Page
…sic and for the last 30 years has been involved in the music industry as a promoter, producer, composer and band manager. He has been actively involved in shaping the careers and running some of the top recording and performing bands and artists in the country. Together with the director of Alliance Française in Nairobi, Tabu Osusa co-chairs the steering committee of the “Spotlight on Kenyan Music“ project which seeks to discover and promote young…
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…ording session, we will also capture alternative takes; these are called: ‘Freestyle’: We work hard to give our groups the space and freedom to sing and dance as they would during a village performance, but there are constraints. Typically we want the group to be seen by our wide camera and many of the musicians have an attached microphone. While generally this isn’t a problem, there are times when the group is constrained. So, we often do another…
Mission Page
…Kenya, a non-profit organisation committed to identifying, preserving and promoting the diverse music traditions of East Africa. The project is supported by our UK charity, The Abubilla Music Foundation. Our goal is to record, archive and share the traditional music of East Africa for two important reasons – to sustain and celebrate the extraordinary cultural music heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s…
Zam Zam Group
…, in Rahaleo. All male group ranging from age 7 up to 40, ten all together today. They sing Islamic and secular songs for weddings and celebrations. It was mainly an acapello performance with one flute made out of a bamboo stick. The singers included: Ibrahim Ali Hassan (lead singer, flute ), Issa Ali Hassan (lead singer), Mlenge Ali Hassan, Othman Mlenge Ali, Afann Mlenge Ali, Iddi Abdallah Mohd, Abdillah Salum Juma (lead singer), Fesal Sleiman M…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…these youngsters have managed to gain music scholarships so they can get a free education at their local schools. This project is not only providing a future for this instrument, but for the young people involved. Aside from this, Mr Mukadisi has a personal connection to this cross-generational project. His father was a builder of the Entongooli, and didn’t teach all the skills he needed to learn to play. In fact, none of the great players passed…
What We Do Page
…w generation of musicians and listeners who might not consider it relevant today. So we have developed the Influences series: new compositions comprising a fusion of traditional and contemporary styles, themes, harmonies and instruments. Influences is led by musicians from Ketebul Music or singer/songwriters from the areas we are travelling to during our field visits. “Singing Wells can’t be just about archiving. We can’t be fossil collectors. We…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…aying music in 1958 and has mastered several Teso traditional instruments. Today he plays with an old friend – Mzee (Edler) Ikobulo (born 1932) and his daughters as back-vocals. Through a series of 8 songs, he showcased three major instruments: ADEUDEU – 5-strings arced harp; AGEREGERE – a one-string traditional fiddle; ACCORDION. All through the session, Obasie was accompanied by a percussionist on a drum called atenus amwatonitand by Mzee Ikobul…
Recording, archiving and sharing the traditional music of East Africa Page
…heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences. As a group of sound and video engineers, producers and musicians, we set out on this mission not to become ‘fossil collectors’ and store the recordings in inaccessible archives. We work with musicians to make sure their music traditions continue to be practiced, can be shared amongst the widest audiences and become a source of inspiration for new musician…
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
…ands joined the Mainland Tanganyika and were subsumed to form Tanzania. Today, the population of the islands is over 98% Muslim. Second, one of our main partners for our trip was the Dhow Countries Music Academy. The “Dhow” is a traditional sailing vessel. We saw many on the waters around Zanzibar. The “Dhow Countries” are all the countries that have blown to Zanzibar and left their musical instruments, styles and influences. The Dhow C…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…of Mzee Morris Nyunyusa” is the purpose of this trip, so before discussing today’s music, let’s now give you a bit of background. Mzee Morris is Tanzania’s most famous drummer. The ‘Mzee’ in front of his name is a sign of respect – think, ‘Old Man Morris’. He was born in 1920. At two years old, he lost his sight as a result of a bout of small pox. He died in 1999. Throughout his long life he drummed. Here’s Leo Mkanyia , our 2017 Influences Arti…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…old 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 and discuss more lessons learned. Tomorrow, we are going to find out how much more there is to do.”…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 2 – Flutes Story
…13 visit to Uganda and have invited them back to do studio recordings. But today, we focused on two things: 1) Discussing in detail some of our observations from our time exploring the royal instruments of the Kingdoms of Uganda. 2) Recording again Albert Ssempeke’s Buganda Music Ensemble. Given that we first decided to rediscover the Royal Drums after recording Albert’s group in 2013, we wanted to end this field visit with his recordings. Part tw…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…13 visit to Uganda and have invited them back to do studio recordings. But today, we focused on two things: 1) Discussing in detail some of our observations from our time exploring the royal instruments of the kingdoms of Uganda 2) Recording again Albert Ssempeke’s Buganda Music Ensemble. Given that we first decided to rediscover the Royal Drums after recording Albert’s group in 2013, we wanted to end this field visit with his recordings Part one:…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…roven 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 Bamusuta B Kizimula to meet with Richard Ssewannyana. As we believe Musisi is the ‘last surviving’ royal drummer, we believe Richard is the last surviving royal flutist. Please, let’s be wrong here. We first interviewed Richard: “I am…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…Part One: Drum Making The Singing Wells team was joined by James Isabirye today as we travelled to Mukono, to visit Ssebengwa Drum Makers (P.O. Box Mukono near Colline Hotel, Jinja Highway, opposite the Pork Joint). The shop is run by Abass Mirimu, a gentleman from the famous village of Mpambire which is known for its drum makers. Abass was the maker of some of the Entenga drums (the royal drums of the Buganda King). Above: Abass Mirimu To be spe…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
December 1, 2015: Checking the progress of the Bigwala trumpets Today, we travelled 3 hours from Kampala to Jinja, to the village of Bukakaire, to listen to the Bukakaire Bigwala Players, led by the last surviving trumpeter from the Busoga Kingdom, James Lugolole. A woman playing the Bigwala First, why are we here? Well, there’s the obvious: at Singing Wells, we record and share the great music of East African villages. But, there’s another, equa…