Group of the Month – Otacho Young Stars News
…of a new manager to a sugar plantation. The irony being that they are thanking him, just for doing his job properly. This was one of the songs the group re-recorded at Ketebul studios – re-named Mr Manager and available on YouTube here: You can find links to the field reports below – along with a link to the group page for the Otacho Young Stars. We’ll be posting clips and recordings of the group on the Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages over the…
The Beat of Kenya News
…l African musical instruments and during her research she had come across Singing Wells. We were able to provide Andrea with some information about the instruments and, importantly, some photos and videos of the instruments being played, which are from our field trip to Western Kenya in November 2011. The instruments now on display at the Manitoba Museum were donated to the museum in 2011 by a Canadian who had worked in Maseno, Kenya in the late 1…
Listen to more ‘Influences’ tracks from Singing Wells News
A selection of tracks recording for the Singing Wells Influences series – a fusion of contemporary and traditional music from East Africa. Influences songs This track features Jovah Nyiramajoro performing with Jesse Bukindu at Ketebul Music Studios. We discovered Jovah on the Singing Wells field trio to Uganda in November 2011. She is from the Mperwa Batwa community, a small settlement of families just outside Kisoro. Read our report from the tri…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…The story of how Singing Wells started…. After two years of planning, the Singing Wells project was launched in March 2011 with our first field visit to Malindi to record the music of the Mijikenda. So, how did Tabu Osusa, one of Kenya’s most successful record producers end up in a remote Kenyan village, teamed with me, an American businessman, and a sound engineer from Gateshead? The Singing Wells project is a result of a chance meeting between t…
Meet our ‘Influences’ artists News
The Influences series from Singing Wells involves contemporary East African musicians collaborating with the groups and artists we discover during our field recording visits. The result is a unique fusion of contemporary and traditional themes. Here we introduce the artists who have created Influences songs for Singing Wells…… Winyo Shiphton Onyango adopted his artistic name ‘Winyo’, which is a Luo word (a tribe from the Lake Victoria region of W…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…nd share, which is exactly what we want in order to carry on building the Singing Wells community. Rosie has made some ‘how-to’ guides on how to add to a map yourself which you can access easily on our website too, in a few steps, ‘Housekeeping’, ‘The Map Outline’, ‘Prepare Your Data’. I met with Rosie to talk about her experience using the map for the benefit of Singing Wells. How did you discover the mapping software? I am currently reading medi…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
You might remember back in November 2011, while the Singing Wells team discovered the Music of the Luo, they recorded the beautiful sound of the nyatiti, eventually purchasing one for our studio back home! There’s one on the right. On Day 11 of that field trip in Siaya, Kenya, they saw two nyatiti groups, first The Joginda Boys, featuring Oganda Joginda. Watch and listen: The second nyatiti group featured Okumu K’Orengo, another fantastic player…
Lango Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…ld visit to Northern Uganda we will come across a mix of different tribes, including the Lango peoples. Location: Northern central region or the “Lango sub-region” as demonstrated on the map. Population: about 1.5 million people Language: They speak Leb-Lango, a language similar to those of the Acholi and the Alur. They are part of the Luo group or “Western Nilotic Group”, and so all of the languages in this area are fairly similar to unders…
Alur Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…s a mix of different tribes, including The Alur. Location: The Alur live mainly in the Nebbi, Zombo and Arua districts in Uganda, but also reside in the Congo. They are part of the Luo group. Population: 460,000 History: Alur society has adopted a socio-hierarchical system of politically independent chiefdoms, which was one of the only sytems that was unaffected by the Ugandan ban on traditional monarchies in 1966. Language: Part of the Western Ni…
Singing Wells – Origins News
…The story of how Singing Wells started…. After two years of planning, the Singing Wells project was launched in March 2011 with our first field visit to Malindi to record the music of the Mijikenda. So, how did Tabu Osusa, one of Kenya’s most successful record producers end up in a remote Kenyan village, teamed with me, an American businessman, and a sound engineer from Gateshead? The Singing Wells project is a result of a chance meeting between t…
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…s and naturally join in when others are singing. There isn’t any formal training in tribal music. It is mother to child.” Tabu goes on to describe the role of tribal music,” Their music is a ‘way of life’. They use music for communication, passing on information and entertainment. Music is always present when there is a birth, a death, a wedding or other ceremony. Each tribe will have unique stories to tell of their history, of war, of famine etc…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…s an interesting one, for different reasons. We took another route back, joining the main road between Kampala and Kisoro. The road is a good one under normal conditions but was currently being resurfaced. In many places it had been completely dug up and was a mix of loose stones and soil. And it was raining heavily again. Water and mud was gushing at speed down the hillside onto the road. At times we were negotiating a small, fast flowing river….
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…lked about the Batwa and how much we loved the singers. We thought about bringing them to Nairobi sometime in the future. We then decided the future is now and called Henry Neza to see if he would be willing to travel with a selection of singers to Nairobi. We told him if he left immediately he would probably make it back to Nairobi at the same time we did. We called him on Monday the 28th of November, hoping he could make it to Nairobi by the 2nd…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…turing Oganda Joginda, in the Nyatiti Style (most styles are named after main instrument) This was wonderful Nyatiti music, with Organda Joginda at the heart, playing ‘bass’ with the Nyatiti and percussion with his leg ‘snares’ and the kick drum with his big toe (with a metal ring on it) banging on the bottom of the Nyatiti. The rest of the band added claps, dancing and wonderful backing vocals. We took a while to set up and the band took a nice b…
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…ces’ sessions with Francis, but we love this one, with Jessie and Francis singing together in the gardens of the Traveller’s Rest hotel in Kisoro. Please listen before reading the blog: https://youtu.be/c1XBVlNQL6E We also recorded a beautiful version of Amahoro with Jessie, Francis and the ladies. Francis and the ladies are happy to pose for a series of formal photos (each woman with her baby either cradled or on her back). Tabu and one of our…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…s tribal music in her documentary. She was also impressed by how well the Singing Wells group worked together, especially when it rained and we had to pack up fast! An interview with Jackie Lebo Jackie works alongside Chela at the Content House Education Trust on the documentary about Kenyan runners. Her book ‘Running’ has been published by the Kwani Trust. Jackie is currently awaiting publication in the UK. She spent six year researching and…