News Page
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…tyles and background, instruments and songs. In almost every village, we struggle with spellings of songs and instruments as these can differ by village and by band. We fully recognize that there are multiple spellings out there, but we defer to the band leader in almost all cases. During a recording session, we will also capture alternative takes; these are called: ‘Freestyle’: We work hard to give our groups the space and freedom to sing and dan…
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
…ad’s footsteps through Zanzibar, the taarab we will hear involves African drums, a Qanun (a stringed instrument played on the lap), an Oud (derived from an Egyptian lute), a violin, a flute and a Arabic style (but Swahili) lead female vocal. We also heard the Sanduku, essentially a bass guitar, but actually a single string connect between a pole and a big wooden box which gives the instruments its bass and resonance. A final note before we be…
Day Five: February 20, 2020 (DCMA) Story
…opana (guitar, kalimba (hand held thumb piano), lead singer), Heri Kombo (drums) Songs: Mwaludeja – Kirundo group started with this song they had composed. Tarajazz joined in. Nyumbani – Tarajazz started and Kirundo joined in. They improvised together. It was wonderful to see the combination of traditional instruments such as the Tanzanian drums, Kaliba, shakers and sticks along side more Western instruments such as the piano, saxophone, cajon…
What We Do Page
…d Uganda. Our long term goal is to visit each country in East Africa and research, document and record the music and dance of the major traditional music styles of each region. Click on the following links to read our field reports from each of our visits: Music of the Mijikenda – Kenya’s Coastal Region Music of the Luo – Nyanza Province, Kenya Music of the Kalenjin, Great Rift Valley, Kenya Music of the Batwa, Kisoro, Uganda Music of the northern…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…tarted playing music in 1958 and has mastered several Teso traditional instruments. Today he plays with an old friend – Mzee (Edler) Ikobulo (born 1932) and his daughters as back-vocals. Through a series of 8 songs, he showcased three major instruments: ADEUDEU – 5-strings arced harp; AGEREGERE – a one-string traditional fiddle; ACCORDION. All through the session, Obasie was accompanied by a percussionist on a drum called atenus amwatonitand by Mz…
Recording, archiving and sharing the traditional music of East Africa Page
…audiences and become a source of inspiration for new musicians. Here for Research? Click here! Whether you are a Musicologist, a student or just interested in the field, head this way to see more of our detailed field reports, group biographies and in-depth information regarding the various different instruments and styles of music we have encountered on our field trips. Here for the Music? Click here! Want to just enjoy some beautiful East Africa…
Singing Wells Stories Page
…e Luo of Kenya To learn about the instrument the Nyaiti, check out the instrument page here: Nyatiti Instrument page Jovah We met Jovah on the second day of our trip to record the music of the Batwa in South West Uganda. We travelled out of Kisoro to the village of Mperwa. The Mperwa dancers performed in their village in a lush setting in front of cultivated hillsides and the Viriunga volcano. Jovah takes a lot of pride in her music and is full of…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…Some of the children here tell us about their reasons for learning the instruments, what other instruments they are learning and how they are enjoying the process. We cannot wait to see their progress and finally watch them perform with this incredible instrument, given a new lease of life by the next generation of musicians! From Embaire to Entongooli: Part 1 For these musical scholars, their musical journey actually starts with another fascinati…
Andy Patterson Staff Profile
…oth engineering and technical duties for a wide range of clients, from the world of pop music through to film composers. He has worked with Abubilla Music for around 5 years and has co-engineered and produced all of the releases to date. His past clients have included the late Gerry Rafferty, Q Radio, Bauer Media and Live8. His role for The Singing Wells project sees him heading up the engineering team in the field. He also works on the post produ…
Aynu Traditional Group Group
…men). Spirit created a man (gboro-gboro) and a woman (meme), and then domestic livestock. Meme had wild animals in her womb so that after the gazelle had broken out all animals followed from her womb. Man was the last to come out. The first human beings are said to have been twins: Arube and O’duu. Arube was a boy while O’duu was a girl. These twins, unlike their parents Gboro-Gboro and Meme, were believed to have been ordinary human beings and tr…
Mission Page
…heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences. As a group of sound and video engineers, producers and musicians, we set out on this mission not to become ‘fossil collectors’ and store the recordings in inaccessible archives. We work with musicians to make sure their music traditions continue to be practiced, can be shared amongst the widest audiences and become a source of inspiration for new musician…
Influences songs from Singing Wells Group
…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…
Privacy Policy Page
…el this is the best way to do it. You’ll also notice that all sites are starting to do it. The directive says that functions that are essential to the site are exempt, so sites with shopping carts that remember what you have added etc. won’t have to ask you, but sites like http://www.bbc.co.uk do – and you will notice them asking you about it. The ruling was passed a few years back, and they gave a grace period which expires on the 26th May 2012…
Pius Wafula Group
…play the following instruments: LITUNGU – a 7-string traditional lyre; ISIRILI – a one-string fiddle; LUENGELE– a percussive idiophone, they use a wooden stool struck with wooden sticks; ENG’OMA – a generic term for drums, they use a plastic water container also struck with wooden sticks; CHISASI – shakers made out of gourds. We recorded five of Pius’s original compositions and were amazed with his rough yet mellow voice….
2. Naizungwe Drums – progress report 1 Story
…make many because we would like to have enough drums for training a new generation of players. However, the basic number includes: 1 large Uganda drum (played with short heavy beaters) 3 smaller drums (played with long curved sticks) 1 medium drum (played with sticks) 1 long drum (ngalabi – hand-beaten) All together, 6 drums. Therefore, we are making four sets of naizungwe drums mainly to facilitate learning.” Below is a video documenting the pro…