Day Two: February 17, 2020 (Stonetown) Story
…e. Muhogo Wa Jangombe – Means cassava of Jongombe. In Swahili these songs don’t tell you directly what they are trying to say. They use metaphor and analogies. Here the message is: “Don’t insult the midwife because you might need her again.” The song is about not taking cassavas for granted. Kidole Chauma Sana – translates to “My Finger is Painful.” Again, this is not the direct meaning. It’s a naughty song with sexual connotations about the man…
Day Five: February 20, 2020 (DCMA) Story
…ruments such as the Tanzanian drums, Kaliba, shakers and sticks along side more Western instruments such as the piano, saxophone, cajon and high hat. Culture Musical Club Taarab Orchestra – this culture club is one of the oldest Taarab orchestras in Zanzibar founded in 1965 after independence. Generations of musicians have played in it. It plays traditional Taarab music with all female solo singers and male singers on instruments. It was clear th…
Omong’oluk Traditional Dancers Group
…: Shakers Akwara: Sticks Isiman: Jingles worn around the ankles Etwoo: A gourd that you blow into for a ‘bass’ beat. The dancers wore “Emukule”, skins of cows and more rarely, Cheetahs. One of the dancers wore a “Amugwar”, a head piece made up of antelope horns….
Mohamed Uthman Kidumbak Group Group
…de. Muhogo Wa Jangombe – Means cassava of Jongombe. In Swahili these songs don’t tell you directly what they are trying to say. They use metaphor and analogies. Here the message is: “Don’t insult the midwife because you might need her again.” The song is about not taking cassavas for granted. Kidole Chauma Sana – translates to “My Finger is Painful.” Again, this is not the direct meaning. It’s a naughty song with sexual connotations about the man’…
Here for the Music? Page
…es from the field, featuring stunning photography taken by our team. Learn more about the communities we meet, the instruments that are being played and the background stories behind some of the photohraphy on our website. Albums Head here to see the collection of Albums we have created as a result of our recordings on the Field and at Ketebul Studios in Nairobi. The albums are available to download through our Bandcamp store in your choice of for…
The Northern Tribes of Uganda Album
…son and Pakwach. We went on further to Widianga village and the Alur Kingdom Troupe. Later that day we were treated to Cieng Dwong back at Fort Murchison – darkness descending as we recorded. A travel day to Soroti was followed by another Likembe band – the Macedonia band, before the long drive back to Kampala. One night in Kampala was followed by a recording in Naguru, recording the Adungu Cultural Troupe and the Watmon Cultural Group, before hea…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…Genre : Obukano Location: Treat House Resort – Rongo Profile: Ontiri Bikundo Ronald Ontiri Onchuru Bikundo is a versatile obukano player who was born in 1974 in Kisii. Ontiri started playing music in 1985 and recorded his first song ‘Bikundo Obaba mbono’ in 1994 and from then on he has been the main star of the obukano music genre from the region. Ontiri has performed in most entertainment venues within Kenya and is among the few Kenyan musicians…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…city in May 2006. Next on stage was Olith Ratego, a musician whose unique dodo style is one of the oldest forms of music performed by the Luo people of Western Kenya. Olith Ratego is a self-taught musician who plays a musical instrument fashioned by himself. It is a replica of the nyatiti (an eight stringed traditional lyre), which he calls okoddo and is modified to the pentatonic scale. Olith Ratego’s recording session went uninterrupted and was…
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….
The Batwa of Kisoro Album
…we heard, we then invited some of the musicians back to Nairobi to record more of their music at the Ketebul Studios. The album begins in the village of the Birara Community – with the village leader Francis taking the main role on the performance. The Mperwa dancers are included, whose leader Jovah stunned us with her voice during the recordings in their village – featured on the album cover. Our trip to the UN refugee camp at Nyakabande was a h…
Tarajazz Group
…is band. He is a teacher at the DCMA. He teaches the Oud and plays the saxophone. All the students at the DCMA study traditional music such as Taarab as well as Western music. Members of the group: Suleiman Makame (keyboard, director), Hassan Mahenge (Saxaphone, assistant director), Mahsin Basalama (contra base), Christopher Weston (Cajon and high hat), Regina Juma (singer). There was supposed to be a violin player but unfortunately he couldn’t ma…
Page
…ill find links to the musical loops we have selected that are available to download for the project, If you are interested in joining the Global Influences Project, you can download the project brief here or get in touch with us with any questions you may have. SUBMISSIONS FOR THIS PROJECT ARE NOW CLOSED. Click here to access the Global Influences Project Loop Library Here you will find a selection of musical loops by artists such as Otacho Youn…
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…what we were thinking. So lovely. So many stops. But we digress. From the Dodoma Hotel, we drove about 90 minutes to Nzali to record four groups: Group 1: Makunga: This group is from Dodoma and the Wagogo Community, which they argued is the main indigenous community of Tanzania (always from the land, never migrated into Tanzania. The group was formed in 2018, but was built on a much older group. They perform in the Wuyina style. Their instrum…
Day Three: Bungoma Town to Kakamega Story
…riend special potions to love him more. But it failed to make her love him more and only led to more friction and fighting. Namusia: This is about a group of people known for their witchcraft. Magic moment 1: Ndirenje: Wilbert plays on his own while group is changing. Magic moment 2: Nisiri Mulamu Another solo as group changes. Nambacha: This is about a ‘loose woman’ who spends time with too many men in the village. Alandire Mwitala: A traditional…
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…mply follows the group around as they dance and sing. This provides a much more free feel, although it does mean we can miss part of the performance, so we always try to do two versions of the song. Magic Moment: For many songs, we find there is a moment of amazing percussion, or dance, or other instruments that we want to isolate and record, even if only for a minute. So we will ask the group to re-do one section of the song and sometimes we’ll m…
Super Phoenix Band Group
…nstrumental as influences session with Fadhilee, our influences artist. We don’t know: Fadhilee then taught the band to play his song, We Don’t Know. This is about politicians who pay lots of attention to voters when it is election time but then are never around to be accountable for anything once elected. It is about the frustration of so many people with their elected officials who do nothing for them. There were two versions: here’s the second:…