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…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…o on the Putumayo site, he highlights the positive change that you can see today; ‘one can hear world music in television commercials, film soundtracks and other mainstream outlets on a daily basis. 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 vi…
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…
Preserving Threatened Heritage News
…heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences.” And it is always great to hear of stories where others are attempting to do the same, especially in countries so close to our heart, such as Uganda. An article on the website of the Ugandan daily newspaper, New Vision, warns about the need to preserve ‘Bigwala’, the royal music of the Busoga region. Bigwala music is performed at ceremonies such as corona…
The Birara Batwa Community Story
…music relevant to today’s artists and audiences. We want to celebrate and promote the music heritage of East Africa in a contemporary context. We are doing this with ‘Influences’. We were staying at The Traveller’s Rest Hotel in Kisoro and the staff kindly allowed us to set up the studio under the verandah and it was there that we recorded our first ‘Influences’ session – a fusion of Batwa music from the Birara singers and contemporary music from…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences. The last five years has only re-enforced our commitment. On our first goal, we only have to remember that we were probably the last folks to record Okumu K’Orengo, one of the great Nyatiti players, before he died. On our second goal, we only have to remember Francis and Jessie playing together in Kisoro. And as we plan for our next trip to Kampala this Au…
73,603 views on YouTube News
We are celebrating today because we are really pleased that so many people are enjoying the music videos on the Singing Wells YouTube channel……73,603 views and still counting! It’s not a meaningful number in itself (like a nice round 100,000 – our next target) but it does mean more and more people are finding us and enjoying what we are all about – bringing the more traditional sounds of East Africa to an enthusiastic audience. Thanks for watchin…
The Influences Series from Singing Wells News
…a new generation of musicians and fans who might not consider it relevant today. So, we have developed the Influences series – a fusion of traditional and contemporary styles. Each time the Singing Wells team embarks on a field recording visit we are joined by a talented musician who works with us on ‘Influences’ songs. They work with us in the field and also in the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi to produce this new material. We believe our Inf…
Music of the Batwa: video playlist News
…ational Education….
Day 9 (AM): Ketebul Studio – Influences session for Cheri Story
…we worked with Mwenzele-Nyerere wa Konde Music Club on five studio songs. Today, we brought them back in to work with Stanley on his song Cheri, featuring Macadem. Here’s how the process worked today: Jaybee first worked with Stanley, Bishop and Johnnie to get the basic song structure down and put on a vocal ‘Chorus.’ Stanley wants the song to be a classic love song and the his vocals are really beautiful and sincere. We then asked Nyerere Wa Kon…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…the offending husband would kill the adulterer. Whenever the song is sung today in the villages, some audience believes the song is pointing at them, accusing them… Kirori: This is the band leader’s song and is a song in three verses about a girl he met in early days. In verse one, he tries to flatter her but she dismisses him as a little man of no consequence. In verse 2, they meet years later and our hero has a little money. He’s able to buy th…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…(our style of ‘Apiri’ in Acholi is typically only performed by the women). Today the reason there was a man playing the drums is because one of our women is sick, normally there are no men in the performance. In Gulu when I want to meet with the other women I play drums and they all come, usually in the evening. I want to push the music to it’s highest level so that we can get some sponsorship from NGOs or from the Ugandan Government. I have opene…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
Today was a tale of two halves. This is the sad second half. We left you waxing poetically about Macedonia (the band, not the place) and the way music saved dozens of lives as the village managed to survive occupation by the rebels and reoccupation by the government. We then hinted at problems. Rather than leave at 13:00 to travel to Kampala, we were forced back to Soroti with a broken wheel and only managed to hit the road again at 15:30. So we…