Day Zero: 6 March 2022 – Travel To Stream Story
…ians via M-pesa and Pay-Pal contributions. Another possibility was to sell tickets with the use of online access codes that admit ticket holders into the virtual performance. The result was that a number of live streaming studios where performers book sessions to perform and stream their concerts sprung up in Nairobi. Some venues also adapted to hosting online performances, directly streaming shows to mobile devices and computers of audiences wher…
3. Background of the Naizungwe drums Story
…ties were and still are organized on clan system. One ethnic society has a number of clans where each clan has a leader – clan leader. Each of those clans had identifying regalia and one of them are drum rhythms that symbolize the general belief of that clan. The Basoga ethnic society from the Eastern region of the country is organized according to clans. Eleven clans are royal; they are the leaders and the rest are not. One of the clans is the ba…
FAQ’s Page
…the recording. This amount varies based on a number of factors such as the number of members in the group and the number of songs we record. In the event of any music we record making money directly (through sales, sync licensing or performance royalties) we will endeavour to channel this money back to the original performers. Can I buy the music you have recorded? A selection of our music is available to download from our site. We have one album…
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 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…s on the Zeze (stringed instruments made from gourds) and Ilimba (a lamellophone, or modified thumb piano). We will spend a lot of time with Chibite over the next two days and meet many different family members. For this first recording in Boma, the line-up was Ndahani Bwani, the older brother, his sister Ndekwa and two daughters Grace and Leah. Here’s the group: The group is a family group, with all members related to Msafiri Zawose, a very famou…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…ing for three reasons: We had the whole day so were able to record a large number of songs and do an “Influences” session. This gave the village children time to get to know us and understand our mission. By the end they were singing along to all the songs. In addition to being a professional musician, Leo also teaches music to school children so he is a natural with kids. On all the songs that he did, he had the whole village singing and laughing…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…Sukuma People in the Lake Victoria zone, where there are, you guessed it, lots of snakes. The tribes learn early which are the poisonous snakes and which are safe and dancers grow up learning to handle the non-poisonous snakes. The medicine doctors learn cures for snake bites. Snakes are kept as pets and feature heavily in their dances, which involve acrobatics, ‘clown acts’ and yes – snakes. Our snake was an 8-10 foot python, fat and seemingly h…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…he lives in Kiboga which was about three hours away. She gave me his son’s number and Musisi’s and we called. I talked to him! My only thought at the time was: GET MUSISI TO KAMPALA. I could not lose another teacher. So I agreed I would send money for Musisi to meet with me. I gave him a job to teach students how to play the drums. I was so relieved to have found a drummer. He arrived in Kampala and we set out to teach. But very quickly it was cle…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…And then the Prime Minister left and then the shooting started. There were lots of bullets. It was the 24th of May and there was chaos – a lot of people dying. After some time, the shooting stopped because the soldiers feared the gun and the government brought in some Tanzanian soldiers to help with the attack. So early morning on the 25th, the soldiers attacked again from all sides and there were bullets everywhere. So the shooting went on all ov…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…on the players, verses the xylophone instrument itself. We have recorded a lot of Ugandan xylophones over the years, but this time we really wanted to understand the players themselves as the arrangement mirrors in many ways the royal drums. There are generally six players, 3 on each side, configured very roughly as follows (I say roughly, because the notes each plays depends on the song): Akubaa Obuto: meaning player of the small slabs, this musi…
Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…s and came into one of his Throne Rooms (there were several). There were a lot of us, around the King and in the room there were dozens of soldiers. But I remember at the end of the room was a big white man, and he had a huge gun that he was moving around to shoot us. It would have killed all of us, it was so big. And the King took his magic electric gun and killed the white man first. And we were saved and could run again. We ran through the pala…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…cks much thicker than the Enga. These drums are tuned like the Ugandan xylophone, each with a different note, following the pentatonic scale. Within the set of 12 drums, the third drum from right, the third smallest, is the home note, the ‘1’ for any key. Initially, tuning requires endless adjustments of the ropes that tie down the drum skins. But on a minute by minute basis, the drummers are fine tuning through a combination of water on the skins…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…that say ‘see our animals not our people.’ And business is looking for big numbers which means popular things, which sadly means easy to digest, disposable pop culture. The whole drive to “marketing” is killing our culture. If the numbers don’t come in on something than you stop it. But culture is hard to really invest in. You don’t go for the popular musicians doing the big things. You have to go to the real groups in the rural villages. And they…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…in active music. The era of 78 rpm discs and His Master’s Voice (HMV) gramophones had been ushered in by European producers when Kenya’s first recording studio was set up in 1947. This is the magical year in which pioneer guitarist, Fundi Konde, who was a member of the Entertainment Unit during the Second World War reportedly played Kenya’s first electric guitar. European recording companies were to hold a monopoly over the East African music indu…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…nt of studio work and as Benga became popular, the three of us played on a lot of others’ songs. This meant that our Luo sound was getting on a lot of records. The early sixties was mostly about studio work but by 70-71, when Benga was really at its peak the Sega Sega band was very big – we were always performing out in events and functions. We did okay and I made enough to buy my farm and build the house in which I still live. My biggest song was…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…nts and vocals that will be used and make sure these have appropriate microphones and will be seen by the video team. The purpose of Video 2 is to zoom in on these performances so we want our ‘leads’ stationed close to Video 2 if possible. Song Length Our first job is to record the song as written no matter the length. But it is very common for the groups to honour the Singing Wells team by extended their songs – this is a huge complement to the a…