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…) the better! Muwewesi Xylophone Group Unsurprisingly for the Muwewesi Xylophone Group, the Xylophone is the star of the show. A giant xylophone lays across the floor, played by 8 musicians, alongside vocalists, pipe flute players and tube fiddle players. Based in Nakisenye, East Uganda, we visited the group in 2013, and when we arrived we found that the band had been there since morning preparing – they had dug the pit for the xylophone, with the…
Day Four: January 21 2019 Mwanza Story
…s group, from the Sukuma community, was formed in 2010 and performs with a number of styles: Bukomia Lume, Buchheye, Wigashe. Their instruments are: Ng’oma (Drums), Pembe (animal horns, large impala), Firimbi (flute), and Njuga (shakers). We recorded five performances: Ntale Atabihyala: ‘The boss, who is always wrong, wants to be always right. Just accept it’ Ba Tanzania (Malima): Praising country, encouraging farmers and hard work – this song h…
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…be seen by our wide camera and many of the musicians have an attached microphone. While generally this isn’t a problem, there are times when the group is constrained. So, we often do another take which we call ‘free style’ where we take our cameras off tripods, and our video team simply 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 t…
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 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
…ts are quite central to Tanzanian dance as are acrobatic acts. We spoke to Leo about this. “Yes, we love to bring comedy to our music. If you look at most circus troupes that are touring in the world today, a huge number of the acrobats and clowns are Tanzanian.” https://youtu.be/C-4PdHne3Jc We’ll leave you here. We checked in to our hotel, the Mediterraneo Hotel, Dar es Salaam. Tomorrow we head off for Bagamoyo….
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 and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…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 are out there. And it gets much deeper. Our view of development is hardware – give folks roads, modernise them. But Singing Wells has discovered in fact –…
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 Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…her friends freely. The mother explains to her that she was barren but the spirits helped her to conceive. The spirits set the condition, however: that she should never play in the rain. Amagombe: This is a song about the death of the leader’s father. He wrote it after his father’s death. 95% of the song is about what his father told him before he died. Ebibira: This song talks about the dangers of deforestation. The forest is where the spirits of…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…s/traditions and can train the youths. One already died in May to move the number from 4 to 3 and one of the three surviving is very ill. But it is almost certain, now that the trumpets won’t disappear. Young people have some interest, thankfully, and are learning.” Click here for further reading on the Bigwala. Here’s their music: Adagha Nalya Drama Group Our second group was from the Bukoona Village and called the Adagha Nalya Drama Group. Their…
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
…n which the Singing Wells project may be interested in the future – mobile phones and ring back tones as a method of delivery for music. Mike and I also attended the African music networking session which became the launch for a new initiative by the Cape Verde government. It has been calculated that music is their biggest export and so has set up the African Music Forum to make it easier for musicians to make a living – from visas and flights to…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…ing with us: 2 Apple MacBook Pro 2 MOTU Traveler MK3 Audio Interface 4 Headphone amps 8 Sony MDR-V600 headphones 2 Shure mics & stands 2 Rode Lavalier omni-directional mics 2 Rode NTG-1 condenser Shotgun mics 1 Matched Pair of AKG C414 XL Microphones 1 Matched Pair of Rode NT5 Microphones 2 Rode professional boom pole 1 K&M telescopic mic stand/boom 1 Canon EOS 7D 1 Canon EOS 60D 1 Canon EOS 5D 1 LED video camera lights 1 Flip HD video camera Thin…
What people say about Singing Wells News
…n SW Uganda, even the bling (sic) could tell that you brought joy in their spirits and smiles on their faces, here in Ug, this group is mostly undermined, it was so humbling to my spirit that you got this far with them and their recording trips to the studios in Nairobi. I was here shedding tears when I saw Winyo totally and perfectly singing the Batwa dance song and dancing a long with them, indeed that is what music is all about especially to re…
73,603 views on YouTube News
…ls YouTube channel……73,603 views and still counting! It’s not a meaningful number in itself (like a nice round 100,000 – our next target) but it does mean more and more people are finding us and enjoying what we are all about – bringing the more traditional sounds of East Africa to an enthusiastic audience. Thanks for watching! Our top 3 video hits In third place, this is the Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club from Sita Village, Gede in Kenya’s Malindi…