Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…ir historical Kingdom. The Wanga Kingdom was the most highly developed and centralised kingdom in Kenya’s history before the arrival of the British and the colonialization of the area. Today, the Wanga, who live mainly in Kakamega County, retain the Nabongo as their cultural monarch. The Mumias United Group counts 38 members and refers to their style of music as imbira. This is based on a percussive and wind instruments ensemble, which contains th…
Sangwamahoro and Royal Burundi Drums News
…rs, who perform at various events, festivals, and concerts across the east African region. The name “Sangwamahoro,” which translates to “May peace be upon you,” serves both as a greeting and a reminder of the possibility of unity, bridging the divides between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnicities. This message of peace and reconciliation remains central to the organization’s mission, fostering solidarity and cultural pride among Burundians, regardless of…
Day Two: January 19, 2019 From Tarime to Buturi to Bariadi Story
…heri amukeni tucheze tunaenda (good bye dance) – songs 4 and 5 song as one Freestyle: We then recorded the band in freestyle. https://youtu.be/XoaHli19b2U One observation from Day One: These groups have the energy and youth of many of the groups we recorded in Uganda around Lake Victoria, which makes a lot of sense as these groups are from areas very close to Uganda. What you feel when you record these groups is that the music here remains very…
Arrival to Rwanda, Background and Objectives Story
…y are in action: In first picture below, you see: Further away, Patrick on Central Video, Steve on Audio, Drix on Close Up video, Producer Shunkyz on audio and closest to camera, Jado our local musical expert. Hunter, our Roving Video, is, well… roving. You see him below this first picture in the yellow cap. Below him is Patrick and Steve, the core of Ketebul who have been with us since Day One. In addition to the core tech team, we are delighted…
Global Influences Project: Artist Submissions Page
…is submission from Beats by Maggy, a producer based in Nakuru, Kenya. “The African sounds were so inspiring, I created the beats using fruity loop Fl studio. The African loop was so energetic so I had to feature some more energy to make it more lively.” We love this energy too – a perfect tune to get the party going! You can follow more Beats by Maggy by following Amina Muta on Facebook. ATIENO OLUOCH X ADUNGU CULTURAL TROUPE This newest submissio…
Recording Resources Page
…gside some amazing musical technicians, videographers and ethnomusicologists. However, it has taken us time to really work out the best processes for working effectively out in the field. With that in mind, we have created some resources for other groups to use for working in the field. Please feel free to use the below resources for your field trips in whatever region you are based, and please do reach out to us. We love to meet others who are pa…
Support Singing Wells Page
…s keen to hear from people who are happy to offer their time to help the project and from companies which may be able to support us with products or services free of charge. If you can help out in this respect please contact: info@singingwells.org…
Martin Fredrick Muyeshi Staff Profile
…ry, specifically the episode “Death in Ten Minutes” as a cameraman. In his free time he was freelancing as a music photojournalist/cameraman to gain more experience. He also joined Royal Media Services’ Citizen TV where he worked on the TV programmes Tabasamu, Nairobi Law andMashtakaas a Director of Photography and a Lighting technician. He later joined Ketebul Studio, where he went on to work on several studio projects, among them the studio’…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…k almost an hour for the two to figure out Akwabi’s unorthodox, expressive free style for most of his songs before the actual recording began at 2:00pm. After a few false starts we finished the recordings of Peter Akwabi at 4:00 PM with his latest song which is a tribute to D.O. Misiani, the maestro of benga music who died in the lakeside city in May 2006. Next on stage was Olith Ratego, a musician whose unique dodo style is one of the oldest form…
Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…rs ago. The name of his band changed from Mansule to Tarajazz. He combined African rhythms such as Msewe and Kyaso (both 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 sa…
Nile Beat Artists Group
…ra, and much of his writing combines West African instruments with an East African writing style. Song Meanings “Ikobo Kobo”: It is a type of herb. It is a song about a girl who is very bitter because her mother will not let her play with her friends freely. The mother explains to her that she was barren but the spirits helper her to conceive so the spirits set the condition that she should never play in the rain. “Amagombe”: This is a song about…
Day 1 – Saturday 1st July 2017 Story
…ch part of the region the instrument first originated in – South Nyanza or Central Nyanza; ‐ Discussion on the nyatiti gender taboo (whether a woman is or is not traditionally allowed to play the nyatiti and the reasons why); ‐ Mention of a Cultural Festival which takes place every year on 27th December and hosts several local nyatiti players; ‐ Discussion on whether a good nyatiti maker needs to be able to play the instrument as well; ‐ Names of…
Day One: The Iteso People and their Music Story
…song praising everyone that is not part of this community. He sang of East African countries and different ethic communities, welcoming them all Elolo Idalo: A song about praising someone who is doing well. Abalang’a Kimusa: A song about a salt shortage from years back, when they learned to burn certain plants to create salt taste from the ashes. Obasie switched to the Ageregere and played three songs: Omaune: This song is about a greedy man who e…
Upendo Jazz Group
…is from the Murangi Village in the Mara 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 p…
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…
Group 8: Abutazi Story
…self. And it goes straight into Amananga (this song is inspired by a South African music style called Amapiano, but they’ve done their own Rwandan version on the inanga, hence “Amananga”). The song Amananga is another ode to the sound of the Inanga and how overwhelming it is. X and Y – this was the last song from the group together and “X and Y” translates to the same in English, talking about two unknown quantities. This is a playful counting son…