Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…on her head and marches into the local market to sell a packet for about 2,000 Ugandan shillings ($1). By our calculation, that is a 15-30 kilometer round trip the market, giving her time to make two runs. Most of the women carry empty bottles and cans on top of the grass bundle so she can buy essentials, like cooking oil at the market. The thatched bundles are then sold at the market to businesses that are working on new thatched roofs or those n…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…well and good, but our poor travelers didn’t arrive with us until about 1900, by which time it was pretty dark – okay, very dark. The good news is we have good lighting equipment. The bad news, good lights attract bugs. These are Nile bugs, mind you, so in addition to the millions of little moths you’d expect, we had bat size critters, from very big grasshoppers to fairly intimidating beetles. Our recording sessions were part Singing Wells and pa…
ATTA is following Singing Wells News
…their guest at the World Travel Market at Excel and I met representatives from a number of organisations and companies in the travel and tourism industry operating in the East African counties we are visiting during our field recording trips. I met Nigel Vere Nicoll, Chief Executive of the African Travel & Tourism Association and explained a little about Singing Wells and our aims to record and celebrate the cultural music heritage of East Africa…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
…work very hard to be as traditional as possible. The performers are picked from the top villages around the area. Their leader is Cwinyaai Atya, Richard. Their first song was Tambara, in the Osegu style. It is all about a stubborn girl who doesn’t want to marry early. Here they are, dancing in glory: The second song was magnificent, called Oramba, the name of a hunter, in the style ‘Aliku’. This style is traditionally performed around the fire, as…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…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 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…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…lady sitting on the blanket in the middle of this village, surrounded by 100’s had a beautiful, strong, pitch perfect voice. Incredible. She sang: Two Man Dong Lakee Cok Mon Alwak Munu Keya Here’s Two Man Dong: https://youtu.be/CwBlvGLF0YY Here’s Lakee: Here’s Cok Mon Alwak: https://youtu.be/mWakegCOMV8 And here’s Munu Keya: https://youtu.be/IoImfE_sG3M Moving on The day ended and we drove an hour back to Gulu. We then bought a snack (it was 6 PM…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…Book 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 Microphones2 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 ThinkTank sun screens (for th…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…and a team of performers – 6 groups with 20 members in each – and another 100 children. By the end, these two teams were joined by another group of 100 adults from the surrounding village. Our backdrop became not the cement buildings, but the faces and shirts of our three teams – we guess they were 350 strong at the peak. The Music Groups The main theme of the day was dance. All groups featured wonderful female dancers and two ladies in particular…
UOBDU report on Singing Wells visit to the Batwa, Kisoro Uganda News
…o Kisoro to record the music of the Batwa. Since then we have been pleased to hear news updates from our friends and hosts at 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 musi…
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…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…e changing, however. Since the Female Genital Mutiliation or ‘FGM’ Act in 2009 the practice has been on decline, but this year in particular Pokot men have come to women’s aid by rejecting the practice. There were reports in February of this year of men demonstrating with large placards against FGM. One man, Mr Lotolim, a resident of Jumbe village in Amudat District, reported that Pokot men often only resort to polygamy because their first wives h…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…arly around the valley) you can find many instruments that date back over 5000 years, many, like the nyatiti, are also found in Egyptian hieroglyphs (right). The Luo people are related to the Acholi people of Uganda, a tribe we will come across in our next field visit. They play a similar instrument called the Adungu. Style: As music is mainly functional for the Luo, traditionally a nyatiti player is called upon to play at weddings or funerals, as…
Northern Uganda: Day 0 – London to Entebbe Story
…oundation Gang (Vicki, Hannah, Andy and Jimmy) all met at Terminal 5 at 0930AM to check in to BA flight 63 to Entebbe. After quick breakfast, we did last minute shopping for essential supplies (alcohol, sunglasses, papers) and then took the train to C57, where we boarded our flight and left pretty much on time. Jimmy sat next to Andrew who lives in Kampala and married to a Uganda woman with whom he’s had a one year old son. He was passionate about…
Day 9: Ketebul Studios with Ben Kisinja Story
…writing blogs, organising strategy through 2014, sorting through about 10,000 receipts of expenses (we run a very tight shop, thanks to Steve’s leadership), we welcome Ben into the studio to record. The Otacho Young Stars stayed the morning as well. We had a full crew to support Ben – Johnnie and Bishop on guitar, Nina and Winyo on vocals. Watch this space. We also continued our work to capture new artists for Missing – Global Remix, our 2012 fun…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…Certainly, in the documentary ‘War Dance’ by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix in 2007, people in the North dealt with the scars of the recent attacks by the Lord Resistance Army thorugh playing and making music together. This transcends any past tension between tribal groups. In parallel, music is a fantastic way of holding on to tribal identity, as many villages were evacuated and millions were moved into displacement camps. Being away from home, the tr…
Day 8: Ketebul Studios with the Otacho Young Stars Story
…ften so good, we needed to bring them back to the Nairobi studio. That led to 10 Batwa musicians and 5 Batwa babies travelling from Kisoro to Kampala to Nairobi and recording some great songs over the course of four days. We now want to repeat this for every field visit and decided to invite the Otacho Young Stars, the great find of our field visit to record the Luo, and Ben Kisinja, the great Kalenjin musician we recorded earlier this week. Satur…