A quick summary of the Singing Wells Project News
…us a long story, which I will do no justice to in a few words. During one of the rebel movements, the rebels came to his village. The typical mode of operation on these visits was to kill the adult males, seize the boys for fighters and hurt and abuse the women. The band leader tried to convince the leaders that he was a man of peace and music and his band would help the fighers and improve the morale of villages they occupied. The majority of th…
A story of Batwa traditions Story
This is Francis Sembagare, the leader of the Birara Batwa Dancers who we met on our first day in Kisoro, Uganda. In this photo, Francis is telling stories of the Batwa people and their culture and heritage in a song called ‘Inanga yabatwa’. During the song, the leader gathers the community together and tells stories of the old Batwa traditions before they had to move from their forest homes – the hunt in the forest and the celebrations and m…
73,603 views on YouTube News
…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 track from Abubilla Music featuring musicia…
Health and Safety? Story
On Day 6 of the Northern Uganda Field Trip 2012 we broke a wheel on the crazy roads full of potholes on our way down to Kampala. It was going to be a long drive and we were desperate to get in before dark (previous experience of Africa Night Driving had taught the team to avoid it at all costs), but after the accident we had to drive back to Soroti to get it fixed. It was there we were able to find an engineer purely through word of mouth, and…
A new type of city Story
…er’ buildings were few and in only the small centre. It was hilly and most of the roads were not built for vehicles. The shops were small shacks mostly and at night stayed open, lit by candle light. There 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 Akel…
Victoria’s reflections on field trip to Northern Uganda News
…our inquisitive eyes, your sweet smiling face We travel a road to the beat of your drum The calabash crash and the steel on your thumb The bells and the strings, the whistle and holler The dance in the ring, the leader, the follower So sing us your story and dance us your life And show us your world that is hidden inside Sing us your history and dance us your life In musical words where your heritage lies We travel a road of music discovery The ma…
The Boy with the Headphones Story
…e field visit to Kisoro in SW Uganda where we recorded the music and dance of the Batwa people. The story of the Batwa can be read in detail by following the featured link below, but for now we will tell you about this little boy 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 k…
Man on the Pier Story
…nfluences session. We headed back up the coast to the historic coastal town of Malindi, which had been our base for the previous night and was set to be again that night. We decided to see a little of the town on the way back to the hotel, and we stopped off at the pier. This gentleman was sitting with his bike. Jimmy asked his permission and took his photo. …
The First Singing Wells Influences Session Story
…29th March 2011, we began our first day of recording in the field as part of the Singing Wells project. The previous day, we had set out from the Ketebul studios in the Industrial area of Nairobi, and driven to Malindi – a town on the Kenyan coast. The evening rush hour traffic in Mombasa meant we had a night drive up the coast road to Malindi. The next day however, we were treated to the sight of the coast road by daylight. The lush greenery and…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…ed in March 2011 with our first field visit to Malindi to record the music of the Mijikenda. So, how did Tabu Osusa, one of Kenya’s most successful record producers end up in a remote Kenyan village, teamed with me, an American businessman, and a sound engineer from Gateshead? The Singing Wells project is a result of a chance meeting between two music labels on two separate continents. Tabu Osusa founded Ketebul Music in 2007 with a goal to record…
Hannah interviews Sabina – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…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 ‘a shit’.. ). This means that all of our songs hav…
Day 10: File Management at Ketebul Studios Story
…he person who drives the clapper board should control the ‘final spelling’ of all and then work with Camera 2 to keep a log of all songs/takes and times. This also requires us to keep all watches and computers/cameras on same time. Agree to do an audio mix in the field and bounce immediately for videos. The ‘field’ audio becomes the input recording for videos (they need to be topped and tailed but no other editing) – we then will go back and do mo…
Day 9 (AM): Ketebul Studio – Influences session for Cheri Story
…e Wa Konde wrote a new part 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 h…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…e to interview Tabu about the Uganda trip: Q: What did you want to get out of the trip?. A: In each of our trips I’m trying to focus on the one or two things the region is know for. In the coastal regions of Kenya, I wanted to make sure we recorded their shakers, the Kayamba (hand shaken idiophones with dried seeds inside), the Lungo (broken glass moved in a big bowl) and Ndema (2 brass rings played in ringing and muted tones). In the Rift Valley,…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…r a final session in Uganda, recording three members we particularly liked of the Watmon Cultural Troupe. Matthew Watmon, their leader, is a very well known player of the ‘Nanga’ (pictured) and instantly 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 jus…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…following the visit made by the Singing Wells project to record the music of the Batwa in Kisoro, Uganda in December 2011. United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU) Narrative Report on the Promotion of Batwa Cultural Music Since April 2012, UOBDU started implementing a project responsible for promotion of Batwa cultural heritage, supporting the performance of music and drama to local audience and to allow UOBDU to monitor and up…