Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…time at the palace. In terms of the music, we recorded the following songs today: Ganga Alula Omusango gw’abalere Mubandusa Ekyuuma kya Bboola Veneneka Olugambo olubuulire Sekanyolya The Drummers In terms of the moment, let’s stress a few things: These drums are magnificent. They are actually 15 drums, 12 of which are tuned to the notes of a xylophone and thus we are hearing a full song – percussion, bass, rhythms and melodies across the six playe…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…) in Nairobi and Melodica on the busy Tom Mboya Street. Although depressed today by technological advances that 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 ser…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…what worked with audiences and he evolved the song to something he loved. Today, artists go to the studio first – giving birth too early to a work of art. We recorded eight songs with him: Oyango Bwana Ogilo Osare Charles Komora Jaka Beka Okech Maskini Yuni Nyaimbo Jo Seme Wanganangu And Mukonya His full name is Walioshamiri-Mzee Wanganangu and he is a famous Kikuyu accordion player, who played in clubs like the Roasters in Nairobi in the 70’s. T…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…Video 1’s location. This is a balance. We want to give the groups complete freedom to perform as they would normally do, without our intervention. But we also need a good recording – and too often the groups will stray far off camera and far away from the mics. Or, as often can happen, the leader will plant him or herself directly in front of Video 1, meaning we don’t get a take of the groups. Finally, we use lapel mics on the lead singers so ther…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…ls and that we hope will be useful to others setting up a similar project. Today we focus on roles/responsibilities of the core team. On arrival at the site, we divide into three teams: Interview Team This team is typically Tabu Osusa, who acts as the on-site Singing Wells representative, formally meeting the band and handling all their questions about the project and their role in it. Tabu is typically joined by our local music expert, in this ca…
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…to Rebecca Corey, who started the project in 2010 and still coordinates it today. “They started phasing out all foreign music from the local stations” in the 1960s, she told us. “So to fill up that airtime they would send out recording safaris to various rural villages to record these ngoma dances and drumming sessions.” This traditional village music was combined by state-funded bands with the Cuban-flavored rhumba coming in from the Congo. The r…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…hank them now for their patience with us. It is also important to say that today will be more unstructured. We have one formal new group, which we’ll describe below, but we have also invited artists from two of our trips to join us and create new music. For part of the session we were joined by Brad Gibbs from The Mara Group, who had sponsored part of this trip and wanted to see how things were going. Brad was joined by a colleague, Nicolas Farah,…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…teresting near collisions. Throughout our recording and driving in Kampala today we were surrounded by limping groups of marathoners in bright yellow shirts. The Recording Site We packed and drove east, just outside Kampala to the Kyambogo University, where James teaches. It was a beautiful gated campus, very quiet, big trees, lovely red dirt paths – it seemed to be a preserve for the lovely Ugandan greens and reds we’ve grown to love. Students wa…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…o is very bitter because her mother will not let her play with her friends freely. The mother explains to her that she was barren but the spirits helped her to conceive. The spirits set the condition, however: that she should never play in the rain. Amagombe: This is a song about the death of the leader’s father. He wrote it after his father’s death. 95% of the song is about what his father told him before he died. Ebibira: This song talks about t…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…casional monkey. The staff has been warm and helpful and offered the hotel today as our recording studio. We have been able to set up the computers in the kitchen of one of our cottage rooms and have the groups either perform on our dining patio or our porch. We had three groups today and the drivers were sent out to round them up from the surrounding areas. The Bigwala Cultural Group One of this group’s primary purposes is to restore the Bigwala,…
Before They Pass Away News
…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 travelling to meet and photograph some of the world’s last surviving tribes. His book, Before They Pass Away, is a fascinating insight into these communities’ ways of life. Nelson’s breathtaking photographs capture how these…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…trying to set up (and stay standing up). We were here to record two groups today. The Kidinda Cultural Group Our first group was the Kidinda Cultural Group, which were 8 men who collectively played the Amadinda, a 22 key wooden xylophone. There total group size is 15. The musical style is Kadinda. The group lead is Waswa Hood and he started playing when he was 17. There were two other original members: Kiwuwa Buruhan and Sulayiman Sserubiri. The g…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…great to see our old friends at the hotel. We had a quick dinner and a few free drinks (we had charmed some flight attendants on the plane to contribute to Singing Wells with a few whiskeys). Most of us then went to bed for the night, deciding to have one final evening free of our London friends. Patrick, however, woke up in time to be a ‘greeting party’ to the London arrivals. Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team Representing the AMF are J…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…. A hit world music album that may have previously sold only 15,000 copies today can sell hundreds of thousands of copies.’ Putumayo is living proof of this, as they have sold over 20 million CDs since it began, showing world music can be commercially viable – people want to hear it! Putumayo also has a smart business model. They have created a strong, unique brand identity; Nicola Heindl’s vibrant, folky art beautifully adorns their CDs covers, t…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…us the opportunity to listen to the many exceptional musicians he recorded today. In this series we are able to present many of the foremost musicians of the 20th century from this part of Africa — and that is a gift. It is especially a gift to the peoples involved, for the legacy as played by their forebears belongs to them.” ILAM has reissued, without modifications, on CD, Tracey’s Music of Africa Series Several albums can be bought on iTunes Kl…
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…y wanted what is best for me, but this is part of a larger problem we have today. I’ve taught for 20 years now and my concern is that our entire system is training us to be like a white person from England or America, not to be Ugandan. The English and Americans don’t want to know me because I am like them – they know I am not. They want to know me because I am Ugandan, because I am different. And yet that is not what we teach. Tabu: Exactly. Rath…