Akello sings ‘Influences’ songs for Singing Wells News
…urban music performer who sings in most popular languages like Acholi, Luganda, Swahili and English..After years of working with a few of Uganda’s leading contemporary and world music greats such as Kaweesa, Susan Kerunen, Myko Ouma, Tshila and Kinobe Herbert..she is indeed a rare talent with a rich textured organic voice. Akello begins a new journey of performing her own music compositions that she chooses to call “Hybrid” a simple cross between…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…n will be forced to pay whatever sum of money demanded by the offended husband and will even be expected to give up his shamba – the small plot of land upon which his family depends. As late as the 70’s, the other consequence is the offending husband would kill the adulterer. Whenever the song is sung today in the villages, some audience believes the song is pointing at them, accusing them… Kirori: This is the band leader’s song and is a song in t…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…signated the Singing Wells Project. The two staff (Neza and Alice) worked hand in hand with a committee of tourism in UOBDU to make sure that all the activities were implemented. This committee has been meeting monthly to hear from the implementing staff and be advised accordingly. During the field visits the staff would offer facilitation and would advise the groups on the best way of managing their groups. It is the same committee which usually…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…as a role model by my friends. I play the percussion and cymbols for the band and dance and it is viewed as very cool. I can’t help but be involved. My parents were students of my grandfather and I grew up with this music. It is in my blood and I feel a duty to protect my culture, to give back to it, to make it strong for my children. This music is critical to our village near Malindi, Thalatha Meli. I started learning it from my grandfather form…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…here’s a typically day of ‘file management.’ Nick starts by going ‘audio’ and Andy or Steve answers “rolling.” Then for some reason, due to Patrick’s strange way of talking, Nick then says ‘Camera 1?’ and Patrick answers “Camera 1 is speeding”. We have no idea why, but it means that Jimmy and Vicki have to respond with “Camera 2 (or 3) is speeding.” Now with all systems go Nick starts with ‘This is Macedonia with their fourth song Uganda Land of…
How music archives can help communities News
…oints out in the book ‘Ethnomusicology of East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and Beyond’. In her chapter entitled ‘Connecting with Communities: Building Sustainable Models for Audiovisual Archiving into the Future’, Janet gives us some inspiring examples of how archived recordings have helped communities, one of which centres on the Batwa people of south west Uganda – the community we recorded for the Singing Wells project back in November 2011…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…o or a drum and all claimed they were members of Macedonia. The Macedonia band and the song Uganda, Land of Freedom was known by everyone and served dozens of times to spare someone a fast execution as a collaborator. We then arrived at Joshua’s village. It was the most beautiful we’ve seen with four-five small thatched huts, each painted with patterns. There was a large clay oven in the middle of the village and the whole grounds were landscaped…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…of cows, sheep, goats and chickens found along the road, somehow connected and protected by a distant owner. And then there are the bikes, generally falling into two categories. There’s the rideable load, where the bike is carrying simple things like doors, coffins, gates or water bottles and the bike rider is still able to pedal. Then there’s the un-rideable bike. Here the owner is more aggressive and the bike might be carrying a bed, a large gat…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…the case and it shouldn’t be surprising. Most good musicians play off the band and if you ask them to play the song just with their part find it all a bit strange. So too for African village groups. They don’t go into studios and ‘lay down their track’ in some great over-dubbing session. They perform with a troupe, and they feed off of and help drive the dancing and the other instruments. The song Apako Oranga had an amazing Ndara riff and we want…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
…s the celebration of the chief. It features the spectacular Ndara, the Bul and Agwara and involves a lot of rolling around. We loved it so much we recorded a ‘magic moment’ – there was even more rolling around then usual and the 150 kids around us had a great time. We then took the time to solo each instrument given the quality of the musicians. The started with the Rigi Rigi, where Owach Tartizio sang Obimo. We then featured the Adungu, with Okum…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…emes. Our aim is to provide a lasting benefit for the Batwa community in Uganda and we are doing this through our continuing relationship with UOBDU. We were delighted to receive this message from Henry Neza, UOBDU Capacity Building Officer and our liaison contact with the Batwa communities while we were in Kisoro. Dear Victoria, The Batwa of Kisoro as a result of your visit felt an international belonging and recognition. Through the generation o…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…ghting (and it is a pretty good tussle) before they are encouraged by the band and woman dancers to calm down, solve their differences and forgive. Given the recent wars in Uganda and given that we are in formally held Kony territory, this song is pretty important. https://youtu.be/_u4-hVbcVV0 In the same vein, their second song was Lweny Dong Pee, a message to the government to bring back the children of conflict, many of whom remain displaced or…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…nt lists all of the time as we refine our methods and learn new techniques and face new challenges. For our next field recording trip to northern Uganda (December 2012), this is the list of everything we will be taking with us: 2 Apple 17″ 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 C…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…ring and exiting this rather large ‘Set’ and performing the chorus. Akello and Andy then led the 350 singers through ‘We Are All One’ as a backing chorus. Very fun! As we were closing down we were greeted by the Chairman of Acet who was very gracious in welcoming us. He walked away with lots of photos and a Singing Wells 2012 shirt! He also got one of our Polaroid pictures. This is a new innovation for us – every group gets to listen to their song…
UOBDU report on Singing Wells visit to the Batwa, Kisoro Uganda News
…t UOBDU about the Batwa communities we visited. This week UOBDU Coordinator Zaninka Penninah sent a detailed report to us with feedback about all the music groups who performed for the Singing Wells project. The good news is that being involved in the project seems to have given the groups a new and added pride for their music and has inspired them to practice their dances so that they can confidently perform to more audiences. It is also clear th…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…ation of where ankle bells are generally used in East Africa: broadly in Uganda and in specific parts of Kenya. Interestingly, the distribution of broad musical styles are distinctively different. While one would assume that Kenyan music is dominated by percussion, it is clear from the maps (above and below) that actually string and wind instruments are most prominent, and, largely, string and wind instruments are played together: Distribution of…