The Luo of Kenya Album
…nd led by Osumba Rateng, and then a Dodo group led by Ogoya Nengo. We next move to Aluny Village – with performances from The Joginda Boys, Otieno Aloka and the late Okumu K’Orengo and his Nyatiti Group. The Kochia Traditional Dancers gave a very visual performance, and one of their tracks, recorded on the shores of Lake Victoria at the Homa Bay Hotel is also included. The final day of recording on the trip saw us head to Rongo – and the settings…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…Ontiri is a master of the obukano, an instrument which has an indelible history among the Abagusii community of Western Kenya. The obukano is used more as percussive instrument and an accompaniment by a soloist. However, the nyatiti and the litungu played by the Luo and the Luhya, respectively, follow chord progressions, notes and keys. Ontiri came on stage at Treat House Resort at 5:30pm and true to the professional that he has become, gave an ex…
Stories Page
…ing stories with the work that we do at Singing Wells. Use the links below to delve into some of the stories behind the scenes of the field trips, our ongoing projects and some of the incredible people we have met. Music Read some of our articles and stories behind the Music of East Africa. Dive into musical genres, different instruments and the musicians keeping these traditions alive. Picture We manage to take some beautiful photos on our trip….
Day Five: Ilesi, Khayega to Kisumu Story
…ere: Mama: This is a song about what you do when your mother is no longer around to watch you and control your behaviour. Who are you as a man, when ‘no one is watching.’ He wrote this in March 2017 and it will be on his new album. Shombu: This is a girl’s name and is a traditional song. But he takes it and says, “Yes, you are a beautiful girl, but let me warn you. Many will try to be with you and there is a danger if you are not careful you could…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…e Entongooli. In this weeks video, we are shown how to prepare the cow and monitor lizard skins for the base of the Entongooli. Each skin goes through a process of thinning, trimming and soaking to prepare it for stretching over the bases that were prepared in the previous video. We also see how the strings are starting to be prepared from the cow skins. Created the Base: Part 2 We return to visit our musical scholars to see how they are doing wit…
Uganda: Music of the Northern Tribes Gallery
…d Acholi styles….
Kenya: music of the Luo Gallery
Images from the Singing Wells trip to record the music of the Luo. We travelled by road from Nairobi to the shores of Lake Victoria and recorded different music groups from the Luo tribes.
Global Influences Project: Loop Library Page
…p are based in Kampala, Uganda. They are a collective of musicians led by Amone Watmon Matthew, who promote the preservation of Ugandan cultural heritage through dance. The group is made up of up to 50 members, the youngest members being only seven years old. You can learn more about the group here. You can watch the full visual performance of this song on our Youtube channel by clicking here. Download the loop singingwells · SW Samples – Watmon C…
The Batwa of Kisoro Album
…during the recordings in their village – featured on the album cover. Our trip to the UN refugee camp at Nyakabande was a happy one, as it was empty. The Togetherness group gave us a spirited performance and one of the tracks is on the album. The remainder of the field recordings were made at the Travellers Rest Hotel in Kisoro – battling through torrential rain, a storm of locusts and power cuts to be able to record. The Kabahenda, Gatera and Mi…
Filimbi Instrument
…A whistle. The word filimbi is Swahili for ‘Whistle’, ‘flute’ or ‘pipe’. – so the instrument name ‘Filimbi’ could refer to any whistle or flute type instrument. We heard this Filimbi in use by a member of the group Zaire Ndindingwara on our field trip to record the music of the Mijikenda in 2011, played alongside percussion – as a bed for the vocalist in the group….
Kijaruba Group Group
…Kijaruba Group are a group part of the larger Bigilia Group. We met them on our 2017 field trip to Tanzania. You can read more about them on the Bigilia page here….
Kenya: music of the Kalenjin Gallery
…Images from the Singing Wells trip to record the music of the Kalenjin tribes. The journey took us to Kitale, Mount Elgon, Kapenguria, Iten, Kapsowar and Lake Baringo where we recorded the music of traditional groups from different sub-tribes including Pokot, Marakwet, Tugen and Saboat….
Otacho Young Stars Group
…the resort, including ‘Charles Manager’, a sincere song showing gratitude to the manager of a factory who has been doing a good job. We asked them to join us in the Ketebul studio in Nairobi to record this song, renamed Mr Manager, which you can listen to here. The percussion in this group is particularly 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…
Visiting the Ketebul offices in Nairobi Gallery
…On Monday I took a trip to visit the Ketebul guys at their studio in Nairobi. Tucked away in an unassuming street, Ketebul is situated in the Go Down Arts Centre, a graffited music enclave of made up of some seriously hip outlets. I was visiting to interview Tabu, you can read the interview here….
The Best of Singing Wells 2011 Album
…A collection of some of our favourite tracks from our trip in 2011. NOTE: some of the tracks on this album also feature on the release ‘The Batwa of Kisoro’ under different titles. …
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…it! Our last group. From there we drove…and drove…and drove…and ended up back in Nairobi. Some of us stayed for an important Singing Wells trip to Zanzibar. And the London crew sadly flew home….