Makunga Group
…here she reaches puberty and now must be hidden from village for 40 days (song acts out how girl learns to reject the advances of men, represented by two men playing shakers) Muziki: A song to gain support of the people for the music and dance Muziki: Freestyle Muhongwa: another song from the circumcision ceremony, named after the instrument used (the wooden trough)…
Day One: The Iteso People and their Music Story
…leave your village and loved ones. But it also asks the village people to support the young couple and help them have a good marriage. Figuratively, we all need to hold to love and keep everyone close to your heart. Magic moment: Percussion and the Etwoo: Our final song for the day was a ‘Magic Moment’ where we captured the groove of the percussion and the Etwoo. From Adungosi, we travelled to Obekai, to record the South Teso Jazz group. The grou…
Day Two: January 19, 2019 From Tarime to Buturi to Bariadi Story
…ut neighbours, where the band remembered times when all neighbours used to support one another Maria: A story about a woman that abandoned her kids Mazingira: a song about the environment and the need to protect the environment. Examples included stopping use of plastics and keeping your waste water away from your drinking water. Magic Moment: We recorded the beats of Majirani, percussion only Magic Moment: Majirani again to record slightly differ…
Mr Bado Group
…o in Watamu called Bado Records, where he records his own music as well as support and help aspiring artists from Watamu. His songs, ‘Shemeji’ and ‘Susumila’ were mega hits in the coast region, earning him a performance slot at Safaricom Live in 2010. He has performed internationally, including in the USA as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2014. He released his album Kama Kazi with Ketebul Music. He mixes an impressive combination of sty…
Kidedeya Group
…song, a marriage song Kidedeya: Freestyle Magic Moment: Omusingero again…
Day Three: Bungoma Town to Kakamega Story
…ile group is changing. Magic moment 2: Nisiri Mulamu Another solo as group changes. Nambacha: This is about a ‘loose woman’ who spends time with too many men in the village. Alandire Mwitala: A traditional song in three parts where a man goes to visit his daughter in her new home Influences: Fadhilee Itulya, our influences artist, joined Wilbert to play acoustic guitar on another version of Ndirenje. We travelled from Bungoma Town to Mumias (which…
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…ces of men, represented by two men playing shakers) Muziki: A song to gain support of the people for the music and dance Muziki: Freestyle Muhongwa: another song from the circumcision ceremony, named after the instrument used (the wooden trough) Group 2: Nyati Muchoya (also spelt Mchoya): From Nzali, the group is from the Wagogo Tupu community and was formed in 1966 by the grandfathers of the current performers. Their instruments include: Nind…
Tarajazz Group
…h from Zanzibar) with Singeli (a new tribal rhythm). Taarab came from early 1800’s as Egyptian music. In Zanzibar the Mother of Taarab, Siti Binti Saad, made Taarab more popular in the 1920’s to 1950’s. We spoke to Hassan Mahenge, the assistant director of this band. He is a teacher at the DCMA. He teaches the Oud and plays the saxophone. All the students at the DCMA study traditional music such as Taarab as well as Western music. Members of the g…
Global Influences Project: Artist Submissions Page
…the fast paced drums with a laid back bass and a simple bass drum beat to support the percussion. The shaker pushes the pace forward and accentuates the percussion. Other than defining the groove, the bass is also the lead instrument in this particular arrangement. The piano and gaara add more depth to the chorus parts and pull us away from the shakers’ high pace forcing us to lay back some more. I think the end result leans more towards dodo, at…
Our Sponsors Page
…s to date, including the following: The Ciputra Group Type of sponsorship: Supporting Singing Wells projects in 2014 Thank you to The Ciputra Group for their generous support in 2014. Funds will be directed towards the Singing Wells project to repatriate the music recordings of Hugh Tracey currently archived in the International Library of African Music (ILAM) to the villages where the original recordings were made. See our post on this project he…
What We Do Page
…erwa Batwa community. To read more about the Influences series click here. Supporting the sustainable village Our experiences in the field have highlighted the importance of music within communities. We have visited remote villages where the success of the community appears to be directly related to the quality of their music groups. We are committed to supporting traditional music performance in rural East Africa as we believe that this not only…
FAQ’s Page
…the recording. This amount varies based on a number of factors such as the number of members in the group and the number of songs we record. In the event of any music we record making money directly (through sales, sync licensing or performance royalties) we will endeavour to channel this money back to the original performers. Can I buy the music you have recorded? A selection of our music is available to download from our site. We have one album…
Support Singing Wells Page
…DONATE NOW — Sponsor a Song£25 Your Gift to Us Your money will be used to support the Singing Wells project to record the songs of traditional music groups, help us tell their stories and keep their music traditions alive. Your donation to the project will be spent in East Africa and will go towards supporting music groups during their Singing Wells recording session. Each group receives a payment for their performance, which they can use to help…
Page
…hy we love him so, he works in the field to bring this music back to life, supporting the revival of instruments and styles AND supporting the groups on an on-going basis. Did we mention he’s our hero? Second, what surprised us? We never considered ‘royal instruments’ in the initial formation of Singing Wells, and frankly it is a strange and wonderful category of our mission. On one hand, the history is amazing: the role these instruments played i…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…tarting in 2009 played all sorts of functions that would bring money in to support the band members, all of which live on the premises. Shortly after, a friend of Julius’s donated some brass instruments and Julius started a brass band, called the Elgon Hero Brass Band. When you combine the two bands, the traditional and the new brass sound, Julius says, they blew audiences’ minds. As the bands have grown there are roughly 160 total members of his…
2. Naizungwe Drums – progress report 1 Story
…enough drums for training a new generation of players. However, the basic number includes: 1 large Uganda drum (played with short heavy beaters) 3 smaller drums (played with long curved sticks) 1 medium drum (played with sticks) 1 long drum (ngalabi – hand-beaten) All together, 6 drums. Therefore, we are making four sets of naizungwe drums mainly to facilitate learning.” Below is a video documenting the progress of the drums thus far. https://you…