Meet our ‘Influences’ artists News
…roduced several local TV shows. His goal is to take African music all over the world and enliven people to dance and sing to the sweet and melodic sounds of African songs and music. Winyo’s debut album ‘Benga Blues’ has recently been released. Click here to view on YouTube. Winyo with Mperwa Dancers from Kisoro, Uganda Winyo has joined the Singing Wells team of three recording field trips – Kenya (Coastal Region); SW Uganda and Kenya (Nyanza Provi…
Day 9 (AM): Ketebul Studio – Influences session for Cheri Story
…op and Johnnie to get the basic song structure down and put on a vocal ‘Chorus.’ Stanley wants the song to be a classic love song and the his vocals are really beautiful and sincere. We then asked Nyerere Wa Konde to come in and work on the verses. We asked them to find their best love song that fits the beat and recorded them. Their musicality is amazing and the lead was able to introduce a whole new melody over Stanley’s song and deliver it as B…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…as a large sign telling us not to bring in pistols and rifles. The van was then searched. At airport, we had to unload bags at departures, take them by trolly to bottom of stairs. Take all bags up the stairs. Find new trolly and proceed to next stage. All this would be fairly straightforward except we had 34 bags. There was then a line waiting to go into airport. The security guard monitored how many people could enter at one time. While waiting w…
Akello sings ‘Influences’ songs for Singing Wells News
…ries, accompanied by the local music groups. ‘Wan Wilobo’ performed with the Rubanga Kingom Awach Boys With just a few minutes to practice, Akello performed this song backed by the Rubanga Kingom Awach Boys playing the ‘likembe’ – a thumb piano. ‘Awinyo’ performed with the Adungu Cultural Troupe ‘Amari’ performed with the Watmon Cultural Troupe Akello Biography Akello is an African contemporary and urban music performer who sings in mo…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…place during the launch of water project by Bwindi Mgahinga Conservation Trust where the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda was the Chief Guest of Honour. In addition, this group has managed to set aside Saturdays of every week to meet and make practices on their cultural music and dance in order to meet its target “staging music shows” as the future plans of the group. GATERA Group Gatera men and women group takes the highest position in…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…ped watching him so closely. After 6 months of living as a soldier in the bush they didn’t expect him to run, and he took the chance as soon as the opportunity arose. Mostly, you were forced to walk in straight lines, with the abducted children in the middle line, so there was no way to escape. He also told us of how the rebels tried to train you into a soldier: to make you as angry as possible, alienating you, verbally and physically abusing you,…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…u must dig in the field before you can eat. The lyric in swahili in the chorus: “tula kula kua jembe” means ” through our work in the field we can eat”. It is based on the traditional ideology that hard work should always come first. After hearing this set we asked them to do a Magic Moment and then join Akello for Influences to sing ‘Awinyo’, which sounded magical. Our second group was Watmon Cultural Troupe, which was a large dance act of men an…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…rive backing up all our cards and the audio drive. Then we confirm between us the master song list for the site visit and start refilling all by group, by song. Joyful. Joyful. We’re confident that you didn’t want that detail. On the other hand, we have now fixed the tire and returned to the bumper to bumper traffic heading toward Kampala. We’re passing a truck full of petrol as we write and….gulp…. survived. To re-cap the journey so far. We set o…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…performed with his father’s group and then he founded this group in 2007. They use a number of styles, most notably Sengenya, which we covered fully in our March 2011 field recordings in Malindi. 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…
How music archives can help communities News
…e performers to do so, of course. High quality field recordings of indigenous music groups are a valuable resource for those want to learn from these traditional cultural expressions. They have the potential to empower communities to continue to perform and educate future generations. Recordings must be professionally archived as history shows us that they can have a huge impact on the communities from which they originate, as Janet Topp Fargion,…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…trol of the area. One of their first acts was to go to each village and accuse them of collaborating, typically killing the men under the assumption that they must have fought with the rebels. For Joshua, this was a terrifying 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 an…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…t of blankets with eggs, but sometimes sunglasses, nails, electic sockets, rusty tools, clay pots, cutting boards or meal grinding tools, etc… Behind the blankets are stacks of wood, bed frames, gates and other big objects, including massive pipes. Dogs, goats and pigs are everywhere rooting in the piles of garbage left over from yesterday’s market. God help you if yesterday was cabbage day (very pungent).. And then there’s the mud. We love Uganda…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…– our friend was a musician in a band, not some studio session guy ‘mailing in his over-dub.’ Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. https://youtu.be/IktMw1iNcq4 https://youtu.be/Hk5DlFHa8Lg And with that, brushed the bugs from our hair and clothes, pulled some beetles from the camera bags and had dinner. Tomorrow is a driving day as we head to our next location… Jimmy (Fort Murchison, near Pakwach)…
ATTA is following Singing Wells News
…we can talk to about the project. Earlier this month I was their guest at the World Travel Market at Excel and I met representatives from a number of organisations and companies in the travel and tourism industry operating in the East African counties we are visiting during our field recording trips. I met Nigel Vere Nicoll, Chief Executive of the African Travel & Tourism Association and explained a little about Singing Wells and our aims to reco…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
…Charles playing Mbeta. We loved these musicians the fun of the traditional dances. You got mad at the stubborn girl, you got scared when the hunter returned and you celebrated for the new chief. On the way to Fort Murchison where we were staying, we saw some spectacular stormy scenes as we crossed the River Nile:…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…ganda today. The following week, we invited ten of the Batwa performers to the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi to record more songs, and in particular, collaborate with contemporary music artists to generate new material for ‘Influences’ – a series of new songs influenced and inspired by traditional themes. Our aim is to provide a lasting benefit for the Batwa community in Uganda and we are doing this through our continuing relationship with UOBD…