Kirundo Group
…r the harvest. New composition. Mjomba – Uncle, celebrating the good hunt. New composition Uye – Come Back Please, used at a wake after someone is buried. New composition. Uringe – Be Proud. Old Traditional song Kyaso – old traditional Zanzibarian song of celebration Mnyamwana – Respect for women. New Composition. They sang in a combination of Hehe and Kigogo, both languages from mainland Tanzania, as well as Swahili. They had incredible energy an…
Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…rican 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 saxophone. All the students at the DCMA study traditional music such as Taarab…
Day Four: February 19, 2020 (Maruhabi Palace) Story
…the harvest. New composition. Mjomba – Uncle, celebrating the good hunt. New composition Uye – Come Back Please, used at a wake after someone is buried. New composition. Uringe – Be Proud. Old Traditional song Kyaso – old traditional Zanzibarian song of celebration Mnyamwana – Respect for women. New Composition. They sang in a combination of Hehe and Kigogo, both languages from mainland Tanzania, as well as Swahili. They had incredible energ…
Tabu Osusa Staff Profile
…s also the Project Coordinator of Ketebul Music’s Retracing Series. Supported by the Ford Foundation Office of Eastern Africa, the Retracing Series is a research based documentary project whose main objective is to research, archive and document the musical culture of Kenya. Tabu is the East Africa Project Co-ordinator for Singing Wells. His extensive knowledge of the East African music industry is integral to the strategic planning of the field v…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…s himself also a musician. In Emativini village of Ebubayi location (North-East Bunyore), we visited Mzee Rueben Mahindu and his group called Omutibo Benga. 56-year old Mahindu was taught music by his grandfather. He founded Omutibo Benga in 1979 and ever since has not stopped playing. Today the group consists of 8 elderly members. They refer to the Bunyore folk music they play as sebo music. They use two acoustic guitars and combine them with oth…
Global Influences Project: Loop Library Page
…nload the loop Aloka Ohangla Drum Solo – 146BPM Aloka Ohangla are based in East Alego, Kenya. What you need to know as you listen is the drummer was drumming without a chair, doing deep squats and jumping about a foot off the ground with each ‘kick’ – this went on for four minutes. You can learn more about the group here. You can watch the full visual performance of this song on our Youtube channel by clicking here. Download the loop singingwells…
Instruments Introduction Page
As we travel around East Africa, we find that we are at times, recording instruments that we have never seen or heard before. In some cases we manage to purchase instruments for our own Singing Wells instrument collection back in the UK. Where we find an instrument that we have not seen before, we make sure we record it, photograph it and research it. This page features a selection of the instruments we have found so far on our travels. The i…
Get on the Map Page
If you are making music in East Africa, then we’d love to feature you on our map. Please fill in the options below to get in touch: To Upload music to the Dropbox – go to: http://soundcloud.com/singingwells/dropbox Note: submission of the form grants The Singing Wells project permission to embed any links contained within the form on the map of East Africa. Submission of the form does not guarantee that your group or music will be featured on t…
Here for the Music? Page
…d here to see some images of our time on the field, the people we meet and the stunning scenery. YouTube You can find the full collection of our video recordings on our Youtube channel. With over 500+ videos for you to choose from, delve into the world of East African music and dance with us. “We set out on this mission not to become ‘fossil collectors’… We work with musicians to make sure their music traditions continue to be practiced, can be…
Our Sponsors Page
…2012 field recording visit to Kenya. Read all about it here. http://www.annewright.com/index.asp Institute of International Education Type of sponsorship: Field Recording Visit, Music of the Batwa, Uganda 2011 Through our relationship with The Ford Foundation we were able to apply for a grant from the IIE to fund our field recording visit to Kisoro in south west Uganda in 2011. Here we visited 6 Batwa communities and recorded their wonderful so…
Page
…ct back in 2011, we had a mission to preserve the rich musical heritage of East Africa, by filming different musical groups on our yearly field visits. But aside from this, we have always aimed to showcase this incredible music with the wider global music community to show just how innovative and exciting this music is. With that in mind, as we approach our 10 year anniversary, we want to truly combine these two missions and celebrate how music in…
Day Zero: 6 March 2022 – Travel To Stream Story
…n. Travel to Stream After one week’s training and familiarization with the new software and equipment, we took the road to Western Kenya on the morning of Sunday, 6 March 2022. The Ketebul Music team met at our new offices at the GoDown Arts Centre on Kayahwe Road off Dennis Pritt by 9:00am. It took us an hour to load the van with the equipment and our personal effects. On our team was Tobias Odhiambo (or Shunkyz as he is known in the music circle…
Patrick Ondiek Staff Profile
…Wells project offered him a new opportunity to discover the music roots of East Africa, Pato jumped at the chance. Why? “First, I love the exposure to different cultures – even my own. I have never heard a lot of the tribal music, even around my own villages. Our trip to Nyanza in November blew me away. I have never heard music like that. My favourite performance was by Okumu K’Orengo. I was so moved. He was singing about death, about his own fath…
Day One: The Iteso People and their Music Story
…nd the guitar-plucking amusing, especially when he wanted to listen to the news on radio. After high school he worked as a construction worker to fend for himself. Meanwhile he mastered his guitar, volunteering to teach kids music at the neighbouring Soweto slums. He continued offering private guitar lessons even after joining the University of Nairobi, where he is studying International Relations and Diplomacy. His first break in professional mus…
James Allen Staff Profile
…Wells project with Ketebul Music, sharing their passion for preserving and promoting the traditional music of East Africa. Jimmy has an MBA from Harvard University and an MA in International Economics from Johns Hopkins. He is a dual US-British citizen and has lived in the United Kingdom, with his wife and three children, since 1995. He is chair of trustees for The Abubilla Music Foundation. During the Singing Wells field recording trips Jimmy is…
Albums Introduction Page
…of The Singing Wells project is to record and share the music we record in East Africa and one of the ways in which we can share this music is through our albums series. For each project we undertake, we curate an album of the resulting recordings. In most cases, this will include at least one recording from each group recorded. Where it works artistically, we’ll arrange the tracks on the album in chronological order of the recording date – so you…