Day 1 – Saturday 1st July 2017 Story
…later facilitate following the instrument makers narratives and allow for comparison. Other pertinent information provided by Rapasa during our drive to Kisumu included the types of trees used for nyatiti (with vernacular terms), the symbolism behind nyatiti’s shape (resembles the traditional Luo hut shape), symbolism of the number (8) of strings of the nyatiti, his tuning techniques and order of string tuning, together with the story of his pers…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…e look at how to shape these trees to create and tune each note on the Xylophone. From Embaire to Entongooli: Part 2 In this video, we continue to learn about the process of building the Embaire, also known as the xylophone, to help educate our young music scholars about music, melody and instrument building. We are shown how they finish off their Embaire and then talk to some young students about what they have learned. What is clear from our tri…
2. Naizungwe Drums – progress report 1 Story
…adds up. Why are we making 24 drums? James answers: “The set we are making comprises 24 drums of big, small, medium and small sizes. We decided to 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)…
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…rg/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Peter-Cooke-naizungwe-recording-1.mp3 http://www.singingwells.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Peter-Cooke-naizungwe-recording-2.mp3 What makes this project particularly exciting, is the difference of approach required compared to the entenga drums. With the entenga we found a surviving old master player (Musisi) who was able to teach a younger generation of musicians about the music and the performances. In the case of…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…2 songs, including Magic Moments and Influences Sessions: Zakulola: You’ve come to see us play Wake Kwa Ume: Female to male Nataka kusema kasi naogopa: I would like to say something but I am afraid Umpati Ng’o: You’re never going to get them Magic Moment 1 Utalikologa Utalinywa: If you mix it, you’ll drink it. Tueheze Zembwela (local dialect) Bonanza Nataka Kusema: Includes a song with Leo, which is ‘I want to say’ Utalikologa Utalinywa: If you mi…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…Breath-taking. This form of performance is new to us (but, of course not to Tanzanians) and we’ve not seen it in Kenya or Uganda. In fact, ‘clown’ acts 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 le…
A Report by Professor James Isabirye – Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion News
…raditional East african music and instruments. We know that generations to come will be grateful for the work he has put in to continue these traditions. He has also written a report analysing how indigenous learning can inform modern schooling, in which Singing Well’s gets a featured mention as collaborators within his project. You can read more about that here: https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/XGBCQ8EJIVZXHMMGUZ2V/full James Isabirye is a lec…
Fundraiser for Matthew Watmon News
…s 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 we greatly appreciate you…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…rted to practice. We didn’t have drums at first, we just worked on the xylophone that uses much of the same structure. And over time the professor, Musisi, and the students gradually developed a great relationship and are so committed to each other. Then I had to order the drums. I ordered them from Mpambire, a village where all great drums are made. We sent Albert Ssempeke and Musisi out to pick the drums and tune them. We brought in Peter Gaira,…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…usic will be lost. But I also know if you play the music the children will come. I know if you set up a xylophone in a village and play good music, the children will come. We can’t blame them for not liking the music – they don’t hear it. When they hear it, they come and dance. Kopoliano Kyobe Finally, we had a brief discussion with Kopliano Kyobe: “I was born in Ggavu on the main road. I learned to play the xylophone (Amadinda) as a young boy and…
The Revival of Ohangla Music! News
…’s song Kanungo Eteko is massive on Youtube, and we were lucky enough to record him in one of our sessions in Nyanza here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPaBQwODTtU…
Support for the Elgon Ngoma Troupe News
…ckgrounds through performance of traditional music, through breeding and meat production. Donate to Elgon Ngoma’s gofundme page here! And you can watch one of their brilliant performances, recorded on our 2014 field trip, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkyDtBXfunI Watch Julius, the leader of the group, explain who the Elgon Ngoma troupe is, and their mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Wk0YnbByk&fbclid=IwAR27BBeDBEx-5jMqkKxFTL9vtS5Nx…
Remembering Our First Ever Influences Session 8 Years Ago News
…ng as his family and Winyo performed this great improvised session. Stay tuned for exciting announcements about the 10th anniversary of Singing Wells! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8zR1Hq0VXc&lc=z232gt5hrrr5jbjpz04t1aokg3gsm0mrvnsg3wkih113bk0h00410…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…ack. And the drummers loved it, telling us this is the most sophisticated, complicated, beautiful music they have ever played. Most of the drummers are teachers and are now committed to teaching this music to others. According to their leader, Shaban, “the music is back.” But they all emphasised to us that they are not interested in teaching the past, but rather they see mastery of these drums as key to any drummer’s future. As John Ssempeke (drum…
The Return of Bigwala News
…captured a performance by the Bigwala Cultural Group in late 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2HnP36EVK4 The story of bigwala is a fascinating one, and quite unique in its association with the political history of the country. The gourd and musical style were for hundreds of years an integral part the kingdom of Busoga, and would be played at coronations and other royal ceremonies. When Prime Minister Milton Obote sought to unify the nation…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…sticks never overlap. And all the notes need to harmonize, while the percussion is, well, percussive. It really is like the brilliant Ugandan xylophones with the added complication that no sticks can overlap. …