Day 5: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017 Story
…ars. They had unique drums, including small drums with wooden spikes on bottom to be embedded in sand, called the Siganga. They also had a pair of drums called the Likuti and a long drum called the Msondo, and a very long thin drum called a Neya. Here’s the set: In the dance they had a character in a mask called a Lipiko, who wore a vest called a Mjuga. They played five songs: Malala Kujunga: Essentially means ‘be calm and quite, we are about to p…
Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…as one of my heroes from as long as I can remember. He always played with 10-12 drums and I couldn’t believe the sound he created. I started to play this style of drumming in 1982, starting with plastic jugs and then I formed my first group. I then followed the beat tradition of Vanga that came from my tribe. We rehearse twice a week and play in wedding and other ceremonies. We are also training young kids in our style but we are very worried t…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…only is he keeping the beat, but he’s also carrying a melody. And he uses 10-12 drums, sometimes more. This is not normal. Every drum was a note for him. He picked the skins for the drums and made them himself, finding in each the perfect tone. I have studied his music over years and I still can’t believe what he could do.” In Dar es Salaam we talked to Daudi Fernando Joseph, drummer for the Umoja Wa Kusini dance troupe about how Mzee Morris inspi…
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…side their book ‘Shades of Benga: The Story of Popular Music in Kenya 1946 -2016’. You can watch the latest episode below, and also find out more at their website here. Shades of Benga: The Story of Popular Music in Kenya delves into the foundations of modern Kenyan music, examining external influences from the English waltz to Afro Cuban Rumba and how they helped mould new music styles across Africa. Rumba was brought to Eastern Africa via the…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…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. We all understand that without intervention, somehow, all this music – all this culture will die. But we also know that the issue will always be resources: how do we bring new resources…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…ad rich musical lives, to become artists, to use the palace as a stepping stone to develop their art further. They were brought into these palaces as young boys, and all they did was play music. In most cases they received no other education and in most cases they played until they could play no more and their ‘retirement pension’ was the salaries of the sons or grandsons they were able to train and bring into the palaces. Their musical lives were…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…e proven wrong. 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…
The Revival of Ohangla Music! News
…TtU…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…ummers do), but you can’t pitch lower without going back to the drum maker to re-tighten the skins. Abass makes beautiful drums and he is very generous with his time. He educated us for almost two hours during a very busy day in his shop. We are proud that we have his drums as part of our royal drums. We asked him if the royal drums used in the palace pre-1966 would have been made in his village. He responded, “They would all have been made by peo…
Support for the Elgon Ngoma Troupe News
…gon Ngoma troupe is, and their mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Wk0YnbByk&fbclid=IwAR27BBeDBEx-5jMqkKxFTL9vtS5NxBwun0psDF9hCNmfQe0PQodki2Cns3U…
Singing Wells Youtube Channel hits 2.5Million views News
…of the highlights from our channel. First place on the view count – at 272,000 views, goes to our awesome session with Otieno Aloka in his Luo village. Performing with a traditional band, this video of the famous singer of ‘Kanungo Eteko’ is a great example of the Singing Wells project in action; a modern artist connecting to his musical heritage as he plays the traditional orutu, whilst also inflecting it with his own contemporary style. https://…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…dying on the proverbial vine. James Isabirye found James Lugolole around 2005 and set out to restore the tradition. They formed a new group, which we recorded in 2013, and they re-discovered the gourd seeds and started coordinating farmers to grow the next generation of trumpets. There are now four trumpet groups and about 20 trumpets, with many more growing in the fields in different parts of Busoga. Everything about the Bigwala model has become…
Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…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 ran through several palace gates and came into one of his Throne Rooms (there were several). There were a lot of us, around the King and in the ro…
The Return of Bigwala News
…ch 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 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…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…rn how to play the drums, learned to tune the drums and ultimately learned to play new music. Over the course of their studies, the new drum students (most of whom are actually highly accomplished drummers and professors of music) starting calling Musisi ‘The Professor.’ Left: James, Right: Musisi And that is why we found ourselves under beautiful trees on the campus, facing the 15 drums and six drummers of an Entenga ensemble. We used our time to…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…emble’ (1968) and ‘Essays for a humanist: an offering to Klaus Wachsmann’ (New York, 1977, pp.1-57), are available at SOAS and at the British Library . But, with few exceptions, this music largely died when the Buganda palace was attacked and destroyed on May 23-24, 1966. The king fled, the musicians were disbanded, the drums destroyed. And the Entenge were considered dead. That is how we felt in 2013 when we considered reviving the drums. But we…