Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…03, 2015 On December 1, during the long ride to Jinja, Tabu and I had a chance to interview James Isabirye about how and why we found ourselves together. This is a summary of that conversation, roughly in James’ own words. I use the term roughly for two reasons: 1) These are African roads and James was highly distracted by his own driving during our interview, dodging vans, cows and potholes. 2) I was trying to take notes in a car that seemed to b…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…t there more focus on this? GT: I don’t know and it makes me angry. No offence to our partners from the Abubilla Music Foundation, but why it is that you guys needed to step in to make this happen? I’m grateful, but where were we? Why isn’t this our problem? I am concerned that the Kenyans aren’t doing it for themselves. Without AMF, we wouldn’t be able to do it. How do we turn that equation around that we as a people would find the resources to d…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…g’ Kabaselleh, a Luo pop artist who occasionally teamed up with Laban Juma Toto, formerly of the Hodi Boys band, to produce some of the best rumba melodies sang in the Luo language. Kabaselleh’s love for rumba saw him adopt the name of Congo’s celebrated pioneer musician, Joseph Kabaselleh ‘Le Grand Kalle.’ Some of Ochieng’s sons like Babu Kabaselleh and Reggie Kabaselleh are now well-known musicians in their own right, same to his siblings who ma…
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
…s also trying to start a gourd revolution so people start using them again to store liquids and stop using plastic) The coordinator and lead female vocalist in the group is Irene Nabirye. The group is made up of 6-7 Bigwala players and drummers, plus dancers and singers. They performed four songs and then we did a magic moment with their instruments; these were: Muwe Bwobona Asaba: When someone asks you kindly assist them Mperekera Omwana Womuremb…
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
…led a discussion on social media and how it can be used and has been used to increase interaction with the program. One interesting idea was when they held a Google hangout between guest Moby and a few of his friends and live streamed the result on YouTube – something I am keen to try in the future. The Evolving Markets discussion looked at both the African and Indian markets and how the markets are evolving. India was a particular suprise here…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…l in 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…
73,603 views on YouTube News
…h 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 produced to support the launch of the Singing Wells project in 2011. Keep watching! …
A new type of city Story
…n 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 took on the trip….
The Boy with the Headphones Story
…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 oldest members of the family. …
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…uld record them singing their songs to their children, three generations dancing together in their village. Andy Patterson, who helped design the mobile studio, noted, ‘I’m a sound engineer and used to recording in professional studios, but I must say, my favourite studios are the ones we create in these villages where even the chickens that wander on to the set add hugely to the essence of the recording.’ So, we piloted the project on Kenya’s Coa…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…nting: Drove 8 minutes to Airport. About 600 meters outside airport we had to stop and all get out of van and go through a metal detector. There was a large sign telling us not to bring in pistols and rifles. The van was then searched. At airport, we had to unload bags at departures, take them by trolly to bottom of stairs. Take all bags up the stairs. Find new trolly and proceed to next stage. All this would be fairly straightforward except we ha…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…ened: the rebels arrived to his village and asked him to show them the way to town. In a way this was a blessing, because his family was saved (often, on abduction, the rest of the child’s family would be killed, so they’d feel angry, distant and unable to return home). Once they arrived at the town they wouldn’t let Odika go and it was clear he was a prisoner. He only managed to escape once the rebels believed he was one of them, and stopped watc…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…this set we asked them to do a Magic Moment and then join Akello for Influences to sing ‘Awinyo’, which sounded magical. Our second group was Watmon Cultural Troupe, which was a large dance act of men and women with heavy percussion. Matthew Watmon (above) is the leader of his group, which he started in 1991. The members are from all over Uganda, but generally perform music in the style of Acholi, as Watmon is originally from Kitikum, not far from…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…have you managed to do this? A: To get the young people involved I decided to go to schools and teach music. I compose new material with my students and come up with something they like. I watch how they dance and whether they feel the rhythms and I try to teach them what I’m doing, but I also adapt to how they feel the music. I let them take the music where they want to take it as long as it is rooted in our traditions. I just watch them dance an…