The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…olars to see how they are doing with their learning. In this video and the last, we look at the process of preparing the base of the Entongooli. Here we see how the strings are turned from strips of cow skin, to tightly wound and stretched strings, used to secure the two skins onto the entongooli base for stretching and drying. This is the last part of the process before the threads are used to tune the Entongooli base. Stringing it Together In th…
Page
…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 this “traditional” music is still relevant into today’s modern world. Below you will find links to the musical loops we have selected that are available to download for the project, If you are interested in joining the Global Influences Project, you can…
Uganda: music of the Batwa Gallery
…record the performances of six Batwa communities from the district of Kisoro – Birara, Mpwera, Kanyabukunga, Micyingo, Gatera and Kabahenda….
Kithara Group
…ter that due to noise. We hope to have this group come to the hotel on our last recording day. We felt bad that they only were able to perform one song but they took it graciously. Performers: Rajab Suleiman (qanun and director), Mohammed Hassan (accordian), Fum Faki (bongo and tabla), Tatu Khamis Haji (singer) Songs: Chungu – means Pot, composed by Said Ali 10 years ago Usikhofu – means “Don’t Worry” Composed by Rajab 8 years ago Pendo Langu Ledh…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…In Nabongo location of Mumias sub-county (Kakamega County), we met Mumias United Group led by Francisca Oduor. Established in 1997, Mumias United is a folk group that presents traditional music and dances of the Wanga. The Wanga (AbaWanga) are a sub-group of the Luhya people famous for their historical Kingdom. The Wanga Kingdom was the most highly developed and centralised kingdom in Kenya’s history before the arrival of the British and the colo…
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…ode 2 of their online series Shades of Benga Online, to go alongside 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 st…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 2 – Flutes Story
…e full circle. We are back with Albert Ssempeke. His father was one of the last royal flutists of the Buganda kingdom, and Albert has dedicated his life to rediscovering Buganda music through his Buganda Music Ensemble. We first met Albert in 2013, when we recorded his Ensemble playing various Buganda string-instruments. During that recording, James Isabirye, Tabu, Albert and I committed to restoring the Buganda Royal Drums. Left: Richard Sewanyan…
Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
We are so excited to see that our hard work is paying off – in the last few months we have almost doubled our views on our Youtube channel and are now approaching 5 million total views across our videos. When we started Singing Wells almost ten years ago, we set an aim to bring the traditional music of East Africa to a wider audience. It amazing to see the Youtube algorithm agreeing that this is a project worth showing people! We can’t wait to b…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…ied. But in 2015 James discovered the sixty-something Musisi, possibly the last surviving drummer. Musisi was just a teenager at the time of attack and barely survived the night of the attack itself (more on this here). James met him and realised that together they could begin to build the drums. Working closely with Albert and Shaban, a professional drummer who now leads the new band, they built a new set of Royal Drums, recruited a team of passi…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…es endless adjustments of the ropes that tie down the drum skins. But on a minute by minute basis, the drummers are fine tuning through a combination of water on the skins and massive hits with their fists to stretch the skins. There are six players, each of whom has a different formal name and role in creating the music. Now, I really hope you can look at the picture of the drums. In all cases, our references are from the listeners’, not the play…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…at have significantly stunted music sales by making reproduction quick and cheap for music pirates, Melodica remains in operation stocking numerous “zilizopendwa” golden oldies. Melodica’s precursor was known as Bonanza Music Store located on Luthuli Avenue. Founded by Mzee Daudia in 1963, the name was inspired by the American cowboy TV series of the time and it quickly became a Benga musician’s Mecca. The shop moved to its present location on Tom…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
…children from the trip! We packed for a final time and departed for Nairobi. We made pretty good time to Ketebul music, where we unloaded our gear. Then we headed for the Fairview, a 20 minute drive that took about 90 minutes due to traffic! We all crashed early knowing we had almost a week in the studio starting tomorrow morning!…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…e. But this can create two separate issues. Our cameras can only record 12 minutes of video at a time and our viewers don’t click as much on very long songs posted on you tube. Assuming that the full story of the song can be told, we work hard to keep performances around 4 minutes in length. Song Start Finally, ‘Mr Clapperboard’s’ job (Nick’s) is to ensure that all audio and video instruments are running and then he announces the song/take and cla…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…o Ndongomothi Kariara Rumba Jeki Magic Moment: The group then focused on a minute of Wendire Mugunda Ndaiga Muchiri Ndaiga Muchiri was a founding member of Kangema Mwomboko Dancers. He started singing in 1943 and loves to entertain. He is a Kikuyu and plays Mwomboko wa 40’s style. Mwomboko: a traditional song where he plays the Karing’aring’a (the ring) We then lugged our equipment up the hill. We were extremely embarrassed to find ourselves chatt…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…remaining entenga players from the Buganda Palace, whom we met during our last trip in December 2015. Musisi is now working with James at Kyambogo to implement our entenga restoration scheme to preserve and promote this traditional instrument for future generations. Students practice entenga drum-chime at Kyambogo in 1968 (Musisi is furthest from the camera) Peter’s research into African music is extensive. “It all began in 1964, a few weeks befo…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…liasa Magic Moment: We loved the xylophone and asked the group to replay a minute of Obwiire Bukyeire, with only the xylophone. We asked Vicki to climb in next to the bass notes, so she could get a perfect view of the players. Obwavu: This was a song about Poverty Nalufuka, followed by dance. This was spectacular with what looked like a dance off between the ‘male dancers’ standing in the back of the band and the xylophone players, urging them on…