Otieno Aloka Group
Otieno Aloka is a musician best known in Kenya for his hit song ‘Kanungo Eteko’. In our session with the Ohangla group he plays the orutu, the second major instrument of Luo music. The orutu consists of a hollow wooden box that has monitor lizard skin stretched over one side. The string used to be made from fibers of the sisal plants but is now made from a variety of repurposed materials, including bicycle brake cables. When played with a bow, or…
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Imachina Group
…difficult to find, but is a strong bird. The song tells the story that the best fighting bulls are not the ones preening around the village, but rather they keep to themselves until the fight. And then they win. The Shiselelo procession – this is for weddings. The songs include: Hoya: This is encouraging the groom to forward and be welcome. Mbabo: This is about everyone coming together for the wedding. Khuchende Pole: This song is telling everyone…
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…c and the performances. In the case of the naizungwe, however, despite his best efforts, James has been unable to locate any surviving old players who can facilitate a similar education. As a result, he is hoping to work alongside Haruna Walusimbi of Nile Beat Artists to reconstruct the performances directly from the recording he received from Peter Cooke. James tells us: “Nile Beat Artists is a semiprofessional group of musicians that include hig…
Day 4: Tuesday, February 21st, 2017 Story
…t one: We recorded with Chibite players only: Muheme (the tree to make the best drums). Interestingly, we later had a long conversation with Leo about wooden drums. He said that most drums are now steel, because it takes a whole tree to make one drum and you can’t afford to keep cutting down trees in villages. He then told the story of another tree, the Mninga, which is a very rare tree out of which the best marimbas are made. He was in the market…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…Uganda, where all ages participated and you had a feeling that the young people still really enjoyed the traditional dances. Here, the women are discussing how best to perform their dance for Sophie: And that was day two. A short drive back to the hotel….
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…port. We write these on a daily basis as we travel in the field, doing our best to record traditional groups, songs, and stories. All groups and songs mentioned here will eventually turn up on YouTube (see our current video collection here), as we prepare each of the videos. We will go back to these reports and provide hot links to all of these, but that will take a couple months or so, so please be patient. This is our first trip to Tanzania. For…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…out to pick the drums and tune them. We brought in Peter Gaira, one of the best drum tuners, to tune them (see our Field Report for more detail on tuning). I felt I was on a race for time to have new musicians learn these drums. I told Musisi, ‘please teach our boys 100 songs.’ I told Shaban, ‘you must learn every part and every song.’ And that is how we ended up on this road. We filmed the drums yesterday and today we are going to see the Bigwala…
Recce to Tanzania for our 2020 Field Visit News
…e Singing Wells team has been travelling through Tanzania in search of the best groups to record during our upcoming field visit in February. We are struck once again by the amazing talent this country has to offer, and can’t wait to capture some amazing moments with these artists when we visit again with the full team in a few weeks time. Thanks to the good people at Dhow Countries Music Academy for helping us with the information and contacts fr…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…orporating the xylophone into contemporary songs. We do need to record the best village players and make sure others can find them, but there is probably a ‘market.’ Bigwala trumpets At the other extreme, the Bigwala horns of the Busoga kingdom or the trumpets of the Buganda kingdom are unlikely to enter the musical mainstream. They are ceremonial instruments and in some sense need a king – they were used to announce the King’s entrance and exit,…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…fer to musicians as the ‘last surviving’ musician. This is based on James’ best reckoning, having tried for years to find others. Neither James nor the musician involved wants the title of ‘last surviving’ and we would love to be proven wrong. Musisi is looking for more drummers and the ones we talked to today are desperate to find others that played with them. Richard Ssewannyana We first travelled about an hour from Mukono to the village of Bamu…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…essentially plays the melody, but not the bass notes. He is generally the best drummer and we were blessed to have Shaban as our Omukoonezi, a life-long professional drummer who led the group. He also admitted that learning the Entenga was the hardest drumming role he’s ever had. To the left of the ‘starter’, is the OMUNAZI, who plays the 9th, 8th, 7th, 6th and sometimes 5th. And yes, you’ve now noticed. The drummers overlap, playing the drums of…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…sustainable development is to keep folks rooted in their villages and the best villages are those with a vibrant musical community. This puts the soul, the software at the top of the developmental agenda. Have folks realised this? SW: What is your advice to us? GT: In the context of the vital importance of this, I ask myself ‘what is the future of this?’ What if there was no Abubilla Music Foundation then what happens to this project? My advice i…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…ormally is not the case. Eldoret-based Awilo Mike won the Kisima Award for Best Benga in 2007 though several observers point out that the group leans more towards rumba. Other prominent musicians who sing in Luo but who do not necessarily play Benga are Gabriel Omolo, Juma Toto, Ochieng Kabaselleh, Mazadijo, Jamnazi Afrika’s Milton Ongoro, Musa Juma and his brother Omondi Tony, and the current sensation John Junior. There is no doubt that the Beng…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…lapperboard’s’ job (Nick’s) is to ensure that all audio and video instruments are running and then he announces the song/take and claps the clapperboard. He must brief the group to allow him to get off camera before they start this song. We have tried multiple briefings on this and find the best is to simply ask them to wait for Nick to say he’s ‘off camera’ before they begin. But still, we have a lot of Video 1 footage of Nick racing off camera w…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…sical styles. While this is being done, the video team picks the site (for best visual impact, performance area, quietness) and then audio and video set up as a single team. Song Recording The interview team then gives the gives ‘Mr Clapperboard’ the song list and introduce the group to the audio/video team. Mr Clapperboard then confirms each song with the group leader, writes down all group/song/take information, and kicks of song. In order, audi…