The story of Anyim Lac Story
…couldn’t miss the opportunity to capture the true sound. With a lapel microphone on our lead lady and another microphone directly on the adungu, we asked the group to continue. At the end of the session we played the recording back and a magical voice and sound emerged – the old lady, sitting on the blanket in the middle of this village surrounded by her whole community, had a beautiful, strong, pitch perfect voice. Incredible. Click here to go to…
Amone Watmon Matthew Story
…n those that are not his own) the music of his heritage. We are proud to have worked with the Watmon Cultural Troupe and the resulting recordings and videos are a treat. Click here to go to the Singing Wells group page. You can view more videos from the group on YouTube (click here) where you can also make a donation to support the group through our charity, The Abubilla Music Foundation. …
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
…he song: It was recorded by the Kipsigi people of Kenya, the largest sub-groups of the Kalenjin, and was inspired by a Jimmie Rodgers record left behind in their village by missionaries. We recorded the Kalenjin in 2012. Jimmie Rodgers, was, of course, a famous American country music singer in the 20’s and 30’s. This teaches us several things: All music is inspired by all music: everyday in Singing Wells, we have to remind ourselves that as we r…
Promotion of Batwa Culture/Music: UOBDU report Nov 2013 News
…general were very happy to get such unique uniforms that would make their groups visible; in particular the Birara and Mperwa groups extended their sincere gratitude to Abubilla and singwells for promoting their music. While Mukingo, Gatera and Kabahenda requested UOBDU staff that were distributing these uniforms always to promote their talents such that they can benefit from them. Lastly the Kanyabukungu group appreciated all the stakeholders th…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…had previously discovered oil and water; when we started working with the group, the leaders said that with our help they also ‘discovered their music.’ We then recorded a CD, working with Hivos, and brought them to Nairobi to record the CD. These musicians had never been to Nairobi. In Northern Kenya they are so marginalized that they don’t see themselves as being part of Kenya. It took three days of driving across a desert to find them. When th…
Obuell-Lira and the Macedonia Band Story
…g moment because the band was known to have played to the rebels. Again, a group of soldiers came into their village and again their mission was to kill the men and boys of the village. And again, Johsua rallied the village and started to play Uganda, Land of Freedom and again a small group of the army felt the village should be spared because they all enjoyed the music. Joshua began to say that the band was made up of people from every neighbouri…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…d into reality. The film is also punctuated by stories from members of the group about their experiences in the genocide. It was a great watch and the group would be one we’d be keen to work with if we venture to Uganda. Find out more about the film here: http://www.sweetdreamsrwanda.com/ New Friends at the festival We met a lot of new friends – as that was the point of our being there. We were spreading the word of the project and its aims and…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…i (about 120 kms from Mbale), recording a Basoga group called Muwewesi Xylophone Group. Like their name suggests, they play the traditional xylophone or ‘Embaire’ which can be played by up to 6 people, depending on how large it is. At the end of the session, we will pack up the studio (we are very quick at doing this now!) and head off to a new location – this time the town of Jinja on the shores of Lake Victoria, close to the source of the River…
Group of the Month – Otacho Young Stars News
…e hall – the grass at the rear of the hall forming a natural arena for our groups – one of which was the Otacho Young Stars. We later met the group again, when we invited them to record as part of the Influences series at the Ketebul studios in Nairobi. They recorded two tracks in the studio with Jessie Bukindu. We recorded 5 tracks with the group in the field – one of which was ‘Charles Manager’ sung in English -about the arrival of a new manager…
The Birara Batwa Community Story
…f the Luo) but we could not forget the beautiful voices of the Batwa music groups. So we decided to invite a group to the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi to record more Batwa songs and others for the the Influences series. Since our visit to Kisoro we have been in regular contact with the local NGO the United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU). Their latest report to us included the following information about the Birara group:…
The Batwa Community Story
…ry however, the Batwa have become a displaced and largely forgotten ethnic group and their traditional culture and way of life is threatened with extinction. The Batwa community first became fragmented as other ethnic groups populated their homelands, cutting back the forest to provide land for crops and livestock. However, it was in 1991, with the creation of formal conservation areas to protect the endangered mountain gorilla population and outl…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…ur strong view is that the following: the stronger and younger the musical group, the stronger the village. Let us be clear – this does not mean that the better the music, the richer the village. In fact, some of the most beautiful music we’ve recorded – from the Batwa of Kisoro Uganda and to the Kel Kar Kwaro of Northern Uganda – was from extremely poor and disadvantage villages. But in both cases, the village structure was strong, the village el…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…ing with us: 2 Apple MacBook Pro 2 MOTU Traveler MK3 Audio Interface 4 Headphone amps 8 Sony MDR-V600 headphones 2 Shure mics & stands 2 Rode Lavalier omni-directional mics 2 Rode NTG-1 condenser Shotgun mics 1 Matched Pair of AKG C414 XL Microphones 1 Matched Pair of Rode NT5 Microphones 2 Rode professional boom pole 1 K&M telescopic mic stand/boom 1 Canon EOS 7D 1 Canon EOS 60D 1 Canon EOS 5D 1 LED video camera lights 1 Flip HD video camera Thin…
What people say about Singing Wells News
…u brought joy in their spirits and smiles on their faces, here in Ug, this group is mostly undermined, it was so humbling to my spirit that you got this far with them and their recording trips to the studios in Nairobi. I was here shedding tears when I saw Winyo totally and perfectly singing the Batwa dance song and dancing a long with them, indeed that is what music is all about especially to reach out to the unreachables (sic) to me, I salute yo…
The New Singing Wells website News
…recognise that a lot of our visitors may be viewing the device on iPads, iPhones, tablets, netbooks, Samsung phones etc, so a lot of work has gone into making our site accessible on these devices. Albums We have now curated 4 albums, representing the music from 4 of our field trips to East Africa. We’ll be updating this as we curate more albums. You can listen to each of the albums in full and then purchase them in the knowledge that all of your…