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 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…
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
…he only festival since 2005. Many people are performing around the country today due to those festivals. The group is very literate in music and we had a clear vision from 1990 of what we wanted to do. We are not doing badly and have a comfortable life from the performances. Some musicians who didn’t even have a bicycle not have houses. We are showing you can have a musical career. We are growing our knowledge and getting better at representing th…
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,…
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 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…
Before They Pass Away News
…weeks or months immersing himself in the tribe’s way of life. In Papua New Guinea, for example, Jimmy met with the Kalam tribe who decorate themselves with masks, wigs and plants to scare off potential enemies. In Vanuatu, he witnessed the traditional dance ceremonies that tribal people believe is crucial to gaining wealth. In Papua New Guinea’s highlands, he recorded how the Huli people shave their heads when they become a man, and continue to do…
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…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…e future. The Evolving Markets discussion looked at both the African and Indian markets and how the markets are evolving. India was a particular suprise here – in a population of 1.2 billion, 50 % are under 30 and consuming music. In Africa – 60% have electricity whereas 86% have a mobile phone. This is again another area in which the Singing Wells project may be interested in the future – mobile phones and ring back tones as a method of deliver…
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…