Mission Page
…charity, The Abubilla Music Foundation. Our goal is to record, archive and share the traditional music of East Africa for two important reasons – to sustain and celebrate the extraordinary cultural music heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences. As a group of sound and video engineers, producers and musicians, we set out on this mission not to become ‘fossil collectors’ and store the recordings in…
Recording, archiving and sharing the traditional music of East Africa Page
…cians to make sure their music traditions continue to be practiced, can be shared amongst the widest audiences and become a source of inspiration for new musicians. Here for Research? Click here! Whether you are a Musicologist, a student or just interested in the field, head this way to see more of our detailed field reports, group biographies and in-depth information regarding the various different instruments and styles of music we have encounte…
Here for Research? Page
…a. This database is constantly evolving as we discover and record more instruments. The instruments are tagged by their ethnicity, their recording location and the type (simply broken down into stringed, percussion or wind at present) Groups Detailed information about each group we meet on our Field trips. Head here to browse through groups by Location or Genre, or to search directly for a Group that we have met. Each page has information about th…
Day two: From Sirisia to Mabuyole Falls Story
…s, weddings, funerals, etc.. In terms of instruments they have: Luengere: Drums Eng’oma: Drums Litungu: Strings They performed the following songs: Kuzula Ni Bora: This is a song that emphasizes that prevention is better than the cure. The singer takes us through many illnesses to argue there are ways to recognize the symptoms but there are also ways to prevent these illnesses. Malaria Inaua. This literally means, “Malaria kills” and it is about u…
Kithara Group
…s formed by Rajab Suleiman. They have played together for 20 years and all live in the same neighborhood. They play for weddings and festivals. When we got to their village in Mpendae we had some difficulty finding a place in the shade that was quiet. There were airplanes and motorbikes going by occasionally. We managed to record one song but had to stop after that due to noise. We hope to have this group come to the hotel on our last recording da…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…the traditional drums of his culture. The Kadodi is made up of a big bass drum, a solo drum played with a stick, a rhythm drum played with hands, a smaller high pitched drum and a shaker. From two members of his group, they became a band of 12 players. They named themselves the Elgon (the local mountain) Ngoma (generic term for drums) Troupe and starting in 2009 played all sorts of functions that would bring money in to support the band members, a…
Patrick Ondiek Staff Profile
…en a major influence in Pato’s life and he grew up listening to Joseph Kamuru and Ochieng’ Nelly but it was on joining Ketebul Music and following the ‘Spotlight Series’ when he began to really love tribal music. So when the Singing Wells project offered him a new opportunity to discover the music roots of East Africa, Pato jumped at the chance. Why? “First, I love the exposure to different cultures – even my own. I have never heard a lot of the t…
Day Five: Ilesi, Khayega to Kisumu Story
…up. All songs are traditional but arranged by Eric and his partner Moses Alusa. Their style is Milbo. They use drums and shiriri, but also a Shikhorli which we haven’t seen before. This is a shaker/bell, where two ball bearings of different sizes/tones are welded into metal pouches and then he plays. Moses is considered the best Shikhorli maker in the area. Here’s the band. Their songs included: Mukhana Mulabu: This is about a brown girl, that is…
Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…This band has been together for 20 years. Performers: Salmin Ali Borafya (trumpet, leader), Ali Borafya (base drum), Fatihi Hassan (trombone), Ali Rajab (trombone), Ahmed Hassan (drum), Mahmud Ali (cymbal), Abdalla Iddi (tabla). Dancers/singers: Pili Idi (lead singer) Aisha Khamis, Zainab Khamisi, Aldeh Jonas, Nafla Khamis. Director: Omar Mohamed – he didn’t play in the band but directed it and spoke with us Songs: Chapapunga Asili Zarina – rhu…
Day Two: 8 March 2022 (Ilesi) Story
…r 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 beats of the Iteso of Western Kenya. Wh…
Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…He is married to Leah Mbone with whom he has eight children and presently lives in the Marura suburbs of Eldoret town. DAY 1: Monday, 07 March 2022 Act Two Artiste: Julius Itenya and Super Phoenix Band Genre: Maveka (Lipala) Location: Kibukosya’s Gazebo – Mukumu Field Notes: The drive to the next location (Kibukosya’s Gazebo) took less than 15 minutes but no sooner had we set up our equipment for the second session of the day than it started driz…
Imachina Group
…rally means a ‘cock’ and is to let you know that this is a great man, who ‘rules the roost’ so to be speak. The singer mourns that a great man is lost and there might be no one to take care of the singer anymore. Mulele Kwiname: This is the name of a tree that is very popular and big and the song is about when a great beloved tree falls and dies. Bukundu: This is about the smell of a decaying body and the song tells people to come toward the smell…
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…e recorded three performances: Tamasha la kumi: a song about ten principal rules on how to live a meaningful and productive life within society. Mapambano: a song against FGM and early girl child marriage. Vibibi Viwili: a warning song on alcohol and drug abuse. Group Four: Hiari Ya Moyo: This group was formed in 1957 by their grandfathers and is located in Dodoma. They are from the Wanyamwezi Community and performed in the Ngoma Style. Their in…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…lindric drum played on three metal legs, also played with woodensticks); ABUSA – wind instrument made out of long plastic pipe and a gourd; AMUGWARA – antelope horn; ISMAN – metal jingles tied to dancers legs. We recorded five folk songs and a magic moment focusing on the percussionists only. In terms of costuming, although they did not have uniform costumes, the men had displayed some interesting traditional clothing items, such as for example ba…
Day 4 – Tuesday 4th July 2017 Story
…st of the nyatitis he makes go to clients from outside the area (as far as USA). Ogwe considers that since the materials are becoming more and more costly, so does the instrument and consequently fewer people are purchasing it. When describing his manufacture process, Ogwe enumerated several types of trees for the resonator (ondero, ng’owo, kuogo, murembe) and for the arms (ogwero, milinginda, apindi, mago), while confirmed siyala is the best type…
Day Five: February 20, 2020 (DCMA) Story
…opana (guitar, kalimba (hand held thumb piano), lead singer), Heri Kombo (drums) Songs: Mwaludeja – Kirundo group started with this song they had composed. Tarajazz joined in. Nyumbani – Tarajazz started and Kirundo joined in. They improvised together. It was wonderful to see the combination of traditional instruments such as the Tanzanian drums, Kaliba, shakers and sticks along side more Western instruments such as the piano, saxophone, cajon…