Tarajazz Group
…the students at the DCMA study traditional music such as Taarab as well as Western music. Members of the group: Suleiman Makame (keyboard, director), Hassan Mahenge (Saxaphone, assistant director), Mahsin Basalama (contra base), Christopher Weston (Cajon and high hat), Regina Juma (singer). There was supposed to be a violin player but unfortunately he couldn’t make it. Songs: Alamina Dura – The orbit of the Gods Pakistan – written by Siti Binti Sa…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…during the period of Spotlight on Kenyan Music, which was a collaboration between Ketebul Music and the Alliance Française in Nairobi. Mention should also be made of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2014, a trip that included Ontiri Bikundo, one of the musicians we were scheduled to record that evening in Rongo. Ontiri is a master of the obukano, an instrument which has an indelible history among the Abagusii…
Dodo Group feat. Ogoya Nengo Group
…Music of the Luo Rang’ala, Nyanza province, Western Kenya Lead Vocalist: Ogoya Nengo…
Upendo Jazz Group
…a Region and their community is Wajita and their style is Vidogori. They were founded in 1999. Their instruments included: Ngoma za Budogori (drums, with a kick) and Njiga (shakers from gourds). It is worth taking a minute on the drums. They were typical African drums, but set up Western Style on a steel rack and they leaned one large bass drum against the rack. The drummer then built a separate wooden kick pedal, so he could play all the drums wi…
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…ging Wells: Best of… Dance Bands Playlist Field Report by Kahithe Kiiru in Western Kenya #13 – Witnessing Incredible Rites of Passage Mama Ni Mama and the Toroka Uje Some of the most memorable encounters on our field trips have been witnessing incredible rites of passage – it is an honour that so many of the groups we met have shared these experiences with us. From songs about circumcision, to haunting funeral music, and the amazing “coming out” c…
Winyo Staff Profile
…ame ‘Winyo’, which is a Luo word (a tribe from the Lake Victoria region of Western Kenya) for “a bird”. The reason for this becomes apparent once you hear him sing. His voice has been likened to that of a singing bird. He is a singer/songwriter of great sensitivity and an acoustic guitar player, backed by his 5-piece band of accomplished musicians. Winyo derives his music and musical strength from his fore fathers whose African music was rich in m…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…music. The emergent African elite shunned these ethnic sounds in favour of Western music, which was viewed as being synonymous with “progress” and modernity. In later years, Congolese music would come to be viewed as more suitable entertainment for an emergent urban middle-class. These attitudes in part explain why artists who saw themselves as urbanites, preferred rumba, jazz and Western styles. They include Sila Gwada, father to Rocky and Paddy…
Latest Field Trip – Kenya 2018 News
…We’ve returned from our latest field trip, this time to western Kenya. Field reports coming soon….
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…tage Project is scrambling to digitise reams of reel-to-reel tape recorded between the 1960s and 1980s, which has been literally rotting for decades in the moulding archives of the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation. Some has already deteriorated to the point where it’s unplayable, and the rest will suffer the same fate if nothing is done. The music they’re trying to save, called muziki wa dansi (“dance music” in Swahili), is not just catchy and d…
Kenya’s Amazing Musical Instruments News
…p called The Young Stars in the village of Rongo, not far from Homa Bay in western Kenya. Watch them here: Burkandit The Burkandit is a type of home-made guitar that features in Kalenjin music. We saw one being played in 2012 by the masterful Ben Kisinja in Kapsokwony, not far from Kitale. At the time Ben was joined by a percussionist playing the karachimek, which is essentially two sticks laid on the ground and played by two more sticks. Of cours…
Rediscovering Afropop and its influences News
…ional Benga sound is about 60 years old with its formative years occurring between the late 1950s and the 1960s. Its roots run deep in age-old Luo musical instruments. Singing Wells and the ‘bridge’ between traditional and modern Tracking the story of Sauti Sol’s musical influence excites us, as it’s a reminder of how important the Singing Wells mission is. When we learn that one of the most popular modern African bands is inspired and influenced…
Discussions on music and culture with a young Kenyan News
…e popular! So not all hope is lost for young Kenyans? Look, we aspire to a western life and we enjoy western music, but we have our own way of speaking in Kenya, our own slang – our own twist. There’s still some authenticity but it’s about mixes and making the most of these influences. We can’t go backwards but you could try and ensure that going forwards all is not lost for traditional music. How do you think Singing Wells could engage the youth…
Our top 5 Singing Wells songs for March News
…d the Otacho Young Stars group on a trip to record the music of the Luo in Western Kenya in December 2011. They were later invited to Ketebul Studios in Nairobi to form part of our influences series. I love this song because it’s cheery and upbeat. It’s the kind of song everyone should listen to when they wake up to start the day with positive vibes. 2. Ochieng Nelly – Osare I’ll admit, a few weeks ago I knew very little about the history of Benga…
Current Leading Figures News
…– but most importantly others – through the power of both traditional and Western music. “Do I want another semester of education, with no promise I will be able to fund another, or can I take this money and start to make a difference?” He took the money and invested in the traditional kadodi drum. From only two members with drums, Julius now oversees two groups made up of 160 members, of which 100 are performers. With the youth centre, although…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…epted and spent the summer of 1968 at UCLA and then travelling to five Sub-Saharan countries, from Senegal to Kenya in the summer of 1969, with a stop off in Uganda on her way home. Here she encountered Evalisto Muyinda, an out of work court musician playing at the Kampala Museum. She was taken by the endingidi, the one-stringed fiddle he was playing; she made her first recording, using her friend’s recorder, and bought an endingidi from Muyinda….
Preserving Threatened Heritage News
…ch play Bigwala music, attributes the music’s decline to two main factors: western influence and the 1966 abolition of kingdoms by former president Milton Obote. But, there is hope as the National Council of Forklorists in Uganda (NACOFU) has been helping the villagers to preserve the music, by encouraging them to grow gourd trumpets, teach it to the youth and increase the profile of the music, by performing it at more occasions. Nevertheless, the…