Day 5: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017 Story
…ed the Msondo, and a very long thin drum called a Neya. Here’s the set: In the dance they had a character in a mask called a Lipiko, who wore a vest called a Mjuga. They played five songs: Malala Kujunga: Essentially means ‘be calm and quite, we are about to perform and need you to be quiet’ Nchakacha: A dance with the Lipiko (masked character) Tumpete Mwana: ‘Soothing the baby’ Apelambe: About a doctor who has all the medicines to heal, but the s…
Day 4: Tuesday, February 21st, 2017 Story
…metaphor for an abundant life and good harvest) Part two: We then brought in Henry and Leo Mkanyia, Rajab-Alli Morris, Steven Jonas (Tomato) and Elliot Wenman and Sophie Grant to play five more songs. These were: Marugaro Sanaa: arts Chipela: When you’re hungry you gather lots of fruit from the fruit tree). This song featured Ndanhini on the thumb piano who created the most amazing rhythm, which played off Henry’s bass brilliantly. Malalanga: thi…
Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…e or salad. The drums were from smallest to largest: Chaavo Ndogo – small drum The Kinganga (Makonpe) or Kidalidali (Zaramo) – smaller drum Chapuo Kubwa – big drum. Boi – long drum, one sided Ndungula – big bass drum Nyanga – the shakers, made of empty tins filled with small pebbles. Fire tuning is common across all of East Africa. Many traditional African drums are ‘untunable’, so you control tone through heat. You use moisture to loosen an over-…
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
…let’s now give you a bit of background. Mzee Morris is Tanzania’s most famous drummer. The ‘Mzee’ in front of his name is a sign of respect – think, ‘Old Man Morris’. He was born in 1920. At two years old, he lost his sight as a result of a bout of small pox. He died in 1999. Throughout his long life he drummed. Here’s Leo Mkanyia , our 2017 Influences Artist, describing his experience listening to Mzee Morris’s music: “He wasn’t normal. He play…
A Report by Professor James Isabirye – Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion News
…ds used with the young people involved in the project, what this meant for the sustainability for the instruments future, and how this impacted the young people’s identity and associations with the Bigwala-playing community. You can find the full report on the Sage website here: https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/EBNMQEBVD9ECYMFJF8EP/full Professor Isabirye’s extensive work in reviving lost instruments so that they will be passed through future g…
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…
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…the foundations of modern Kenyan music, examining external influences from the English waltz to Afro Cuban Rumba and how they helped mould new music styles across Africa. Rumba was brought to Eastern Africa via the itinerant Congolese musicians Edouard Masengo and Jean Bosco Mwenda who’s intricate guitar-picking styles largely shaped the present Kenyan sound, with the Benga playing a dominant role. Currently, you can get advance copies from Ketebu…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…er. This is a summary of that conversation, roughly in James’ own words. I use the term roughly for two reasons: 1) These are African roads and James was highly distracted by his own driving during our interview, dodging vans, cows and potholes. 2) I was trying to take notes in a car that seemed to be driving as fast and far left to right on the road as forward. Between interviewee fighting to keep us alive, and interviewer fighting to stay in the…
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….
Recce to Tanzania for our 2020 Field Visit News
…s instances, the importance of Singing Wells is emphasised when someone we record passes on some time after we record them. We were reminded even more of the importance of Singing Wells when we received the news of the death of a musician who we were set to meet that afternoon, Taarab Singer, Mzee Makame Faki. A brilliant musician and our thoughts are with his family and friends….
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…isitors a sense of a rapidly dying village culture. They are beautiful because they reflect the organic simplicity and lovely practicality of village life. They are disturbing because they are empty, rebuilt only for display and in their sterility, they look more like fossils than homes. These are the images that inform our discussions. What does it mean to preserve or to rediscover cultural elements? What part of our efforts should focus on prese…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…s chaos – a lot of people dying. After some time, the shooting stopped because the soldiers feared the gun and the government brought in some Tanzanian soldiers to help with the attack. So early morning on the 25th, the soldiers attacked again from all sides and there were bullets everywhere. So the shooting went on all over and then they found out the King’s gun needed electricity, so they figured out to turn off the power. How old was I? I was b…
The Revival of Ohangla Music! News
…w.youtube.com/watch?v=gPaBQwODTtU…
Support for the Elgon Ngoma Troupe News
…and meat production. Donate to Elgon Ngoma’s gofundme page here! And you can watch one of their brilliant performances, recorded on our 2014 field trip, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkyDtBXfunI Watch Julius, the leader of the group, explain who the Elgon Ngoma troupe is, and their mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Wk0YnbByk&fbclid=IwAR27BBeDBEx-5jMqkKxFTL9vtS5NxBwun0psDF9hCNmfQe0PQodki2Cns3U…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…drum and you let it soak in water for 24 hours until the skin is soft. You use the skin of a cow to do this, and we pick Uganda’s breeds where skin is very strong.” He cut and fit two pieces. The first, in the form of a circle, is for the top of the drum. He cut the skin about 50% bigger than the drum top by putting the drum head down on the skin and cutting around. The second piece is for the bottom and will wrap up from the bottom of the drum an…