Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
…the last few months we have almost doubled our views on our Youtube channel and are now approaching 5 million total views across our videos. When we started Singing Wells almost ten years ago, we set an aim to bring the traditional music of East Africa to a wider audience. It amazing to see the Youtube algorithm agreeing that this is a project worth showing people! We can’t wait to bring more songs and stories to the world. Keep an eye out on the…
The Revival of Ohangla Music! News
…’s song Kanungo Eteko is massive on Youtube, and we were lucky enough to record him in one of our sessions in Nyanza here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPaBQwODTtU…
Support for the Elgon Ngoma Troupe News
…ckgrounds through performance of traditional music, through breeding and meat production. Donate to Elgon Ngoma’s gofundme page here! And you can watch one of their brilliant performances, recorded on our 2014 field trip, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkyDtBXfunI Watch Julius, the leader of the group, explain who the Elgon Ngoma troupe is, and their mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Wk0YnbByk&fbclid=IwAR27BBeDBEx-5jMqkKxFTL9vtS5Nx…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…uganda King). Above: Abass Mirimu To be specific, in the 15 drum set up we described here, Abass made the three standalone drums on the far right of the set up. We interviewed Abass on the steps of drum making. These are: 1. Preparing the wood “You cut a tree and then you cut individual pieces – long for long drums, short for short drums. Then you bore the hold into the log,” (the tool used is Ekifumu) “you then let the wood dry in the sun.” Here…
Singing Wells Youtube Channel hits 2.5Million views News
…ODTtU Also at the top of the list is the legend of Mwanzele, Nyerere Wa Konde, performing with his family as the Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club. This was filmed back in 2011, on the very first day of the Singing Wells pilot trip to Kenya. Seeing the generations of Nyerere’s family performing together was a special moment (his son Mr Bado is also a musician). We captured a great fusion of old and new https://youtu.be/-MU13FLg_io You also need to chec…
Remembering Our First Ever Influences Session 8 Years Ago News
…ng as his family and Winyo performed this great improvised session. Stay tuned for exciting announcements about the 10th anniversary of Singing Wells! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8zR1Hq0VXc&lc=z232gt5hrrr5jbjpz04t1aokg3gsm0mrvnsg3wkih113bk0h00410…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
November 30: Meeting the professor and his students https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpG0HLNxVQA The Singing Wells team united in Nairobi on November 28th and flew together to Kampala on November 29th. We are: Tabu Osusa, Jimmy Allen, Steve Kivutia, Patrick Ondiek, Hunter Allen and Nick Abonyo. After a night at the Fairway Hotel, we met James Isabirye at his university, Kyambogo University, to record the Entenga. Centre: James Isabirye We have be…
The Return of Bigwala News
…ritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, to preserve the instrument. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ai9y5pkl6E According to Atlas Obscura, this support has allowed the seeds of this unique gourd, which were thought to have been lost, to be rediscovered and grown. Now over 100 students have been trained in building the instruments, and have played at two royal celebrations. There seems to be a promising future for this important thread in the tapes…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…e. It wasn’t even really thanking us. It was simply their joy. It was very deep. And it made me think back to my village life. When we gathered for big celebrations, the entire village took to the road to walk for miles to a central location. We walked all night. And we sang all night. The old people walking with the children, all of us singing. And now we have a nice road that probably gets us to that site in 20 minutes by car. But what have we l…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
…ook lots of final pictures, including of three children, practically our only children from the trip! We packed for a final time and departed for Nairobi. We made pretty good time to Ketebul music, where we unloaded our gear. Then we headed for the Fairview, a 20 minute drive that took about 90 minutes due to traffic! We all crashed early knowing we had almost a week in the studio starting tomorrow morning!…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…pulled’ the chair from the ground and moved it to a new location. The boys decided to get an ‘arty’ picture with the chair. From the lovely views in Ruthumbi Forest, we then travelled back to Nkubu hotel to record three additional groups (our route is below). The first two we recorded in the main court yard and the last we recorded near the outside pub, where Gregg later served as a DJ. Muturi Wa Wandindi His actual name is Geoffrey Mutwiri, Mbara…
Naizungwe Drums News
…ours and will be posting about the project’s development, which has been under way for a month now. We will be documenting the progress of these drums with pictures and videos here, and more details about the project and the instruments themselves are to follow soon so you can stay updated….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…the groups have heard themselves over speakers and will be the first recording they have. We then breakdown final mixing desk and depart….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…is typically ‘super zoom’ or actually a wide angle shot to get a feel of the recording site. Typically, a final mix will be 90% Video 1, 8% Video 2 and 2% Video 3….
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…recorded between the 1960s and 1980s, which has been literally rotting for decades in the moulding archives of the Tanzanian Broadcasting Corporation. Some has already deteriorated to the point where it’s unplayable, and the rest will suffer the same fate if nothing is done. The music they’re trying to save, called muziki wa dansi (“dance music” in Swahili), is not just catchy and danceable (although it certainly is); it’s also an essential part o…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…working out a guitar part. So first, we recorded the two of them. Then, we decided that if she was writing about hearing the sounds of African music, she should hear the sounds. So James worked with Jovah on a beautiful line, where she sang about the Batwa people being driven from the parks. Then Passy worked on a separate melody line followed by James. So Andy started, Jovah then sang her line for a while and Passy joined followed by James. And t…