FAQ’s Page
…a group or a whole field recording day during our next field visit in East Africa. Or you could sponsor one of our annual CD/DVD collections. Either way, we guarantee that your money will be spent on the ground in Africa. (Note: representatives of Abubilla Music who work on the project are either volunteers or are personally funded. No third party donor money is used to support their expenses). Who owns the Singing Wells recordings? The ownership…
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…or Singing Wells, a field visit is when we visit a specific region of East Africa and record musical groups in villages. On average, we do one field visit a year, recording roughly 20-25 groups, and a 100-125 performances. We have roughly 1,000 videos online. Our general setup for a recording is: a) Steve is in charge of audio and we typically have two general mics for the group and 5-6 specific microphones for singers and musicians, b) we have th…
Day 5: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017 Story
…audience of his supporters. A dance troupe danced in the Segere style for many of the songs. This is a Tanzanian style from the south. Here’s Leo performing:…
Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…e. Afrika: This is a beautiful song about the continent. The Singer asks, “Africa, why are you so dirty, so filthy, with broken roads and cities, with corrupt governments and failed states?” Africa answers, “It is not me, it is the humans that run the place. I give you beauty and riches but you turn it to filth and chaos.” Mirrors: This is a song from the Mirror’s Album, with Sophie on lead vocals and Elliot on guitar. We worked on a new ‘live ver…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…but also a shout of concern: are the great traditional instruments of East Africa and the amazing musicians that play them in danger of being lost? And so we travel in our first hour of our first day in Tanzania to the home Mzee Morris’s son – a compound in the suburbs of Dar es Salaam. Here’s the son: We are greeted by the music of the Nyunyusa Dancing Troupe, which included two of Mzee Morris’s grandsons, Abdala Nyunyusa Morris on vocals and…
Fundraiser for Matthew Watmon News
…hat some of our followers may be able to help us. If you are based in East Africa, please get in touch with Matthew’s brother, Constantine Odida ((MTN) +256-782-236-742 and (Airtel) +256-704-261-037). If you are based elsewhere in the world, we have created a GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mathew-watmon The donors of Abubilla Music Foundation, who support the Singing Wells project, will match these contributions up to £1000 so w…
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…altz to Afro Cuban Rumba and how they helped mould new music styles across Africa. Rumba was brought to Eastern Africa via the itinerant Congolese musicians Edouard Masengo and Jean Bosco Mwenda who’s intricate guitar-picking styles largely shaped the present Kenyan sound, with the Benga playing a dominant role. Currently, you can get advance copies from Ketebul Music Studios or place your order by contacting them directly. #shadesofbenga #legenda…
Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
…k 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 bring more songs and stories to the world. Ke…
Singing Wells Youtube Channel hits 2.5Million views News
…vering, recording, archiving and celebrating the traditional music of East Africa, and its an amazing reward to see the impact our work is having. We want to take this opportunity to thank you all for supporting us over the last few years, and for creating such a thriving community in the comments below. As we build towards our ten year anniversary in 2021, we are thrilled to know that we have the support of such an engaged audience. Here’s a few…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…ked to Congolese rumba and West African highlife, but differs sharply from South African kwela, taarab, chakacha and kidumbaak; the most well-known Swahili music forms from the coastal strip of East Africa. The peculiarity of the Benga beat comes from the combination of a sharp lead guitar overriding the rhythm and bass. The pace of the guitars, with a steady rise to a climax or crescendo and an equally quick refrain, together with the arrangement…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…o Obuyanzi Kali Munda Olubo Mary Queen John Nzanze One of the founders of “African Twist”, John enjoyed a major hit with ‘Angelique Twist’ in 1961. Born in 1940, he started playing his father’s guitar at 12. His band, Air Fiesta Matata, achieved fame, having come in third in the 1968 All African Music Festival in Algeria, and this led to introductions to Miles Davis and a tour of the USA. Angelique Twist Twist ni Nzuri Tama Amina Makashi ya Mrembo…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…ul with the typical brick structure, light blue paint and the red earth of Africa bleeding up the walls. The market itself was nestled below a lovely hill of green, which stood 500 meters above us, stuck into the blue skies. We were here to record 4 separate women groups of the Kamba ethnic community, from the same villiage of Kiongwe, each of which would do 3-4 performances. Most of the groups performed with a Ileve (tin shaker) and Vilingi (tin…
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…sic. “Many people think that the only place where you can find really good African music is in West Africa”, he says. “We can say to people, hey, it’s not all about Kilimanjaro and the national parks. We also have cool music.” We wish them all the best, and hope one day to take a trip to Tanzania for a few recording sessions of our own! Check out the Tanzania Heritage Project here. Here too are a few YouTube videos of their catchy music: Mziki wa…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…ad written song inspired from her time with us about hearing the sounds of African music. Last night, she and Andy played together, with Andy working out a guitar part. So first, we recorded the two of them. Then, we decided that if she was writing about hearing the sounds of African music, she should hear the sounds. So James worked with Jovah on a beautiful line, where she sang about the Batwa people being driven from the parks. Then Passy worke…
Kenya’s Amazing Musical Instruments News
…and played by two more sticks. Of course there are so many more amazing instruments that we’ve recorded, and more still to find. To learn more about East Africa’s traditional musical instruments, have a look at our instruments page here….
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…Beat Artists. Walusimbi was once the Global Youth Earth Day Ambassador for Africa after winning the Global Youth Earth Day Ambassadors Competition in Marikina-Philipines. Nabayaza Sumaya Baiga: She is a senior member of Nile Beat Artists and is vice president of the cultural association in my university. During her school life she was best dancer in 2007 and 2010 in high school, and best dancer in her university in 2010 and 2011. Musoke Meddy: He…