Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…rds in the right shape – so he has a standing order throughout the area to buy any gourd that can be shaped into the horns (he is also trying to start a gourd revolution so people start using them again to store liquids and stop using plastic) The coordinator and lead female vocalist in the group is Irene Nabirye. The group is made up of 6-7 Bigwala players and drummers, plus dancers and singers. They performed four songs and then we did a magic m…
Before They Pass Away News
…pockets of the world, there are still tribes that have preserved centuries-old traditions. Singing Wells records, archives and shares some of this cultural heritage that is at risk of fading out – East Africa’s music. Not only do we want to sustain the musical heritage of East Africa, we want to promote it in today’s world. With this in mind, we’ve been following the work of British photographer Jimmy Nelson with interest, who spent four years tr…
Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…r a long time Kenyan’s have just been music consumers. In exchange for our buying other’s music, we want them to see them buying ours. Who inspires you, and who are your influences? Anyone who is doing something original inspires me. I don’t like copycats. I like music from Jazz to Hip Hop as long as it sounds original. In terms of musicians who inspire me, Fela Kuti – the King of Afrobeat – is a big inspiration. His music had a lot of good messag…
Singing Wells is on Bozza! News
…heir fans throughout Africa. The platform is available to emerging and established artists from around the continent and can be easily accessed by visiting www.bozza.mobi from mobile phones and PCs.” Thabiso Mohare, Head of Brand & Marketing…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…omington Campus of Indiana University and is open for listening from Monday-Friday: 10am-12pm then 1pm-5pm, except during the Summer when it is only open 1pm-5pm. 9. Centre de Recherche en Ethnomusicologie CREM (Research Centre for Ethnomusicology) is a French institution in Paris, which houses an extensive archive of world music; a vast and crucial resource for ethnomusicologists and PhD students. Collaborations with Government departments, other…
Archiving Guidelines News
…of the Audio Heritage: Ethics, Principles and Preservation Strategy’ (IASA-TC 03). When researching guidelines for the online archiving of sound, the term metadata is often mentioned and this is the largest part of the edition that was revised for re-publication, stressing the importance of extra information being attached to the sound file, describing the location the sound was recorded, the artist, the date, etc and other technological informat…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…the difficulties of archiving with an easily destructible medium like reel-to-reel tapes and the importance of now digitising these perishable recordings. The sound engineer who had recorded the music with Wachsmann kindly offered up the copies he had made a kept aside. Wachsmann went on to lecture at various universities and was awarded the bronze medal for “Devoted Service to Africa” from the Royal African Society in 1958. His legacy lives on a…
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…and Makadem started out doing more R&B and lots of covers. But they have re-discovered the music and styles of their tribes – it was in them all along but they did not listen. Now they listen and guess what –everyone is listening to them. James: We need to move from being a nobody – neither a American/Englishman (but trying to be one) nor a Ugandan. We need to move from being a nobody to being somebody, to understand what makes us unique. When we…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…tory of the first female drumming group in Rwanda, and how they formed a co-operative to open an ice cream shop in their town. The film tells the story of how the idea was born and how they managed to get the idea and the shop off the ground and into reality. The film is also punctuated by stories from members of the group about their experiences in the genocide. It was a great watch and the group would be one we’d be keen to work with if we ventu…
The Birara Batwa Community Story
…twa continue to be an impoverished and largely isolated community. We aim to help support the community we met by sharing their music and dance through Singing Wells. You can directly support the Birara Batwa by buying our Music of the Batwa album or by donating directly to our charity, The Abubilla Music Foundation. Buy the Music of the Batwa of Kisoro here Donate via YouTube here Donate via BelieveIn here…
Group of the Month – Watmon Cultural Group News
…recording studio in the garden. You can join us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/singingwells and on Twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/singingwells – if you do tweet any links, please use the hashtags – #gotm and #singingwells We’ll update this page with any new items we add to the site over the course of the month. Check out the featured content links below to find the Watmon Cultural Group page from our Musical Map of East Africa….
The First Singing Wells Influences Session Story
…ed us on the trip as cameraman and artist then also joined in. I quickly re-arranged the microphones and prepared headphones, so that the musicians could hear each other, and we recorded it. Thus the concept of the ‘Influence’ session was born. The recording is here for you to listen to, and to buy on the Mijikenda of Kenya album The father, Nyerere wa Konde was very gracious and offered us coconuts as a thanks for visiting and recording, which he…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…my Nairobi friends.’ In addition to our field visits, we have developed an online Music Map of East Africa that charts the tribes of the region, their music, their instruments and influences. The map also shows where we have travelled with the Singing Wells project and features audio tracks and videos of the songs and dances that we have recorded along the way. Two final words: influences and origins. When we first set out the aims for Singing Wel…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…group of young musicians and dancers. Some the best percussionists were 12-15 years old. Most of the best dancers were teenagers. You felt the next generation is passionate about the music and it is not just ‘a thing your grandparents did.’ This is really important. The key is that the traditional songs are taught to the children in the villages and then that the traditional music permiates into popular music. Northern Uganda is doing a great job…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…h the Singing wells visitors. From their savings the group have managed to buy bed sheets and source pans and have kept or reserved UGX 180.000/= which will be used or spent in future. In addition to the Batwa cultural performance activity, the group members make contracts with other local people to work for them in the fields for a better pay. Gatera group’s plan is to register their group at the sub county and have a group name which will allow…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…r is that we will be able to become professional performers and be able to buy proper costumes, more instruments and better equipment to keep authenticity. Why do you like to perform? I am a woman’s leader for a local parish and my work has now spread to four different parishes, this gives me strength and hope. Working in this group has influenced women, they now have guidance and work to earn money for themselves. It is not only a musical group b…