album. Three members were the same as yesterday: the brother/sister combo of Ndekwa and Ndahani and Ndahani’s daughter Grace. We then added Tabu and Estelle, two other sisters of Ndahani and Ndekwa. This was an album of two halves: we first recorded 5 songs just with them and then added musicians from last night’s session for a further five. Here’s the full group including Henry, Rajab, Tomato and Leo: Here’s Tabu: Here’s…
Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…hroughout the ordeal and to give her lessons about how to live her life in the world of men. [Interestingly, during one of our drives through Tanzania, the BBC carried a February 24 2017 interview with Kenya’s Ida Odinga warning ‘sugar daddies’ off underage girls. The wife of former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga was telling men who pay young girls’ school fees in exchange for sex, to stay away. She attributed much of the rise of this phenomen…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…vive but not the rituals in the places we visited! But we have far less on the theme of ‘women for women’ songs of instruction, or the rites of passages of women preparing for adulthood. We encountered these in three separate villages and all the women talked about their importance to the culture and education of young girls entering adulthood. All expressed sadness that these traditions are dying. The dancing was wonderful. In this case we were r…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…f of his drums. Every hour, for decades. He was honoured in his time, with the then Prime Minister creating a specific post for him, so he could continue drumming for all visitors to the government. Because he was blind, he was invited to perform with specific women groups, of songs for women by women, of songs that no males could see. Every day we will tell more about Mzee Morris and his music (see picture below). We will also talk about his lega…
A Report by Professor James Isabirye – Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion News
…e Royal Entenga Drummers, and is currently working on a project to restore the lost lyre, the Entongooli. You can read more about this project on our website here. We are very grateful to be partnered with such a visionary for the future, and protector of traditional East african music and instruments. We know that generations to come will be grateful for the work he has put in to continue these traditions. He has also written a report analysing h…
Fundraiser for Matthew Watmon News
…m and his family in this difficult time, and we hope that some of our followers may be able to help us. If you are based in East Africa, please get in touch with Matthew’s brother, Constantine Odida ((MTN) +256-782-236-742 and (Airtel) +256-704-261-037). If you are based elsewhere in the world, we have created a GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mathew-watmon The donors of Abubilla Music Foundation, who support the Singing Wells pr…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…nts gradually developed a great relationship and are so committed to each other. Then I had to order the drums. I ordered them from Mpambire, a village where all great drums are made. We sent Albert Ssempeke and Musisi out to pick the drums and tune them. We brought in Peter Gaira, one of the best drum tuners, to tune them (see our Field Report for more detail on tuning). I felt I was on a race for time to have new musicians learn these drums. I t…
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…d Episode 2 of their online series Shades of Benga Online, to go alongside their book ‘Shades of Benga: The Story of Popular Music in Kenya 1946 -2016’. You can watch the latest episode below, and also find out more at their website here. Shades of Benga: The Story of Popular Music in Kenya delves into the foundations of modern Kenyan music, examining external influences from the English waltz to Afro Cuban Rumba and how they helped mould new mu…
Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
…ic of East Africa to a wider audience. It amazing to see the Youtube algorithm agreeing that this is a project worth showing people! We can’t wait to bring more songs and stories to the world. Keep an eye out on the Singing Wells Youtube channel for the footage and recordings from our field trip to Zanzibar and Pemba….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…ble pop culture. The whole drive to “marketing” is killing our culture. If the numbers don’t come in on something than you stop it. But culture is hard to really invest in. You don’t go for the popular musicians doing the big things. You have to go to the real groups in the rural villages. And they are out there. And it gets much deeper. Our view of development is hardware – give folks roads, modernise them. But Singing Wells has discovered in fac…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…g of benga music. Setting the Background A characteristic of popular music the world over is the element of mystery surrounding the origins of the genre and sometimes also, the real meaning of its name. Great icons of jazz, blues, R’n’B, reggae, rumba and even the much revered Western country music are famous for performing in their respective genres rather than expounding on meanings and origins. Rarely does one find consensus among fans, let alo…
Interview: fusion band Ndoto Afrika News
…ing that a story is good, until another is told. We are here to share with the world how wonderful it is to be born and raised in Africa. Sadly, the urban African youths are so consumed with the modern technology 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 Ea…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…y bitter because her mother will not let her play with her friends freely. The mother explains to her that she was barren but the spirits helped her to conceive. The spirits set the condition, however: that she should never play in the rain. Amagombe: This is a song about the death of the leader’s father. He wrote it after his father’s death. 95% of the song is about what his father told him before he died. Ebibira: This song talks about the dange…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…songs/traditions and can train the youths. One already died in May to move the number from 4 to 3 and one of the three surviving is very ill. But it is almost certain, now that the trumpets won’t disappear. Young people have some interest, thankfully, and are learning.” Click here for further reading on the Bigwala. Here’s their music: Adagha Nalya Drama Group Our second group was from the Bukoona Village and called the Adagha Nalya Drama Group. T…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…ording East African music summary, in our post about music archives across the world, when reflecting on the importance of archiving traditional music and, most recently, in our posts about our journey to discover and record the Royal Drums. It was James Isabirye, a lecturer at Kyambogo University and expert in traditional Ugandan music, who first introduced us to Peter. We learned that he had taught at Kyambogo University himself from 1965 to 196…
Before They Pass Away News
…cities and leave behind their cultural traditions. But in some pockets of the world, there are still tribes that have preserved centuries-old traditions. Singing Wells records, archives and shares some of this cultural heritage that is at risk of fading out – East Africa’s music. Not only do we want to sustain the musical heritage of East Africa, we want to promote it in today’s world. With this in mind, we’ve been following the work of British p…