The Influences Series from Singing Wells News
…ves of the Singing Wells project is to introduce tribal East African music to a new generation of musicians and fans who might not consider it relevant today. So, we have developed the Influences series – a fusion of traditional and contemporary styles. Each time the Singing Wells team embarks on a field recording visit we are joined by a talented musician who works with us on ‘Influences’ songs. They work with us in the field and also in the Kete…
The Boy with the Headphones Story
…songs through his headphones and this particular boy overcame his shyness to have give it a try. We could see how hard life is for the Batwa, living on small pieces of borrowed land on the fringes of society but the performance of the Mperwa Dancers did not portray this – it was full of pride and happiness. Once again, we witnessed how important the songs and dances are to the whole Batwa community, from the youngest infant to the oldest member…
The First Singing Wells Influences Session Story
…set out from the Ketebul studios in the Industrial area of Nairobi, and driven to Malindi – a town on the Kenyan coast. The evening rush hour traffic in Mombasa meant we had a night drive up the coast road to Malindi. The next day however, we were treated to the sight of the coast road by daylight. The lush greenery and bustling activity of traders along the roadside not apparent the night before. We turned off the main road, and picked up our fix…
Hannah interviews Sabina – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…ted and taken into the bush by the LRA. She has 7 children and 4 of them love to sing and dance, mainly through learning at school. What does this music mean to you? The Acholi often give meaning and purpose to things in daily life. (The name of the primary school in this village translates to ‘The Drunk Huntsman’ and Acet, a town that perhaps used to be a bad place, we were told meant ‘a shit’.. ). This means that all of our songs have a purpos…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…special moments of my music career was dancing on a hill in Uganda with Jovah from the Mperwa Batwa community. She has one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard. For me, Singing Wells is 100% about inspiration – I am in awe of the talent we find.’ And finally the origins of our project name. We often get asked why we have called our project ‘Singing Wells’. The inspiration for the name comes from the real-life singing wells of the Samburu…
Returning to Uganda in Autumn 2013 Story
…o summarize what keeps bringing us back… The individual voices The collective voices The exotic instruments The extraordinary dance, youth and energy The inspiration A performance or two for each of these… 1. The Individual Voices: Who can forget Francis, the lead of the Batwa musical community, singing with Jessie in the grounds of our hotel. Everyone stopped to listen and it remains one of our most inspiring tracks… Or the leader singer of the R…
Day 10: File Management at Ketebul Studios Story
…w from previous blogs, we seem to love this topic. What does a final day involve: Steve works out all accounts Andy works out all audio, including the Ketebul recordings Pato works through all video Jimmy works through all field reports and works with Nick on final spelling Tabu has final interviews with musicians We all agree next steps in terms of updating all our trip reports We have a final session on our learnings, positive and negative. On t…
‘Missing’ – Singing Wells fundraising song for 2013 News
…March 2013 saw the release of an original track from Abubilla Music, re-mixed for the Influences series. The song is called (The only thing that’s) Missing and it was first recorded for the Abubilla Music album Misery Marmalade and other Spanish Jams. Here is the video of the new ‘Influences’ version, featuring musicians from Kenya, Uganda and the UK collaborating in this a unique song to celebrate and support Singing Wells….
Day 9 (AM): Ketebul Studio – Influences session for Cheri Story
…heir tribal heritage. We now have developed a pattern – each field visit involves about 9 days in the field recording new groups AND then we return to Nairobi to work in the studio with tribal musicians discovered previously. Yesterday we worked with Mwenzele-Nyerere wa Konde Music Club on five studio songs. Today, we brought them back in to work with Stanley on his song Cheri, featuring Macadem. Here’s how the process worked today: Jaybee first w…
Meet our ‘Influences’ artists News
The Influences series from Singing Wells involves contemporary East African musicians collaborating with the groups and artists we discover during our field recording visits. The result is a unique fusion of contemporary and traditional themes. Here we introduce the artists who have created Influences songs for Singing Wells…… Winyo Shiphton Onyango adopted his artistic name ‘Winyo’, which is a Luo word (a tribe from the Lake Victoria region of W…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…ing to the village that the girl is now ready, in love with him, and about to visit the village. He’s won. Agiriama Anging: This song needs a little back ground. In the Coastal areas there are huge rivalries between villages and there are always, what the band calls, “haters.” These are folks that hate your village and pray for terrible things to happen. One of the songs by this group is about the Band Leader’s wife – she was going into an operati…
Akello sings ‘Influences’ songs for Singing Wells News
…to the north of the country and was not only invaluable acting as a translator when we visited the Acholi communities in the area, but also performed some of her songs for the Influences series, accompanied by the local music groups. ‘Wan Wilobo’ performed with the Rubanga Kingom Awach Boys With just a few minutes to practice, Akello performed this song backed by the Rubanga Kingom Awach Boys playing the ‘likembe’ – a thumb piano. ‘Awinyo’ per…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…ps. Watmon Cultural Troupe (Link to Music Map) Introducing the band… Nyeko Newton, the youngest, is a 19 year old student and Acholi, born and raised in Kampala. He talked of his life at high school, playing rugby and studying ICT, Finance and History. He played percussion and the Likembe (thumb piano) very well during the course of the evening, and has enjoyed playing music his whole life. He accompanies Watmon’s group which plays Acholi style mu…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…erformance comparing it with other Batwa groups met with the Singing wells visitors. From their savings the group have managed to buy bed sheets and source pans and have kept or reserved UGX 180.000/= which will be used or spent in future. In addition to the Batwa cultural performance activity, the group members make contracts with other local people to work for them in the fields for a better pay. Gatera group’s plan is to register their group at…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…come with us to our next stop: our hotel in Entebbe, purely because we were desperate to have more time with the stunning musicians we met in the city. During the two hour drive to Entebbe we talked with Watmon and his son, Odika Constantine about their family’s interesting past. To be continued………
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…lace) and the way music saved dozens of lives as the village managed to survive occupation by the rebels and reoccupation by the government. We then hinted at problems. Rather than leave at 13:00 to travel to Kampala, we were forced back to Soroti with a broken wheel and only managed to hit the road again at 15:30. So we knew we were in for one of those ‘African Night Drives’ we so often do and so often swear we’ll never do again. We’ve decided ni…