A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…erything you need for a fully functioning, professional recording studio into the back of a small utility vehicle. Here’s a quick summary of what’s in all those bags…… We have two mobile recording units, each capable of recording from four microphones plus other sources at a high resolution to Apple MacBook Pro laptops. The benefit of the systems we have chosen is that they can run off the battery power of the laptops if we are in the situation wh…
What people say about Singing Wells News
…e future.” PSN Europe Magazine Read the review of Singing Wells here. Mark Totokwa via YouTube “This is good stuff – a good example of a sustainable project both in context and content. A big thank you to those behind this project and most importantly to the resourceful musicians. A job well done!” (Posted on YouTube here) Atesh Sonneborn, Associate Director, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings “Andy, It was a real pleasure to speak with you this morn…
Kampala traffic jam Story
… We go to great lengths to plan the itinerary for our field recording trips so that we make the best use of the limited time we have. Steve K from Ketebul Music is our Africa Project Manager and he does an amazing job in the weeks prior to the trip, contacting music groups, booking local accommodation and arranging vehicles and drivers to transport us to some very remote destinations. But even Steve’s meticulous planning could not help us avoid t…
A quick summary of the Singing Wells Project News
…nd spared the men. The rest were filled with bloodlust, however, and moved to the next village and killed everyone. The Macedonia Band, a Likembe band (think thumb pianos on steroids, sounding like a calypso band), played in the rebel camps and within the rebel held villages. Aware that the political tides may change, the band leader was careful to not play rebel songs and stuck with very traditional songs far away from politics. The tides did cha…
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
…re were animals everywhere and make-shift houses, which starkly contrasted to the taller office buildings you could see in the distance. Despite this unconventional type of city,I loved it. There was certainly a lot going on and during the week Akello told us many stories of the vibrant buzz in Kampala. Every night there’s music to listen to somewhere in the packed hub of 180,000 people . The image above of the tin houses and the Uganda House of C…
The Boy with the Headphones Story
…with the headphones. It was on our second day in Kisoro when we travelled to the Mperwa Batwa community. Consisting of just a small number of families, the Mperwa have settled on a small area of borrowed land just a few kilometres from the town. At first glance the setting appeared to be spectacular, with the lush valley and terraced hills of local farms as a backdrop and the magnificent Virunga volcanos in the distance. But we were quickly str…
Hannah interviews Sabina – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…n 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 translates to ‘The Drunk Huntsman’ and Acet, a town that perhaps used to be a bad place, we were told meant ‘…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…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 few thousand miles north of Nairobi, our band of musicians at Abubilla Music in London had similar concerns. Some of us had travelled through East Africa and we were astounded by the…
Day 9 (AM): Ketebul Studio – Influences session for Cheri Story
…requiring a different bass and guitar for part of the song. They rushed into the control booth to offer something (remember, the leader is someone we discovered in the coast and recorded for the first time in March 2011 and now he is re-writing bass and guitar lines in Pro Tools). Their words are mainly about love so strong that they are willing to give her anything. They see her and want to give her the clothes offer her back. Macadem was then i…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…This is really important. The key is that the traditional songs are taught to the children in the villages and then that the traditional music permiates into popular music. Northern Uganda is doing a great job at the former at least. We spent the afternoon working with Mwenzele-Nyerere wa Konde Music Club, who we first met during our March 2011 Pilot. We recorded the lead singer and group leader Nyerere wa Konde, backed by some basic percussion an…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…stantly we could see he was incredibly talented, so we brought him with us to the hotel in Entebbe with his son, Odika Constantine. Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe It was a lovely afternoon on the hotel 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…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…who are to perform to different occasions. All in all the staff performed to their expectations, thanks to them for their seriousness and dedication. BIRARA group This is one of the communities that is still cherishing music and dance as the Batwa culture it is still leading and very creative. The community members also share the knowledge on culture and pass on the knowledge to the young ones in order to promote and preserve the Batwa culture wh…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…enough homage to it, you will be rewarded. After the massive contributions to the spirit last night we were given two great troupes in Naguru. Naguru is a suburb of Kampala and we forced our two big vans through the crowded urban streets to a little square where we set up for recording. Exactly 24 hours ago we set up to record in Northern Uganda in the village of Obuell-Lira. This was the most idyllic rural scene we’ve experience – with picture pe…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…i. 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 older generation. And yet your group is so young and vibrant. How have you managed to do this? A: To get the young people involved I decided to go to schools and teach music. I compose new material with my students and come up with something they…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…ica is like child birth. While you’re in the throws of it, you’re swearing to the lord almighty that you won’t go through this again. And then you find yourself right back at it. Well, we’re going for one big happy family because we did it again. (As this blog has been edited with the team, there has been a strong attempt by our female members to point out that our male members have no right to equate anything to child birth. But we read, people….