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. …
Report from Womex 2013 News
…their work, and it looks great. Hopefully we can help the project and work together in some way in the future. Showcases Visited Mike and I were present at the opening concert – curated by Cerys Matthews at the fantastic Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. The show was a showcase of traditional Welsh music including performances from Matthews herself, The Welsh Ballet and The Treorchy Male voice choir. I heard a bit of a day showcase from th…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…ower of the laptops if we are in the situation where we do not have a generator (or there is a power cut mid-session which happened to us when we recorded to the Batwa at the Traveller’s Rest Hotel in Kisoro, Uganda!) We can also combine the two recording units into one to increase the number of inputs, while still working off battery power. The laptops use Avid ProTools recording software – an industry standard for recording and music production….
A quick summary of the Singing Wells Project News
…ouldn’t help but joining Jovah in song: 5. Singing Wells is about bringing together tribal music and wonderfully talented young performers like Akello from Uganda… We brought Akello to Northern Uganda. She joined almost every band. Here she is with the Watmon Cultural Group singing Amari… Or with the Adungu Cultural Group singing Awinyo… 6. Singing Wells is about capturing how cool, how relevant this music is through Magic Moments: Listen to the N…
73,603 views on YouTube News
…was the very first video we uploaded to YouTube following our field visit to the Coast Region to record the music of the Mijikenda tribes. Is second place is a video from our field visit to Kisoro in south west Uganda where we met and recorded the wonderful Batwa people. The music is performed by Kamuntu ‘Tiny’ Moses accompanied by our Influences artist Winyo. And in first place with over 21,700 views is ’71 Hours to Monday’- a global tra…
A new type of city Story
…o pick up Akello before we headed up north to Gulu. I was curious to see what the capital would be like; this image speaks a lot about the city. The number of ‘proper’ buildings were few and in only the small centre. It was hilly and most of the roads were not built for vehicles. The shops were small shacks mostly and at night stayed open, lit by candle light. There were animals everywhere and make-shift houses, which starkly contrasted to the tal…
The Boy with the Headphones Story
…overishment of this small community. As we arrived, a group of women were gathered on a muddy terrace, washing their babies in a small plastic bowl. Rather self-consciously, we began to set up the equipment in amongst the tiny grass huts, the outdoor ‘kitchen’ and the dug out latrine – it was our first intimate view of daily life for the Batwa and a sobering one. Gradually more members of the community began to arrive on the ‘stage’ and we were…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…dance in our lives. And as musicians, we risk becoming undifferentiated. Rather than drawing upon what makes us unique we risk our voices being lost in the sea of American and British groups’. At Ketebul Music, Tabu recruits and develops musicians committed to the rich musical cultures of East Africa. His goal is not simply to preserve this music, but bring it back to life with contemporary musicians putting a modern stamp on traditional music. A…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…hose 8 steps and were quite relaxed flying. After some chores we all then gather at the Go Down Arts Centre for recording. In the early afternoon, we had a chance to interview Tabu about the Uganda trip: Q: What did you want to get out of the trip?. A: In each of our trips I’m trying to focus on the one or two things the region is know for. In the coastal regions of Kenya, I wanted to make sure we recorded their shakers, the Kayamba (hand shaken i…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…otel grounds and a load of German guests just back from safari became the rather surprised audience. Throughout the recording we competed with some very loud bird, a lovely school choir across the street, planes from the airport nearby and ‘wandering guests’, folks that decided to have one last view of the grounds and walked past ‘stage.’ There’s a pretty classic routine here. Folks wander into shot and turn in our direction. First look on their f…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…oupe, which was a large dance act of men and women with heavy percussion. Matthew Watmon (above) is the leader of his group, which he started in 1991. The members are from all over Uganda, but generally perform music in the style of Acholi, as Watmon is originally from Kitikum, 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…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…he rebels and reoccupation by the government. We then hinted at problems. Rather than leave at 13:00 to travel to Kampala, we were forced back to Soroti with a broken wheel and only managed to hit the road again at 15:30. So we knew we were in for one of those ‘African Night Drives’ we so often do and so often swear we’ll never do again. We’ve decided night driving in Africa is like child birth. While you’re in the throws of it, you’re swearing to…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…roup, from the Coastal regions of Kenya. He originally performed with his father’s group and then he founded this group in 2007. They use a number of styles, most notably Sengenya, which we covered fully in our March 2011 field recordings in Malindi. We interviewed Swalhe Mwatela Massai and his grandson, Ali Tungwa : Q to the grandfather: In contrast to Uganda, we have seen many villages in Kenya where the traditional music is only played by the…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…donia band began to play Uganda Land of Freedom and the rebels started to gather round, starved for music and a chance to relax. An argument broke out amongst the rebels – most wanted to continue the raid and kill the musicians but a small group started to argue that the band could serve a purpose and help provide welcome distractions for the rebels. Eventually, after a few tense hours of debate, the village was spared. The rebels were about to ta…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…etty sure that you will find under it 6 or 7 ladies selling pyramids of potatoes, green oranges, etc… The fruit and vegetables complement the plethora 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 bi…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…s, 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 part BBC wildlife documentary. We reassured ourselves that at least the bugs that whacked into you were unlikely to be mosquitos. But the night gave us a new insight as well. Many of the songs w…