Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
The Journey to the Site We woke for 7AM breakfast and were on the road by 8:30AM, a half hour AHEAD of schedule. We drove about 210 kilometers from Kampala through Jinja toward Iganga and then turned north toward Mbale. We went directly to the Budaka District, Lyama Sub County, to a small village near the Budaka Progressive School. The Recording Site: Given our early departure we arrived before our groups were ready to perform so we had plenty of…
Happy new year from Singing Wells News
…enya’s music heritage after 50 years and celebrated magic moments – where we’ve found an extra-special artist on our journeys and recorded their work. 7. We spoke to a young Kenyan about the future of traditional music During our outings in Nairobi, we’ve gotten into the habit of chatting to young urban Nairobians about their opinion of traditional music. So, yes, we spend a lot of time speaking to complete strangers. We had a particularly compell…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…aught up in a UN group that passed very slowly through customs. We made it to the hotel at around 1630. It was great to see our old friends at the hotel. We had a quick dinner and a few free drinks (we had charmed some flight attendants on the plane to contribute to Singing Wells with a few whiskeys). Most of us then went to bed for the night, deciding to have one final evening free of our London friends. Patrick, however, woke up in time to be a…
Who’s looking at you? Story
…This little fan joined us along Lake Victoria to record some of the best Nyatiti players in Kenya in November 2011….
Discussions on music and culture with a young Kenyan News
…ple about their music interests, whether the idea of Singing Wells appeals to them and what more we can do to ensure this musical culture is not lost. On a visit to iHub this week – a communal working space for tach-savvy Nairobi entrepreneurs – I got chatting to Edwin Maganjo about the Singing Wells Project. Edwin has lived in Nairobi most of his life and is an entrepreneur currently building a blogging platform. What kind of music do you like? I…
Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…with the team and trying to absorb some of their street cred, was to chat to the main man: Mr Tabu Osusa. Sitting across from me in his office in his bright yellow patterned t-shirt and flat cap he looked laid back as he sipped his cool beverage. His easy smile broke every time I said something that amused him. Here’s our interview: Who are the most exciting modern artists you’re currently working with, and why? Some of the most exciting artists…
Singing Wells is on Bozza! News
…t African musicians and music groups recorded by Singing Wells. Head over to our Bozza page here. About Bozza “Bozza is a plug & play solution for musicians, poets, photographers & film makers to promote and sell their digital products to their fans throughout Africa. The platform is available to emerging and established artists from around the continent and can be easily accessed by visiting www.bozza.mobi from mobile phones and PCs.” Thabiso Moh…
Hitching a ride Story
Nick took this picture on our journey from Kisoro to the Birara community while we were in south west Uganda documenting and recording the music of the Batwa. It’s about 35kms by road, most of which is uphill, following the winding road through the stunning, lush countryside. This guy was lucky enough to have a bike and took advantage of the passing lorry. Most people seemed to be on foot and many of the Batwa make the arduous journey to town th…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…ew of the 250 stories – pull up a chair: The Batwa: Providing a Soundtrack to the Costs of ‘Simple Solutions’ The Batwa are a forest people living in the dense forests along the base of the Virunga Volcanoes. They were evicted from the forest to make way for the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park near Kisoro Uganda, which was established to protect the Mountain Gorillas that habitate in the park (travelling back and forth across the Uganda-Rwanda bord…
Current Leading Figures News
…re, honest expression of my country’s values, feelings, thoughts, musics, history, aspirations……not copied from any where, not just learned but inherited.” He sees music, traditional music with history, as a way to educate the Ugandan people about who they are; he is adamant that he is “not about to come from a society that does not exist, that does not know who it is, that has no values, no human beings that believe in who they are, without futur…
A History of Recording East African Music News
The history of African music recording and archiving can be seen most clearly and compellingly by detailing the history of a few key individuals, who were pioneers in their field. At the turn of the 20th Century, a colonised Africa was viewed as backward and void of any real culture worth preserving, which is why these ethnomusicologists were not only groundbreaking in their ideas, but revolutionary. They understood, far before the rest of the We…
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. …
ILAM, Repatriation and Jimmie Rodgers/Chemirocha News
…0’s. We are working with ILAM to begin to repatriate these recordings back to the villages from which they were taken. We hope to start with two pilot villages in July, where we can a) identify relatives of the original musicians, b) ensure that we can leave the recordings in a sustainable way, with villagers having access to the recordings and c) record new village music that builds off the earlier recordings. The Ketebul team is working closely…
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…threatened. I know that Hugh Tracy blamed Christianity. The churches came to the land and convinced the people that the old ways were evil. Traditional instruments with drums were part of the pagan culture and needed to be erased. Traditional songs about spirits, about witch doctors needed to be ended and replaced with Christian music. James: I think that explains some of it. But the church no longer does that and yet we still reject the old ways…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…g to support each decade for each day, for our five days, for our 50 year history. This will help solve our identity crisis, to give our people a sense of history. Our partners are Hivos, Phat Magazine, Kiss 100 (every Sunday they host two artists from us and talk about the music, etc..) etc… and we will be the main stand, talking about music through a set of panels. Everyone wants to be involved. One major project we still need to finish is Kenya…
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…