Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…t tried to teach an 8 year old Leo some of Henry’s riffs, because Henry refused. Isaac used to pull down Henry’s acoustic guitar from the rafters of his hut in their southern village Makua while he was travelling. It was only when Henry heard a 12 year old Leo play a song that he had learned on his own that Henry agreed to teach him. But even then, Henry only agreed to teach him if Leo promised not to pursue music professionally. It was Leo’s mom…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…we started to discuss the issue of the royal instruments. At the Kampala Museum, Singing Wells, Albert Ssempeke and I talked and all concluded: we really have to focus on the Entenga, the Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom. If we lose these, we’ve lost something truly unique. Singing Wells then agreed to kick-start a project based on what we had done together on the ‘Bigwala Model.’ So after Singing Wells left, I started the search for the drumme…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…who made it to the palaces, but also a vast ecosystem of villages that focused on instrument making or villages that focused on training potential musicians for the palaces. This patronage was not free, however, and the resources to fund the palaces and their music ultimately came from the same villages, through taxation and food contributions. Moreover, these musicians were not empowered to create, to lead rich musical lives, to become artists,…
The Revival of Ohangla Music! News
…ation.co.ke, featuring one of our favourite Ohangla artists, Otieno Aloka. Giving A Trendy Sound To Traditional Ohangla Music Traditionally played at weddings and funerals, the music is having new life put into it by young artists like Otieno who use electronic production, combined with incredible musicianship, to create a whole new genre. Otieno’s song Kanungo Eteko is massive on Youtube, and we were lucky enough to record him in one of our sessi…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
….” He then gave an example of how he does this step in detail. For this he uses knife and awl. For tuning he uses the following instruments: the knife (Akambe), awl (Olukato), hammer (Ennyondo) and wedge for tuning. For this step, the re-stringing, he stopped after a few strings, explaining that he was ruining his drum by showing us. Here, you saw the real skill levels of the drum maker. With his hands moving very fast, he was taking out the stitc…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…bene Village, upper Kiungone Sublocation, Abogeta West Division. The group uses Mbere (shakers) worn by Bernard Nkonge, Ginfold Mbae, Amos Munthi and Fraras Ikunda. They also use a flute, Coro, is performed by John Mwiti. The group was in beautiful costume and so energetic – to be frank, and in contrast to Uganda, we don’t get a lot of young people in the groups in Kenya, and it is rarer still to have young men. It was a great pleasure to have suc…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…t: Mwomboko Ndongomothi Kariara Rumba Jeki Magic Moment: The group then focused on a minute of Wendire Mugunda Ndaiga Muchiri Ndaiga Muchiri was a founding member of Kangema Mwomboko Dancers. He started singing in 1943 and loves to entertain. He is a Kikuyu and plays Mwomboko wa 40’s style. Mwomboko: a traditional song where he plays the Karing’aring’a (the ring) We then lugged our equipment up the hill. We were extremely embarrassed to find ourse…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…layed the whistles. The song encourages parents to invest in education because that is the key to success. Mwaki (means fire). This is a political song praising a prospective parliamentarian. It discourages other prospective candidates from attempting the position because it is already taken by the one they are praising. Nzembanie na ivinda (Chasing After Time). This song talks about the President’s call to stop corruption. The call to chase after…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…khana: The person who killed Paul was a Wanyera. He had killed a chief because he was jealous of him. During the burial he pretended to be sad, but the family members of Paul recognized what was going on and organized to murder him. It’s a song about retaliation. Tabu said of Mazune, “I think he is amazing. He has one of those older traditional voices that is hard to find. I know Robert felt we should invite him to Ugandan festivals. He’s the king…
Our top Singing Wells songs for April News
…entertainment and preservation of culture. For all their songs, the ladies used the Kigamba (leg shakers). 2. Kaniini Kaseo, Kolleji Kaniini Kaseo is an all women group led by Mumbi Wambua, in Kyolo style. The group is from the Kamba ethnic community. They have 16 members and were formed in 1980. All of their songs use the Ileve (the tin shaker, played by Mumbi Wambua) and Vilingi (whistle) 3. Kangema Urban Women Group, Kibuthi The Kangema Urban W…
Current Leading Figures News
…rm one’s culture and celebrate life.” Hence, providing a creative space was a priority for Odwar, as even though Northern Uganda has been riddled with war for decades, he sees the how effective using “traditional methods of creating peace and reconciliation” are, citing the use of arts in South Africa as a way of peace building in the post-apartheid era and the use of theatre in the 1990s to settle and integrate war veterans in Kabale, Uganda. For…
Archiving Guidelines News
…ter 7, Small Scale Approaches to Digital Storage Systems, is of particular use because it contains straightforward information for smaller would-be archives, such as those wishing to archive East African music, concerning both the digitisation of audio or the online storage of the data. It cites two viable options for open repository software, which are basically softwares that allow organisations to give access to their data. The first is DSpace,…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…it would take 20 years to archive properly and equipment being broken because it was not used according to instructions. However, there were examples that gave hope for the archiving of East African music, in Africa; ‘I visited the Ethiopian archives while stranded in Khartoum for four days (by Ethiopian Airways in 1988 I believe) and found […] local scholars, some of them trained in the UK, were doing good work with minimal resources and doing s…
Tracey Instrument Collection News
…Basoga ‘orchestra’. Engwara Composite Horns These horns are composite because they are made up from two different calabashes – one wrapped in skin and the other wrapped in goat skin and string. The Tracey Instrument Collection holds two horns, which are part of the Omukama of Bunyoro‘s horn ensemble of at least six horns, that were collected in the 1950s by Hugh Tracey. The Omukama of Bunyoro is the titular head of the Banyoro people. Ennanga eig…
ILAM, Repatriation and Jimmie Rodgers/Chemirocha News
…how with real educational value.“ So, thank goodness for the internet, because here’s the song: It was recorded by the Kipsigi people of Kenya, the largest sub-groups of the Kalenjin, and was inspired by a Jimmie Rodgers record left behind in their village by missionaries. We recorded the Kalenjin in 2012. Jimmie Rodgers, was, of course, a famous American country music singer in the 20’s and 30’s. This teaches us several things: All music is ins…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…. Irene is a singer and guitarist living in Kampala who was recommended to us by Akello, our Influences artist on our 2012 recording trip – The Music of Northern Uganda. Steve is liaising with James about the various recording locations but it’s possible we may once again use the garden of the Airport Guesthouse which proved to be such a wonderful setting this time last year (and surprisingly quite considering its proximity to the airport!). Stay…