Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…kum, not far from Gulu up in Northern Uganda, and moved down to Kampala during the war. We love the instrument they played, the Nanga (below) so much we asked if they would join us in Entebbe to record more songs with Akello. We asked them to 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 Watm…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…, linking files to songs and songs to groups and groups to sites and sites to days. We average about 20 songs a site and just over 1.5 sites per day. Just getting the right spelling on to a clapper board of a song and getting that recorded elsewhere against a take list takes time to master. Third, we then need to very quickly produce 3 camera videos. So during our car rides, we’re linking a group and song to the ‘bounce’ (final audio) and the thre…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…have you managed to do this? A: To get the young people involved I decided to go to schools and teach music. I compose new material with my students and come up with something they like. I watch how they dance and whether they feel the rhythms and I try to teach them what I’m doing, but I also adapt to how they feel the music. I let them take the music where they want to take it as long as it is rooted in our traditions. I just watch them dance an…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…e other in the war. There were lots of scary moments when rebels would try to force them to declare alligence or die. But by miracle the rebel leaders let them live and play music as neutrals. In 1992, the Uganda Army then re-took control of the area. One of their first acts was to go to each village and accuse them of collaborating, typically killing the men under the assumption that they must have fought with the rebels. For Joshua, this was a t…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
Today was a travelling day to Soroti, Uganda. It gives us a chance to talk about the road scenes of Northern Uganda … On the road The road connects villages to their local markets and therefore is covered on either side by economic activity. There are the ‘thatch’ cutters, teams of women armed with knives and machetes cutting down the tall grasses on either side of the road. The long grasses are then laid down to dry, looking like long carpets. T…
ATTA is following Singing Wells News
…their website under the ‘ATTA Likes’ banner! Thank you ATTA – we will keep you posted on our travels in East Africa with news, photos and wonderful music! Victoria…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…k 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 wanted to capture it on its own. But the subsequent magic moment session lacked something – our…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
Another amazing start to the day. Today it was all about music of the Alur tribe. We drove from Pakwach across the Albert Nile Bridge into the Nebbi district to the village of Widyanga. The Music Alur Kingdom Troupe We set up amongst the ‘five layered’ thatched roof huts, settled down around the cows, goats and a really music loving chicken and recorded one single band, The Alur Kingdom Troupe, with every instrument imaginable: The Flute (yep, a…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…so learned a great deal about their history and their lifestyle in Uganda today. The following week, we invited ten of the Batwa performers to the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi to record more songs, and in particular, collaborate with contemporary music artists to generate new material for ‘Influences’ – a series of new songs influenced and inspired by traditional themes. Our aim is to provide a lasting benefit for the Batwa community in Ugand…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…rial with audio sync. Once the microphones are set up we ask the musicians to perform a few bars of their first track to check the microphone gains and record levels. The video team check their shots and talk about who will be covering which part of the footage. Then, once we are setup, we begin to record the performances. Takes are logged by the day, so the first take of the day becomes take number one. Note taking and logging is incredibly impor…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…bppQ9Ig We loved their energy and recorded a second ‘Magic Moments’ of the day for one of their dances. Waroco Tekwaro The fourth band was Waroco Tekwaro, made up of many of the members of Ker Kal Kware. Again, all massive dance energy pressed home by their 5 Agwara drummers (Calabash, or the Samba drum, Tamborim. They played Lutino Achii and Lajwer and had most of the kids all on their feet dancing. Here’s Lutino Achii: Here’s Laywer: Anyim Lac B…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…) and the Gwara (calabash or tambourin with Samba drumming, in this case a tortoise sized shell that they hit with a brush of wire). In addition, one of the groups featured the Uvure, a wonderful horn. The Uvure in action… Omee Odokomit Our first group was Omee Odokomit, who played Apiri style. The group is led by Evelyn Ojok and was formed in 1981, disbanded for the war and reformed in 1999. The leader summons the band to practice by playing drum…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…ult of a platform developed by Harvard University. WorldMap is a great platform for a project like this for several reasons. It is free and open source which means any researcher can work with the source code to extend and improve its functionality, so it is constantly developing and improving. It’s also web-based so it’s easy to access and share, which is exactly what we want in order to carry on building the Singing Wells community. Rosie has ma…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…us stages of manufacturer (either drying or firing), pyramids of potatoes, tomatoes on patches of blankets under trees, tiny goats tethered near the road side to pick at a fresh patch of grass, bike rider riding with small loads or walking their bikes with large loads (this trips winner was a large door, but fails miserably to our Rift Valley coffin), bed frames in all shapes and sizes gathered in front of workshops, big steel gates leaning agains…
Northern Uganda: Day 0 – London to Entebbe Story
…feast on Kisoro locusts during our locust attack). They ran a lovely hotel and greeted us warmly with Nile Specials! We handed off a pile of Batwa DVD’s for them to take back to the Traveller’s Rest and hit the sack. Jimmy (Entebbe)…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…a new generation of musicians and fans who might not consider it relevant today, through The Influences Series. Some of my favourite prominent Benga musicians of today are Ogwang Lelo Okoth, Musa Juma (below) and Dola Kabarry (below). Instrument: The nyatiti has 8 strings and is usually played sitting down on a three-legged stool known as the ‘Orindi’, it can be as low as shin level. The player sits with the instrument in front of him whilst wear…