Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…from 1940 to the present day. As it is housed at the University, it is an invaluable resource for students, especially those who study Anthropology or African Studies. Often material is bought by the archive to complement the research projects of students, but some material is also donated, with regional emphasis on Ethiopia, Ghana, Cameroon, Congo, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania. Dr Hauke Dorsch is currently the Director of the Archive and stated th…
Archiving Guidelines News
…for new media or data formats – as in conjunction with OAIS. Chapter 7, Small Scale Approaches to Digital Storage Systems, is of particular use because it contains straightforward information for smaller would-be archives, such as those wishing to archive East African music, concerning both the digitisation of audio or the online storage of the data. It cites two viable options for open repository software, which are basically softwares that allo…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…issued, without modifications, on CD, Tracey’s Music of Africa Series Several albums can be bought on iTunes Klaus Wachsmann 1907 – 1984 Wachsmann was a German born English ethnomusicologist, who travelled in Africa in 1937 as a missionary, serving in several offices in the Office of the Protestant Missions in Uganda. He was to do unpaid work with sacred music at Namirembe and with choral school choirs, before being promoted to more senior roles a…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…of the conferences arranged by the organisers. Revenue streams in the digital environment was the first of these and looked at different examples from different territories – the main example being given as the Caribbean. This is an area we will need to look closely at, if we are to make the Singing Wells library commercially available at any stage in the future. In the ‘Growing your audience through Social Media‘ conference, the production team…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…e very resourceful on the music and culture of Uganda and organises an annual tribal music festival. He was very impressed by the Singing Wells project agenda and very pleased to be part of the project and suggested we explore even more collaborations in the future.” After recording these two groups we will head back to Kampala for the night to write up our field notes, post reports on the website, back up the audio and video files and prepare for…
A new type of city Story
…as 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 Akello told us many stories of the vibrant buzz in Kampala. E…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…to their own recordings. In the past, one or two of them might have been invited to a local town for a simple recording. Singing Wells allows for the whole group to perform, singing and dancing in front of ten microphones and three digital cameras.’ Video engineer, Patrick Ondiek, adds, ‘I love producing the final videos and getting phone calls from my friends asking me ‘how did you find these musicians?’ I feel like I’m on the cutting edge of mu…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…be, the bass adungu doubles as the kick drum and this case the drummer was also the vocalist. The band was rounded out with shakers and 3 young women dancers (below). They played four songs. The first was called ‘Adii Mudong‘, which was a traditional piece of music sung in the Alur language. The music is typical to the type of songs you’d hear at a wedding, and the lyrics talk about the happiness that still exists in the villages of Northern Ugand…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…the road side to pick at a fresh patch of grass, bike rider riding with small loads or walking their bikes with large loads (this trips winner was a large door, but fails miserably to our Rift Valley coffin), bed frames in all shapes and sizes gathered in front of workshops, big steel gates leaning against small trees, live chickens hung upside down by their feet showing how fresh they are for purchase, children gathering in groups of 2 to 5 to w…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…compared to 95% of Pokot girls. Times are changing, however. Since the Female Genital Mutiliation or ‘FGM’ Act in 2009 the practice has been on decline, but this year in particular Pokot men have come to women’s aid by rejecting the practice. There were reports in February of this year of men demonstrating with large placards against FGM. One man, Mr Lotolim, a resident of Jumbe village in Amudat District, reported that Pokot men often only resor…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…of a variety of styles and from different tribes in Uganda, being the capital city. We know we will visit the Adungu Cultural Troupe however, on the right is an image of one of the players using an Adungu which is a traditional bow harp, taken when Steve and Patrick saw them during the recce for the trip. Below is an image of the Ndere Troupe, who represent the music of the Alur, Acholi, Ateso, Langi, Lugbara, Karamojong and the Batwa (all tribes…
Music of Northern Uganda News
…untry and where to find the music. Mary, Rose, Dnalega Bonnars and Charles all talked about different tribal communities we are planning to visit in December – the Langi from Lira, Iteso from Soroti, Lugbara from Arua and the Acholi from Gulu. Ndere Troupe While in Kampala, Steve and Patrick watched a performance by the Ndere Troupe at their centre in Ntinda, just outside the city centre. The group perform music from all the major tribes of Ugan…
Singing Wells – Origins News
…to their own recordings. In the past, one or two of them might have been invited to a local town for a simple recording. Singing Wells allows for the whole group to perform, singing and dancing in front of ten microphones and three digital cameras.’ Video engineer, Patrick Ondiek, adds, ‘I love producing the final videos and getting phone calls from my friends asking me ‘how did you find these musicians?’ I feel like I’m on the cutting edge of mu…
Andy’s cover of Boys of Summer News
…r various clients he actually finds time to write and record his own material and is also a member of Abubilla Music’s house band, The Saturday Morning Canasta Club. You can listen to more of Andy ‘s music online at his website: click here but before you go over there have a listen to his brilliant cover version of Don Henley’s Boys of Summer, recorded this summer at the Abubilla Music studio in Spain. You can follow Andy on Facebook too: click…
How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…as. This is known as spatial data. Downloading the outline There is a free online source for spatial data at http://www.diva-gis.org/. To get your spatial data you click on Free Spatial Data in the top-right corner. On the Free Spatial Data page click on country level data. On the Download Data by Country page, select the country you need and make sure the Subject is Administrative areas. There is other data available for free download from this p…
Music of the Kalenjin: video playlist News
…s athletes as many of the legendary Kenyan long distance runners are Kalenjins, including Kipchoge Keino, chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee and the first African to win an Olympic gold medal (Mexico City 1968 in the 1500m). Video playlist The trip was facilitated by the generous support of donors to our charity the Abubilla Music Foundation. …