Naizungwe Drums News
…entenga royal drums of the Buganda kingdom starting in 2015 and contacted Singing Wells with the hope that we would support him with funding for his new project. We are excited to announce that we have agreed to support James in his endeavours and will be posting about the project’s development, which has been under way for a month now. We will be documenting the progress of these drums with pictures and videos here, and more details about the p…
Entenga: Performing twice for the king of Buganda News
We have received wonderful news from Singing Wells partner Prof. James Isabirye that he and the rest of the Entenga players performed for the second time at the coronation anniversary of King Ronald Mutebi. https://youtu.be/HgKF14j5LrM We were first introduced to the Entenga drums in 2015 and have since been supporting James in an initiative to revive the drums and teach younger musicians how to play them (read the field reports here or watch o…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…e group is led by Jacinta Njoki Mwangi and formed in 2006. The group plays in thee Gitiro style – the dance performed by women during ruracio, a dowry payment occasion. Gitiro: led by Jacinta Njoki. Ndumo (ya iritu): led by Jacinta and Mary Njoki. Kibuthi: led by Jacinta Njoki. Kangema Mwomboko Dancers The group is led by Maina Kirhoro. From the Kikuyu ethnic community. They are from Kiangunyi Village, Muguru Sub-location, Kangema District. The gr…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…et to record our first group. Here’s our route: The site passed the first Singing Wells test, lots of chickens and children; we find their noises the perfect backing track for all our recordings. The market structures were beautiful with the typical brick structure, light blue paint and the red earth of Africa bleeding up the walls. The market itself was nestled below a lovely hill of green, which stood 500 meters above us, stuck into the blue ski…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…ecordings from one of our rooms. The setting is generally quiet, but it is in the name really – we are near the airport. Every day for an hour or two, the local military facility likes to start up all their helicopters. This is noisy. We had to shift recording at that point to inside one of the rooms. Hot but quiet. We are also joined by bird noises (loud, but surprisingly they often keep the beat) and an occasional hotel guests that finds it surp…
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
A few years ago we learned about a group in Tanzania who, like Singing Wells, is working to preserve traditional music, but for them the act of preservation is quite literal – the Tanzania Heritage Project is scrambling to digitise reams of reel-to-reel tape recorded between the 1960s and 1980s, which has been literally rotting for decades in the moulding archives of the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation. Some has already deteriorated to the poi…
Kenya’s Amazing Musical Instruments News
…en glass moved around in a big bowl) and Ndema (two brass rings played in ringing and muted tones) back in 2011, when we ventured out to the coastal village of Sita near Malindi. At the time Sita didn’t have much more than seven houses, two cows and lots of chickens, but it was home to the wonderful Nyerere wa Konde Music Club. The club included a percussion trio playing the Lungo and the Ndema, as well as two shakers and a Filimbi (a type of whis…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…reds we’ve grown to love. Students walked everywhere with packs. We set up in the garden of James’s class room, under big trees, in tall grass. It had rained the night before and morning so everything was glistening. The Music Groups Bukaala Twesitule Troupe Their Leader is Charles Ikula and they were started in 1991, with over 200 members, 50 of whom are active. Musical style is Baganda. Group performs in different areas, mainly engaged in advoca…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
No journey in the morning, other than to gather in the garden after breakfast. The Recording Site We woke, had an early breakfast, packed the personal luggage and then set up a recording session in the beautiful gardens of the Gately Hotel. The Nile Beat Artists The Nile Beat Artists joined us over the morning and we were ready to record at about noon. There were founded in 1990. The group were voted group of the year in Uganda in 2004. Their lea…
Interview: fusion band Ndoto Afrika News
…ries. So we will have to transmit these stories to their iPhones and iPads in the form of music, the universal language. Where are you from? From Kenya, in the East of Africa. To be more specific, we hail from a small village in Siaya County where most of the renowned Luo musicians come from. Ever heard of Otieno Aloka (the famous Ohangla artist)? He is our next door neighbour back at the village. We borrow each other’s salt from time to time. Why…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…hen of one of our cottage rooms and have the groups either perform on our dining patio or our porch. We had three groups today and the drivers were sent out to round them up from the surrounding areas. The Bigwala Cultural Group One of this group’s primary purposes is to restore the Bigwala, the big Ugandan trumpet, to Ugandan musical culture. According to our local musical expert, James Isabirye, it was close to dead, but a Unesco project has hel…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…c. Excitingly, we also learned that Peter knew Musisi, one of the last remaining entenga players from the Buganda Palace, whom we met during our last trip in December 2015. Musisi is now working with James at Kyambogo to implement our entenga restoration scheme to preserve and promote this traditional instrument for future generations. Students practice entenga drum-chime at Kyambogo in 1968 (Musisi is furthest from the camera) Peter’s research in…
Before They Pass Away News
…ways of life. Nelson’s breathtaking photographs capture how these last remaining tribes continue their lives amid a changing world. But rather than charge in and start pointing his camera at these people, Nelson had to get to know them and to gain their trust. When he met the Chukchi people, the elders told him: “You cannot photograph us. You have to wait, you have to wait until you get to know us, you have to wait until you understand us.” Jimmy…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…to keep the food away from the lazy wife and the lazy wife would go complaining to the husband. The message in the song is to not wait for everything to be done for you. Paolo Wawanyera: This is someone’s name, meaning Paul, son of Wawanyera. Paul was a chief. He visited certain places and found they had made him party with lots of food and drink. He actually visited his brother in law who was jealous of him as a chief. So he decided to poison hi…
Happy new year from Singing Wells News
…ingdom. 2. We met Musisi and heard his story Musisi is one of the last remaining drummers of the Buganda Kingdom in Uganda. He performed for the King during his time at the Buganda Palace before fleeing in fear when the government arrived to shut the palace down. Here’s is Musisi’s incredible story. 3. We checked in on the preservation of the Bigwala trumpets The Bigwala is a trumpet-style instrument made from gourds. Singing Wells has been suppor…
We’re discovering the lost music of the Ugandan Kingdoms News
…rney so far has taken us to the capital of Uganda – Kampala, over to Jinja in the east and back in search of musicians who haven’t played in the royal palaces since they were children. We’ve been posting regular updates about our journey which you can read on our Field Reports section. Including: Some background and the beginning of our journey to discover the lost royal drums of the Buganda Kingdom Context on the Entenga royal drums we’ve been se…