Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
We drove back to Stone Town and the DCMA to record our first group. After we finished there we drove to Mpendae, about 20 mins from Stone Town to record the second group. From there we drove for another half an hour to Maungani to record the third group: Tarajazz – This group was formed by the director, Suleiman Makame, who studied classical piano and music. He became interested in Jazz and created an African fusion of Taarab and Jazz about tw…
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…nging Wells, a field visit is when we visit a specific region of East Africa and record musical groups in villages. On average, we do one field visit a year, recording roughly 20-25 groups, and a 100-125 performances. We have roughly 1,000 videos online. Our general setup for a recording is: a) Steve is in charge of audio and we typically have two general mics for the group and 5-6 specific microphones for singers and musicians, b) we have three v…
Day One: The Iteso People and their Music Story
…the Nile. We drove to the town of Adungosi to record the Omong’oluk Traditional Dancers. The current leader is Ibriam Aduomg Omong’oluk, the grandson of the founder of the dance group, Longinos Omong’oluk who started the group in the early 1990s. He died in 1998 at 87 years old. We first talked to Ibriam about the instruments and costumes used by the group; these included: Atenus: The bass drum Igelu: Shakers Akwara: Sticks Isiman: Jingles worn ar…
Here for the Music? Page
…recordings on the Field and at Ketebul Studios in Nairobi. The albums are available to download through our Bandcamp store in your choice of formats. The proceeds from the sale of our albums will be fed back to the musicians involved in the recordings, wherever possible. Galleries As well as filming and recording, our incredible team also find moments to take some beautiful photography of our surroundings. Head here to see some images of our time…
Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
Act One Artiste: Johnstone Mukabi and Omutibo Stars Genre: Omutibo Location: Small Matters Park – Shikangania Field Notes: After an early breakfast the following morning we drove from Ilesi to Mukumu Girls’ High School, situated along the Kakamega-Kisumu road. Our first recording of the day was to be with Johnstone Mukabi, son of the legendary guitarist George Mukabi. The senior Mukabi is regarded by all as the pioneer of omutibo, arguably the mo…
Aynu Traditional Group Group
…an are descendants from the first creatures put on earth by spirit (the creator of men). Spirit created a man (gboro-gboro) and a woman (meme), and then domestic livestock. Meme had wild animals in her womb so that after the gazelle had broken out all animals followed from her womb. Man was the last to come out. The first human beings are said to have been twins: Arube and O’duu. Arube was a boy while O’duu was a girl. These twins, unlike their pa…
FAQ’s Page
…Singing Wells via our YouTube channel. Each music video has a donation button associated with it and you can donate £1, £5, £10,£20 or £50 to help support a music group you particularly like. Find us on YouTube here. If I support you where will the money go? How do I know it will be well spent? Donations to Singing Wells can be made through The Abubilla Music Foundation. Your donation will be restricted for use in East Africa to support the proje…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…few surviving omutibo pioneers from the era of George Mukabi. Akwabi’s rubato musical style was quite a challenge for both Fiston Lusambo and Ben Mukabwa. It took almost an hour for the two to figure out Akwabi’s unorthodox, expressive free style for most of his songs before the actual recording began at 2:00pm. After a few false starts we finished the recordings of Peter Akwabi at 4:00 PM with his latest song which is a tribute to D.O. Misiani,…
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
This Field Visit to Zanzibar is all about celebrating Siti Binti Saad, the Mother of Taarab. We assembled in Nairobi on Friday the 14th of February and flew to Zanzibar on Kenya Airways on the first flight on Saturday, making our way to the Ngawala Hotel. Temperature 33 degrees centigrade. Partially cloudy. Saturday was about set up, so we’ll use this ‘Day Zero’ post to fill you in on the purpose of the trip. First, Zanzibar is an island…
Day Two: January 19, 2019 From Tarime to Buturi to Bariadi Story
…‘freestyle recording’ – what we mean here is we allow our three camera operators to ‘roam’ and to ‘release the band’ to dance. We are trying to overcome the somewhat artificial nature of ‘archiving’ where the band is constrained into a single shot. Magic Moment: We loved the percussion and wanted to capture this as magic moment. https://youtu.be/u7xcXahAlzI Group 2: Upendo Jazz: The group is from the Murangi Village in the Mara Region and their…
Global Influences Project: Artist Submissions Page
…is also the lead instrument in this particular arrangement. The piano and gaara add more depth to the chorus parts and pull us away from the shakers’ high pace forcing us to lay back some more. I think the end result leans more towards dodo, at least to my ears.” We love what Stefano has done to make this track sound truly his own. If you want to see more of his work, you can follow him on… Instagram: @stefanositanne Twitter: @stefanositanne Sound…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…sion, Obasie was accompanied by a percussionist on a drum called atenus amwatonitand by Mzee Ikobulo on a traditional wind instrument made out of a plastic pipe and a gourd. They called it etuo aporutu. We were all mesmerised by the Elder’s robust yet sweet voice and unique style of performance – a perfect end to a fruitful day of recording. DAY 3 – Monday 19th February 2018 The third day of our field recordings started in Kulisiru village of Siri…
Page
…s and celebrate how music in the modern age can transcend global barriers. Alongside our partners, London record label, Abubilla Music, and Kenyan music studios, Ketebul Music, we are launching our Global Influences Project. We have curated a series of musical loops, taken from our field recordings across East Africa over the last decade, and are looking to commission several artists, producers, dancers, videographers and songwriters to show how t…
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…Uganda in 1967. The multi-rhythmic texture of the drumming, Basoga traditional yodeling and humming plus the poetic recitations can no longer be heard anywhere. As a child I heard the likes of Kamu Kasata and Ndhote singing like that and that is no more. Although I had never seen these drums, the recording spoke to me profoundly. I listened to the recording very many times and every time I listened it sounded ‘sweeter’ and attractive. I kept on a…
Day 7: Friday, February 24th, 2017 Story
…kinds from musicians to painters to dancers. Henry brought two members: Hasaan Rehani Bichuka, his lead vocalist and Juma Ubao (aka, King Makussa), his lead guitarist. Juma was nick-named King Makussa because at one time he had to play four instruments at once for a single track session at the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation. They played four songs: Tucheze Sote: Let’s play together Nani Aliyekudanganya: Who cheated you? Maselina which was King…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…we kept going back. We are very excited now to start our work in Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo on this trip but also recognize this is tip of the iceberg. We think we will be spending next 3-4 years coming back to Tanzania. The basic structure of a Singing Wells field visit is to accomplish three things: We are here to record traditional music and dance so we can preserve it and share it. In some instances, this is bittersweet as we fully recognize w…