Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…thwest toward Masaka. We turned north at Kammengo onto the Mbarra Road to Kindinda – the trip was about 110 kilometers. From Kindinda, we turned right at a trading center and went another 10 kilometers into the fields, to a small village called Kidinda. The Recording Site: The village had one cement single story home, one stable (with a small and very loud cow tucked in the back) and one angry bull tethered to the middle of the grounds. Chickens h…
Singing Wells surpasses 500,000 YouTube hits! News
We’re delighted to announce that this morning Singing Well’s YouTube channel surpassed half a million views. Since 2011, we’ve been sharing our work discovering, recording, archiving and celebrating the traditional music of East Africa on this channel and we couldn’t be more grateful for your support. Our YouTube channe l features videos from our trips across Kenya and Uganda, including visiting the tribes of the Kenyan Coast, Central and Eastern…
Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…and so earlier this week had the pleasure of visiting the Ketebul offices in the downtown industrial area and meeting the super-cool team. Tucked away in an unassuming street, Ketebul is situated in the Go Down Arts Centre, a graffited music enclave of made up of some seriously hip outlets. The main purpose of my trip, besides hanging out with the team and trying to absorb some of their street cred, was to chat to the main man: Mr Tabu Osusa. Sit…
Our top 5 Singing Wells songs for March News
…t I’d share my top 5 songs so far. 1. Otacho Young Stars – Amilo Love The Singing Wells team first encountered the Otacho Young Stars group on a trip to record the music of the Luo in Western Kenya in December 2011. They were later invited to Ketebul Studios in Nairobi to form part of our influences series. I love this song because it’s cheery and upbeat. It’s the kind of song everyone should listen to when they wake up to start the day with posit…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…I just couldn’t help telling stories. And I told her the one sad fact of Singing Wells – we have at least 250 stories, one for every video of a performance, and yet we are miserable at getting these stories out to folks. But we will keep trying… Here’s a few 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 Viru…
Current Leading Figures News
…teach them all. The best place to preserve values, and music does this, is in the hearts of people.” When asked how large a problem is getting funding for music related/cultural projects? Do you feel people generally in Uganda understand the importance of such projects? His reply was striking… “The African problem has been seen to be economic & political rather than cultural by our leaders, partners, the UN name it. They focus support on health, m…
Amone Watmon Matthew Story
…trip to Uganda. Our story with Amone Watmon Matthew We had spent 4 days in the north of Uganda, travelling back through Soroti and into Kampala, where, arranged by Jimmy of the Adungu Cultural Troupe, we arrived in the Naguru area of Kampala. Jimmy led us to another location for the recording, away from the road – a space in front of a house where Matthew Watmon lived. We were introduced and in the time before the group had even managed to begi…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…undergraduate and post-graduate degrees in Ethnomusicology that include training in performance of African music. Diane Thram became Director in 2005 and, under her leadership, an online listening library has been created, in line with the cutting edge of content access, to allow anyone to listen to Hugh Tracey’s recordings, with work currently being done to also make the Dave Dargie and Andrew Tracey Collections available for online access. There…
Archiving Guidelines News
…knowledge is needed – but this guide is most definitely a great help for gaining understanding of all the issues needed be considered when setting up an online music archive. Storage of Audio Materials Guidance for the care, handling and storage of audio visual materials can be found on the Library of Congress website. The guidelines for storage aim to preserve the life of the grooved discs and cylinders, optical discs, and magnetic tape, which ha…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…no-musicologist, sound recordist, archivist, performer, dynamic and entertaining lecturer, record producer, photographer and author.’ As he was so broadly accomplished, he was involved in every aspect of the recording and archiving process of his music, which he gathered from across the world; beginning in the Middle East in 1966 and spreading through North and East African from 1969 till 1975. He later went on to record across the Pacific Ocean f…
Singing Wells YouTube reaches 200,000+ views! News
… We’ve reached an exciting milestone here at Singing Wells and are so happy to see that our channel has reached over 200,000 views! Thank you to everyone who watches and enjoys are videos – all of our artists would love to see that their music has reached so many people. Here is our most recent upload for you… The incredible Original Chuka Drummers!…
ILAM, Repatriation and Jimmie Rodgers/Chemirocha News
…s of the Kalenjin, and was inspired by a Jimmie Rodgers record left behind in their village by missionaries. We recorded the Kalenjin in 2012. Jimmie Rodgers, was, of course, a famous American country music singer in the 20’s and 30’s. This teaches us several things: All music is inspired by all music: everyday in Singing Wells, we have to remind ourselves that as we record traditional music, we are listening to music that reflects dozens of influ…
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…’ve taught for 20 years now and my concern is that our entire system is training us to be like a white person from England or America, not to be Ugandan. The English and Americans don’t want to know me because I am like them – they know I am not. They want to know me because I am Ugandan, because I am different. And yet that is not what we teach. Tabu: Exactly. Rather than embrace our identify we aspire to be something else. In Kenya, all the youn…
Preserving Threatened Heritage News
…eople’, as it narrates the history of the Basoga people, especially concerning their King. It makes important links to their past and cultural heritage, whilst also dealing with issues such as leadership, marriage problems and social norms. However, it is on the brink of distinction. There are only three men who are masters of the music, able to teach it to future generations: Ahamada Kakaire, 88, who seriously ill and bedridden, leaving only Jame…
Report from Womex 2013 News
The Singing Wells project attended the World Music Expo this year in Cardiff. The festival lasted from Wednesday 23rd to the 27th of October. The trade fair and conferences were held at the Motorpoint arena, with the evening showcases and events held at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. For our first visit to Womex, we booked a stand at the trade fair, with the main intentions being to spread the word of the project and the work we are doing…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…n who has been mentioned in several circles so far as being one of the remaining custodians of Basoga music history. Nathan ‘Mata’ is a composer and songwriter who plays the ‘Endongo’ (thumb piano). Mata, (Lusoga for ‘milk’) as he is popularly known, has lost his sight and lives in very humble conditions with his family. He said he was glad we had visited him and was looking forward to our return in November.” After our recording session with ‘Mat…