Day Five: January 22, 2019 Mwanza Continued Story
…, Akafotho (hand whistling), Enganja: Clapper – two wooden ‘bricks’ struck together, and they wear Ebisheshe (grasses). We recorded four performances: Wachumba Walya: A song about someone who is too mean-spirited to support his community even though he has lots of money, it is about a man “who eats along, without his brother’ Ntelela Engoma: A song about living with respect to traditional ways Basigazi Fura Emyende: A song about overcoming all of…
Day Three: January 20th, 2019 Story
…! We recorded five performances: Busumabuno Kulima: A song about farming Watoto wakalime Freestyle on Kulima Magic Moment Busumabudo, focus on percussion https://youtu.be/dHeTdA5m5gQ Group 3: Awilo: The group, which is a comedy circus act, is from Ikungu lya nkoma and performs in the Bununguli style. They are from the Sukuma community and were formed in 1981. They played the Ng’oma and entertained the kids with circus acts involving fire, razor bl…
Royal Entenga Drummers Group
…f the music forgotten. But in 2015 James discovered the sixty-something Musisi, possibly the last surviving drummer. Musisi was just a teenager at the time of attack and barely survived the night of the attack itself (more on this here). James met him and realised that together they could begin to build the drums. Working closely with Albert and Shaban, a professional drummer who now leads the new band, they built a new set of Royal Drums, recruit…
Makunga Group
…ain indigenous community of Tanzania (always from the land, never migrated into Tanzania. The group was formed in 2018, but was built on a much older group. They perform in the Wuyina style. Their instruments/costumes include the: Ndulele (Horn), the Nindo (Shakers), the Mbega: (Animal Skins), the Muheme (Drums), the Kabati (Shakers), the Kalimba (Thumb Piano), the Zeze (Orutu), the Izeze (5 string large instrument), and the Muhongwa (Wooden water…
Baseki Group
…Simiyu: A song for praise for the region. Bahuni ba ng’wanza: A song referring to local women of questionable virtues Balimi: A song about farming where the band brought up children from the village and taught them about hoeing the soil to the song. Later we saw several videos of how this song is used in the fields to motivate farmers, who hoe to the beat. Throughout Tanzania, we saw school kids walking to/from school with their hoes, where they o…
Biluli Dutwa Group
…Simiyu: A song for praise for the region. Bahuni ba ng’wanza: A song referring to local women of questionable virtues Balimi: A song about farming where the band brought up children from the village and taught them about hoeing the soil to the song. Later we saw several videos of how this song is used in the fields to motivate farmers, who hoe to the beat. Throughout Tanzania, we saw school kids walking to/from school with their hoes, where they o…
Day Four: January 21 2019 Mwanza Story
…en performing since 1999, is from Nzega and from the Sukuma community, playing in the Kadete style. Camera plays the Kadete (like the Zeze from earlier and Orutu from Kenya). He is an extremely cool cat, who we actually discovered walking the streets with his instrument during the RECCE. We recorded five performances: Changamoto: This is about life’s challenges Mawazo Gakwira: About deep worries Nkewane nsanja: girlfriend got pregnant and came to…
Day Two: 8 March 2022 (Ilesi) Story
…resume the recording session. However it took a bit of time for the group to get some of their traditional instruments, including the adeu deu, in tune in with the guitars that were to back them up. One of the band members played the harmonica but it was only in the C key and so it was left out of the recordings of songs on different keys. Guest musicians Fiston, Ben and Gido also had to take a little time to play in sync with the polyrhythmic be…
Aynu Traditional Group Group
…a soldier though this was not a permanent duty. Language: They are divided into many mutually intelligible dialects, but mainly they speak their own Lugbara language. Origins: The came into Uganda at the end of the 16th century. They were originally known as the Madi, their current name perhaps came to be used after the intrusion of the Khartoum Arab slaves in the second half of the 19th century. Their origins are described in relation to their be…
Recording Resources Page
…anagement Audio Recording Protocol Field Visit Workflow We hope these are useful for other researchers in the field. Please do get in touch if you find these helpful!…
FAQ’s Page
What is the Singing Wells project? Singing Wells is a project jointly operated by Ketebul Music, a non profit music studio in Kenya and the The Abubilla Music Foundation, a UK registered charity. Our goal is to preserve the music traditions of East Africa and make this music relevant to the next generation of musicians and fans. Who works for the Singing Wells project? Our team is made up of audio and video engineers from both Ketebul Music and…
Ayub Ogada Group
A musician we choose to bump into frequently is that of Ayub Ogada, probably the most internationally acclaimed Kenyan musician, whose use of the nyatiti in different musical genres is both original and pertinent for our Masters of the Nyatiti story. We spent the day at his home in Nyahera location, not far from Kisumu town, and conducted a long yet free of form type of interview. Although a Luo himself, Ayub had never learned how to play the nya…
Support Singing Wells Page
How you can sponsor the Singing Wells Project Singing Wells is a charitable project, managed and funded by the Abubilla Music Foundation a UK registered charity (reg. no: 1142173). Our work to record, archive and share the music of East Africa is funded by donations. Funds are used to support our field recording trips, provide a permanent music archive and also to help the communities we visit gain an income from their music. You can help us sup…
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…ain indigenous community of Tanzania (always from the land, never migrated into Tanzania. The group was formed in 2018, but was built on a much older group. They perform in the Wuyina style. Their instruments/costumes include the: Ndulele (Horn), the Nindo (Shakers), the Mbega: (Animal Skins), the Muheme (Drums), the Kabati (Shakers), the Kalimba (Thumb Piano), the Zeze (Orutu), the Izeze (5 string large instrument), and the Muhongwa (Wooden wat…
Page
…ers and songwriters to show how this “traditional” music is still relevant into today’s modern world. Below you will find links to the musical loops we have selected that are available to download for the project, If you are interested in joining the Global Influences Project, you can download the project brief here or get in touch with us with any questions you may have. SUBMISSIONS FOR THIS PROJECT ARE NOW CLOSED. Click here to access the Glob…
Global Influences Project: Loop Library Page
…icularly impressive, with ongeng’o rings used both by themselves, and also together with the Nyangile, a wooden box topped with two of the rings, one of which is held with the feet, and beaten with a stick. You can find out more about the band here. You can watch the full visual performance of this song on our Youtube channel by clicking here. Download the loop Nyatiti Group – 158BPM Another wonderful Nyatiti group led by Okumu Korengo who is cons…