2. Naizungwe Drums – progress report 1 Story
…enough drums for training a new generation of players. However, the basic number includes: 1 large Uganda drum (played with short heavy beaters) 3 smaller drums (played with long curved sticks) 1 medium drum (played with sticks) 1 long drum (ngalabi – hand-beaten) All together, 6 drums. Therefore, we are making four sets of naizungwe drums mainly to facilitate learning.” Below is a video documenting the progress of the drums thus far. https://you…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…di Kazidi. The style was Unyago. Here is the group: They played 12 songs, including Magic Moments and Influences Sessions: Zakulola: You’ve come to see us play Wake Kwa Ume: Female to male Nataka kusema kasi naogopa: I would like to say something but I am afraid Umpati Ng’o: You’re never going to get them Magic Moment 1 Utalikologa Utalinywa: If you mix it, you’ll drink it. Tueheze Zembwela (local dialect) Bonanza Nataka Kusema: Includes a song wi…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…s Salaam. Here’s the son: We are greeted by the music of the Nyunyusa Dancing Troupe, which included two of Mzee Morris’s grandsons, Abdala Nyunyusa Morris on vocals and Rajab Alli Nyunyusa Morris on drums. Rajab is the only of Mzee Morris’s offspring to make his living as a drummer. Here he is with Morris Drums: Here is the group: They played seven songs: Jembe ni Mali: a song to encourage farming Kilongo Salale: a call to unity Rasilmali Ya M…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…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 Walusimbi, Sarah Mukyala and Cornelius Mwima. We all understand that without intervention, somehow, all this music – all this culture will die. But we also know that the issue wil…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…their way of life and it is pure joy. This was very deep. SW: What most concerned you? GT: What really concerns me is that the resources we have at singing Wells just barely lets us scratch the surface. We did 5 songs per group, but they have 100. We could have had a dozen people come on influences. We could have rehearsed performances and help the groups reach a far higher level of performance. And in every location, we could have recorded anoth…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…eads. They dance with freedom and even total abandon. Attentive Benga audiences point out the importance of its themes especially where a song chronicles or even instigates an important social event or political drama. Many lyrics dwell on love, either extolling a woman’s beauty and praising her virtues or expressing the disappointment of an ardent suitor. Some songs sing about money and personal experiences of hardship and struggle. Occasionally,…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…Omukazi Ow’omwano Tanoba: Tamenha Ibuga Nalufuka: This was an incredible dance number that ended with all the Singing Wells crew, and many of the hotel staff, jumping up and dancing with the group. Here is their music: James Isabirye says, “It is a challenge for me to talk about Nile Beat because I have so many feelings about it. But what I’m most proud of its contribution to the preservation of Ugandan culture by organizing the only festival sinc…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…e legendary Siragi Kirimungo, who very kindly offer to give a rare performance for us. Their lead female dancer was Ndhote Prossy. The group was made up of dancers/singers, drums, pipe flutes and Siragi Kirimungo also played the thumb piano. They performed 5 songs for us; these were: Ababusoga Nga Tukungaine: When people assemble they agree on issues and speak one language. Waiswa Mugudde: A Dance song. This is the name of a first born male twin (…
Singing Wells in Numbers…. News
…Andy did a litte homework for this one: Number of recordings of groups: 374 (this does not include other recordings like Magic Moments, Influences, etc…) Number of groups recorded: 83 Number of hours of music: 27 hours and 30 minutes. …
Report from Womex 2013 News
…Centre in Cardiff Bay. The show was a showcase of traditional Welsh music including performances from Matthews herself, The Welsh Ballet and The Treorchy Male voice choir. I heard a bit of a day showcase from the Emily Portman trio on the daycase stage at the Motorpoint arena. Louise joined our trade fair neighbours from New Zealand at the Daycase stage to hear a showcase of Maori music. We also managed to pop down to see two performances on the F…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…Kisoro, Uganda!) We can also combine the two recording units into one to increase the number of inputs, while still working off battery power. The laptops use Avid ProTools recording software – an industry standard for recording and music production. The microphones we have chosen are industry standard models used in studios the world over but, most likely, not seen in the villages of East Africa. The equipment has been carefully selected so it c…
A new type of city Story
…tarkly contrasted to the taller office buildings you could see in the distance. Despite this unconventional type of city,I loved it. There was certainly a lot going on and during the week Akello told us many stories of the vibrant buzz in Kampala. Every night there’s music to listen to somewhere in the packed hub of 180,000 people . The image above of the tin houses and the Uganda House of Commons in the background was one of the first pictures I…
The Boy with the Headphones Story
…e of the songs through his headphones and this particular boy overcame his shyness to have give it a try. We could see how hard life is for the Batwa, living on small pieces of borrowed land on the fringes of society but the performance of the Mperwa Dancers did not portray this – it was full of pride and happiness. Once again, we witnessed how important the songs and dances are to the whole Batwa community, from the youngest infant to the oldes…
73,603 views on YouTube News
…to record the music of the Mijikenda tribes. Is second place is a video from our field visit to Kisoro in south west Uganda where we met and recorded the wonderful Batwa people. The music is performed by Kamuntu ‘Tiny’ Moses accompanied by our Influences artist Winyo. And in first place with over 21,700 views is ’71 Hours to Monday’- a global track from Abubilla Music featuring musicians from Sao Paulo, Nairobi and London which was produce…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…ording. Singing Wells allows for the whole group to perform, singing and dancing in front of ten microphones and three digital cameras.’ Video engineer, Patrick Ondiek, adds, ‘I love producing the final videos and getting phone calls from my friends asking me ‘how did you find these musicians?’ I feel like I’m on the cutting edge of music, bringing these talented musicians to my Nairobi friends.’ In addition to our field visits, we have developed…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…great examples of the Ndara. But we were also able to recording amazing dancing… this is by far the best dancing we’ve seen. Q: Any observations as you compare this trip to others? A: For musicality, this trip rivals our trip to record the Batwa. In terms of the ‘health’ of traditional music, I think it is mixed, but frankly the traditional music scene feels healthier in Uganda than Kenya. On the negative side, clearly there is not enough money g…