The Boy with the Headphones Story
…local people who had gathered on the hillside, including, of course, this group of three young Batwa boys who were intrigued with all our recording equipment. Andy invited them to listen to a playback of one of the songs through his headphones and this particular boy overcame his shyness to have give it a try. We could see how hard life is for the Batwa, living on small pieces of borrowed land on the fringes of society but the performance of th…
73,603 views on YouTube News
…ls YouTube channel……73,603 views and still counting! It’s not a meaningful number in itself (like a nice round 100,000 – our next target) but it does mean more and more people are finding us and enjoying what we are all about – bringing the more traditional sounds of East Africa to an enthusiastic audience. Thanks for watching! Our top 3 video hits In third place, this is the Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club from Sita Village, Gede in Kenya’s Malindi…
The First Singing Wells Influences Session Story
…s cameraman and artist then also joined in. I quickly re-arranged the microphones and prepared headphones, so that the musicians could hear each other, and we recorded it. Thus the concept of the ‘Influence’ session was born. The recording is here for you to listen to, and to buy on the Mijikenda of Kenya album The father, Nyerere wa Konde was very gracious and offered us coconuts as a thanks for visiting and recording, which he, with the help of…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…to a local town for a simple recording. Singing Wells allows for the whole group to perform, singing and dancing in front of ten microphones and three digital cameras.’ Video engineer, Patrick Ondiek, adds, ‘I love producing the final videos and getting phone calls from my friends asking me ‘how did you find these musicians?’ I feel like I’m on the cutting edge of music, bringing these talented musicians to my Nairobi friends.’ In addition to our…
Listen to more ‘Influences’ tracks from Singing Wells News
…perts on the traditional instruments the orutu and nyangile, we loved this group and invited them to record at the Ketebul Music studio a few months later. Here they are performing ‘Mr Manager’ accompanied by session musicians and also Winyo with backing vocals. (Click here for blog post) During our field visit to Northern Uganda we travelled with Akello, a singer/songwriter originally from an Acholi village near Gulu and now living in Kampala. He…
Music of the Batwa: video playlist News
…rip was facilitated by the generous support of donors to our charity the Abubilla Music Foundation, including a grant from the Institute of International Education….
Day 10: File Management at Ketebul Studios Story
…ginning of trip planning and then make sure we have a group (and a back up group for each). On this trip we came close to missing a couple styles. We work ourselves too hard in the field and don’t leave enough time for file management. So, we have established two new ‘non-negotiables’: a) no driving at night, and b) all travel plans must assume an average speed of 50 kph. It is simply impossible for two vans and 10 people to travel faster. Keep a…
Hannah interviews Sabina – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…Northern Uganda. Sabina played the ‘Uvure’ a type of horn for this women’s group and blew us away. Like Evelyn Ojok her husband was killed in the war after he was abducted and taken into the bush by the LRA. She has 7 children and 4 of them love to sing and dance, mainly through learning at school. What does this music mean to you? The Acholi often give meaning and purpose to things in daily life. (The name of the primary school in this village…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…, for working with his father to give the background; here’s Bado, with Patrick, who we’ve known since the founding of Singing Wells: At about 1900, Tabu broke away with Hannah and Andy to go to a concert while Jimmy remained with the core group to continue recording. The recording group stayed until about 2130 at night, long after hotel restaurants closed, so Pato and Steve hosted the band to a dinner out. Hannah and Andy will report on the con…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…nd Lamele. Akello then sang her song ‘Amari’ with the band as back up. The group then went on to sing An Lakara Pee… …Odong’o Kilau… …Lawie Akada (with the group leader playing the Olwet (flute)… …and they closed (and we closed our Ugandan trip) with Anyaka Lim Pee. The last song is essentially a lament that a male suitor doesn’t have enough money for the woman’s bridal dowry. Watmon is pictured above with a plastic flute (traditionally it’s made…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…Akello for Influences to sing ‘Awinyo’, which sounded magical. Our second group was Watmon Cultural Troupe, 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 du…
Meet our ‘Influences’ artists News
…Wells involves contemporary East African musicians collaborating with the groups and artists we discover during our field recording visits. The result is a unique fusion of contemporary and traditional themes. Here we introduce the artists who have created Influences songs for Singing Wells…… Winyo Shiphton Onyango adopted his artistic name ‘Winyo’, which is a Luo word (a tribe from the Lake Victoria region of Western Kenya) for “a bird”. The rea…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…d, we need an exact record of the day, 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 th…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…g moment because the band was known to have played to the rebels. Again, a group of soldiers came into their village and again their mission was to kill the men and boys of the village. And again, Johsua rallied the village and started to play Uganda, Land of Freedome and again a small group of the army felt the village should be spared so the men could have a break. And again, the music prevailed and the band was asked to play for the army. In th…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…dancing groups have made other developmental ideas to the including saving groups. These groups have gone ahead to improve their economic situations by carrying out other activities such as working as a group on people’s gardens as well as entertaining people at a fee when invited. Some group members are improving their standard of living through purchase of house hold items such as bed sheets and saucepans. The recorded CDs/DVDs and albums for Ba…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…four different parishes, this gives me strength and hope. Working in this group has influenced women, they now have guidance and work to earn money for themselves. It is not only a musical group but a community for women to grow. The reason we love it is because the music helps us heal and forget about the pain we experienced during the war. Many of us are widows or have had children taken into the bush. My husband died in the war 15 years ago an…