2. Naizungwe Drums – progress report 1 Story
…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 progress of the drums thus far. https://you…
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…d these drums emerge. I have seen how people are excited about Bigwala. We need to create opportunities for our people to believe in themselves and their values. Our history has weakened our minds and what is left is for man to eat man. No values! No identity! No humans! Just creatures moving the path of God’s gift called life and breathing the air meant for humans.” Below are excepts from Peter Cooke’s recordings of the drums that James talks abo…
Day 5: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017 Story
…Kujunga: Essentially means ‘be calm and quite, we are about to perform and need you to be quiet’ Nchakacha: A dance with the Lipiko (masked character) Tumpete Mwana: ‘Soothing the baby’ Apelambe: About a doctor who has all the medicines to heal, but the singer asks, why he couldn’t save his own wife Dede: ‘Grasshopper’ We then packed up for a drive to Dar es Salaam and a return to the Mediterraneo hotel. After a brief rest we headed to Alliance Fr…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…ing for three reasons: We had the whole day so were able to record a large number of songs and do an “Influences” session. This gave the village children time to get to know us and understand our mission. By the end they were singing along to all the songs. In addition to being a professional musician, Leo also teaches music to school children so he is a natural with kids. On all the songs that he did, he had the whole village singing and laughing…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…ts are quite central to Tanzanian dance as are acrobatic acts. We spoke to Leo about this. “Yes, we love to bring comedy to our music. If you look at most circus troupes that are touring in the world today, a huge number of the acrobats and clowns are Tanzanian.” https://youtu.be/C-4PdHne3Jc We’ll leave you here. We checked in to our hotel, the Mediterraneo Hotel, Dar es Salaam. Tomorrow we head off for Bagamoyo….
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…he lives in Kiboga which was about three hours away. She gave me his son’s number and Musisi’s and we called. I talked to him! My only thought at the time was: GET MUSISI TO KAMPALA. I could not lose another teacher. So I agreed I would send money for Musisi to meet with me. I gave him a job to teach students how to play the drums. I was so relieved to have found a drummer. He arrived in Kampala and we set out to teach. But very quickly it was cle…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…l of the kingdoms in 1966 because they were part of village life. We don’t need to rediscover the xylophone and we are fairly sure it is not on the endangered list. Contemporary Ugandan musicians are incorporating the xylophone into contemporary songs. We do need to record the best village players and make sure others can find them, but there is probably a ‘market.’ Bigwala trumpets At the other extreme, the Bigwala horns of the Busoga kingdom or…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…village. But for royal drums, our drum makers were invited to the palace to make the drums on site, next to the King.” He said that every child in his village loved to make drums and viewed it as a good trade to create pocket money. “If you ever need money as a child, you helped the drum makers and learned the craft.” Abass did this and was a casual drum maker with a friend of his. But then his father passed away and he need to start a career and…
Singing Wells Youtube Channel hits 2.5Million views News
…ng Wells pilot trip to Kenya. Seeing the generations of Nyerere’s family performing together was a special moment (his son Mr Bado is also a musician). We captured a great fusion of old and new https://youtu.be/-MU13FLg_io You also need to check out the Elgon Ngoma Troupe, performing a traditional circumcision ritual dance. Please keep following our channel – with new videos going up there’s always something exciting to discover and share. https:…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…memories and they gradually figured out how to tune them. Much like a xylophone. Learn to replay them: Musisi knew a lot of the songs, but they needed to learn each complex part for each of the six drummers. Perform live to understand how to ‘mix’: the final step is to play live and learn the right mix of instruments – the volume of each drummer, when to come in, when to be silent. In many ways, this was what we did during our field visit in Nove…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…yans and how they can support the music of their village with our help. We need to think about corporates and get them off the popular big number kick they are on and get them to work on authentic things. You guys can get better and better at producing videos, but until we make this bigger and more sustainable, the project is always one heart attack a way from stopping. But let me end simply – this is amazing and keep it going. But let’s all start…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…in active music. The era of 78 rpm discs and His Master’s Voice (HMV) gramophones had been ushered in by European producers when Kenya’s first recording studio was set up in 1947. This is the magical year in which pioneer guitarist, Fundi Konde, who was a member of the Entertainment Unit during the Second World War reportedly played Kenya’s first electric guitar. European recording companies were to hold a monopoly over the East African music indu…
The Return of Bigwala News
…ceiving help from UNESCO, on their List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding, to preserve the instrument. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ai9y5pkl6E According to Atlas Obscura, this support has allowed the seeds of this unique gourd, which were thought to have been lost, to be rediscovered and grown. Now over 100 students have been trained in building the instruments, and have played at two royal celebrations. There seem…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…o 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 there is always the issue of cables – we try to make sure that the lead vocalist is in f…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…a) – we did this twice, once with and one without the ladies humming (they needed to hum to get the beat right). Kangema Urban Women Group The group is led by Jacinta Njoki Mwangi and formed in 2006. The group plays in thee Gitiro style – the dance performed by women during ruracio, a dowry payment occasion. Gitiro: led by Jacinta Njoki. Ndumo (ya iritu): led by Jacinta and Mary Njoki. Kibuthi: led by Jacinta Njoki. Kangema Mwomboko Dancers The gr…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…dle players and 2 thumb pianos. They also have the traditional Ugandan Xylophone. All instrumentalists also sing and are supported by three ladies who sing and dance. The three core members are: Walusimbi Nsibambi Haruna: He the Founding Director of Nile 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: Sh…