Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…oing by occasionally. We managed to record one song but had to stop after that due to noise. We hope to have this group come to the hotel on our last recording day. We felt bad that they only were able to perform one song but they took it graciously. Performers: Rajab Suleiman (qanun and director), Mohammed Hassan (accordian), Fum Faki (bongo and tabla), Tatu Khamis Haji (singer) Songs: Chungu – means Pot, composed by Said Ali 10 years ago Usikho…
Day Four: February 19, 2020 (Maruhabi Palace) Story
…based on the floor, Kinganga – a short medium sized drum, a Bati – a high hat, a Chapuo – a long narrow drum held under the arm, a Dutu – a smaller version of the Chapuo and Masewe – shakers worn on the legs. The most notable instrument was a type of horn made out of a gourd. Performers (all men): Shaaban Mwasi Sekimbuke (leader, plays he Bati -high hat), Haji Mtumweni (drums), Mohamed Faki (chapuo), Hussein Fereji (horn), Juma Nasoro (dancer wi…
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
…hroughout our journey, we hear artists talk about Siti Binti Saad, noting that she was a rebel, noting that her lyrics were part of the Unyago style (see below) about real life, about real women, about love and sex… She always sang about these things through metaphors and the poetry of Swahili. But we had so many artists laughing with us as they told us the meanings of her songs. And with a wink and a smile, they’d all say, ‘Well this one is ab…
Day Five: February 20, 2020 (DCMA) Story
…side more Western instruments such as the piano, saxophone, cajon and high hat. Culture Musical Club Taarab Orchestra – this culture club is one of the oldest Taarab orchestras in Zanzibar founded in 1965 after independence. Generations of musicians have played in it. It plays traditional Taarab music with all female solo singers and male singers on instruments. It was clear that this orchestra had played together for a long time and were well re…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…s. In Mission 2, we are ‘fusionists’, trying any old blend of new and old that fancies us at the time, that inspires our artists to go in new directions. So, there will be chaos. We simply want to enjoy music and the cultural collisions we create are part of the fun. We also try to tell a single story on these visits. For this trip we are retracing the drums of Mzee Morris. We will tell his story as we go. So, we’ll tell you about these missions i…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…e don’t support it and we are losing the myths, the dances, and the songs that define us. If you lose that sense of identity how can you know where you’re going as a society? If you don’t know your roots, how do you know who you are? This matter has concerned a circle of my friends deeply since around 2003 and we’ve all tried to deal with it. I have a circle I talk to all the time about this, including Julius Kyakuwa, Centurio Balikoowa, Haruna Wa…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 2 – Flutes Story
…and shortest, sharing the same note as the Enkologi, but octave different. Today, they were supported by the royal drum, Mbuutu (not to be confused with the 15 drum ensemble of the Entenga). They played the following songs: Sematimba ‘Ne Kikwabanga Anamwa Nganga (with accents over the ‘g’s’) And with that, we faced a thunderstorm and packed ourselves up for the hotel, and packed in the hotel for our flight on December 4th back to Nairobi. We will…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…r sterility, they look more like fossils than homes. These are the images that inform our discussions. What does it mean to preserve or to rediscover cultural elements? What part of our efforts should focus on preserving music, like these grass huts, before it dies? What part of our efforts should focus on reviving the music, using it to inspire new generations to build on it in their own way, as thousands of generations did before? This has alway…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…mother sent my father to the palace to find me. But the people there said that there was so much shooting that it was clear everyone was killed. So when he returned from the palace he told everyone I was dead. But when the soldiers took over the palace they took us to prison. And I was there for three weeks but they would release me only if I signed a paper saying I didn’t have a gun and wouldn’t fight. I signed. So then a man came in and said tha…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…tch rises, you simply wet them down to keep them in tune.” Here, we learn that drums must leave the drum maker with a tendency to pitch higher – that is, the sun will tighten them. You can always ‘loosen in the field’ with water and pounding of the fist on the skin (as we saw our royal drummers do), but you can’t pitch lower without going back to the drum maker to re-tighten the skins. Abass makes beautiful drums and he is very generous with his t…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…band combined with a king’s processional trumpets, you know the musicians that announce the entry/exit of the sovereign. In our village, then, you had the xylophone players sitting three to a side ready to play their instruments, backed by the drummers. And then marching around them, twirling as they play, are the five trumpeters and, in our case, a dancer, leading them around the stationary drummers and xylophone players. Add a grand quantity of…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…their leader, Shaban, “the music is back.” But they all emphasised to us that they are not interested in teaching the past, but rather they see mastery of these drums as key to any drummer’s future. As John Ssempeke (drummer and brother of Albert) noted, “if you can master these drums, you can master drumming. We learn the Entenga to shape the music of the future.” And the rediscovery of the Entenga drums is what Singing Wells is all about. We li…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…eople. Their forefathers migrated south from the Bahr al Ghazal region in what is today know as Southern Sudan in a steady stream until the 19th Century. Some live in neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania. Today, Benga music is played across a fair share of Kenya—from the lake shores in the west, across the vast floor of the Rift Valley to the slopes of the imposing 5,199 metre Mount Kenya and into the plains of eastern Kenya. From a genre that was pre…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…performed them for a full year before bringing them into the studio – by that time he knew what worked with audiences and he evolved the song to something he loved. Today, artists go to the studio first – giving birth too early to a work of art. We recorded eight songs with him: Oyango Bwana Ogilo Osare Charles Komora Jaka Beka Okech Maskini Yuni Nyaimbo Jo Seme Wanganangu And Mukonya His full name is Walioshamiri-Mzee Wanganangu and he is a famo…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…you a set of ‘working practices’ we have been using at Singing Wells and that we hope will be useful to others setting up a similar project. Today we focus on roles/responsibilities of the core team. On arrival at the site, we divide into three teams: Interview Team This team is typically Tabu Osusa, who acts as the on-site Singing Wells representative, formally meeting the band and handling all their questions about the project and their role in…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…We thank them now for their patience with us. It is also important to say that today will be more unstructured. We have one formal new group, which we’ll describe below, but we have also invited artists from two of our trips to join us and create new music. For part of the session we were joined by Brad Gibbs from The Mara Group, who had sponsored part of this trip and wanted to see how things were going. Brad was joined by a colleague, Nicolas Fa…