Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…song first talks about the girl reaching the age where she needs to be hidden from men (roughly 15-17), protected in a hut, where she is instructed on how to be a wife, a mother and member of the village. In the dance, the ‘hidden girl’ is hidden under the blanket next to the woman. She is kept in the dark in a village hut from 6 months to 3-4 years depending on marriage prospects and her family’s ability to raise funds for the ‘coming out’ celeb…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…village performances as they have been traditionally performed. This includes the background noises of ‘chicken and children.’ Generally we become surrounded by village children by the end of each field session and we celebrate that their voices create a lovely background in our recordings. We are also here to try to bring this music to new artists and audiences, to show how it can inspire and inform more contemporary artists. This is why we alwa…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…yths, the dances, and the songs that define us. If you lose that sense of identity how can you know where you’re going as a society? If you don’t know your roots, how do you know who you are? This matter has concerned a circle of my friends deeply since around 2003 and we’ve all tried to deal with it. I have a circle I talk to all the time about this, including Julius Kyakuwa, Centurio Balikoowa, Haruna Walusimbi, Sarah Mukyala and Cornelius Mwima…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…da. Tomorrow we head back to Nairobi to record in the Ketebul Studios: we identified a whole set of extraordinary musicians from our 2013 visit to Uganda and have invited them back to do studio recordings. But today, we focused on two things: 1) Discussing in detail some of our observations from our time exploring the royal instruments of the kingdoms of Uganda 2) Recording again Albert Ssempeke’s Buganda Music Ensemble. Given that we first decide…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…g. Musisi is looking for more drummers and the ones we talked to today are desperate to find others that played with them. Richard Ssewannyana We first travelled about an hour from Mukono to the village of Bamusuta B Kizimula to meet with Richard Ssewannyana. As we believe Musisi is the ‘last surviving’ royal drummer, we believe Richard is the last surviving royal flutist. Please, let’s be wrong here. We first interviewed Richard: “I am Richard Ss…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…The Endeesi: meaning ‘the starter of the song’ Endumirizi: meaning ‘the loudest of the group’ The drums This group had five drums and they were: The Engoma’nene: the big drum The Enduumi: the middle drum The Ngiringidi: the smaller drum, so named because the name sounds like the drumbeat The Engaabe: the long drum with a lizard-skin playing surface The Endyaanga Namaganda: the short drum with a lizard-skin playing surface, and the bass drum The xy…
Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…ed that the soldiers had broken into the palace and were in the Queen’s gardens. The King asked him to go out and report any news. He came back 10 minutes later and said the soldiers were now far closer having broken into new rooms closer to where we were. The King asked him to go out again and find any other news. The man didn’t return and the King told me that meant he was killed and we must run. Soldiers were everywhere. He grabbed me and we ra…
The Return of Bigwala News
…e 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 tapestry of Uganda’s cultural history. Sources: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ugandan-music-bigwalahttps://ich.unesco.org/en/news/uganda-young-ugandans-mobilized-for-safeguarding-bigwala-music-and-dance…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…l far and build connections, to collate documents and present available evidence relating to the roots of popular Kenyan music. Many historians and musicologists agree that the cradle of the Benga genre of Kenya popular music is Nyanza province in western Kenya. This region is home to the fishing community of Luo-speaking people, many of whom live around Lake Victoria—known locally as Nyanza. Lake Victoria straddles the three East African countrie…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…ion between the music of their villages and modern music. These were the founders of Benga, the African Twist, ‘Luhya Omutibo’ and the ‘Yoodle sound’ and represent the Luo, Luhya and Kikuyu ethnic communities. We dedicated six days of studio time at Ketebul Music to record a set of legendary musical artists – all of them in their late 60’s-70’s, all of them critical to Kenyan music history. These artists were: Ochieng’ Nelly Mengo Ochieng’ Nelly w…
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
…. Nzembanie na ivinda (Chasing After Time). This song talks about the President’s call to stop corruption. The call to chase after time comes from the society that won’t condone these malpractices. Kaniini Kaseo The group is led by Mumbi Wambua, in Kyolo style. The group is also from Kamba ethnic community (ukambani wa kitui) and also from the village of Kiongwe. They have 16 members and were formed in 1980. They performed 3 songs, all of which us…
Kenya’s Amazing Musical Instruments News
…broad range of fascinating musical instruments played with impressive confidence and mastery by the communities that created them. Since many of these instruments are all but unknown outside certain Kenyan ethnic groups, we wanted to share what we’ve learned about a few of the most interesting and unique. You can read more about the trips on which we encountered these instruments, and some of the stories behind them, in our field reports. Lungo an…
Interview: fusion band Ndoto Afrika News
…her’s salt from time to time. Why is the group called Ndoto Afrika? We represent a dream. A dream every African youth aspires to achieve. We represent the African Dream. Ndoto means ‘dream’ in Swahili, a local African language and Afrika is the Swahili way of spelling Africa. Why are you interested in branching from purely urban music to a traditional/ urban mix? The love for our motherland. There is a popular saying that ‘others call it the ‘Dark…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…champions with them twice and have gotten real support. They now have confidence and skills and an ‘act’ that is great. Their style of music is amazing – they play drumming music on the slabs – they bring the percussion directly on to the instrument. This makes the tone so rich and it is far richer than the skin sound of a drum. The drum sound of the slab, with the hole underneath is actually unique in the world of percussion. They are not limited…
Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…of made up of some seriously hip outlets. The main purpose of my trip, besides hanging out with the team and trying to absorb some of their street cred, was to chat to the main man: Mr Tabu Osusa. Sitting across from me in his office in his bright yellow patterned t-shirt and flat cap he looked laid back as he sipped his cool beverage. His easy smile broke every time I said something that amused him. Here’s our interview: Who are the most exciting…