Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…ng Andy. Actually, thinking about it now it wasn’t the worst, it was pretty funny! The worst was driving from Mombasa to Malindi at night, it was dangerous. The road was narrow, unmarked and I didn’t like it. We said after this we wouldn’t do it again. Now we hardly drive at night. As for the best? Every moment is the best when it comes to Singing Wells! What can we look forward to from Singing Wells and Ketebul this year? We’re going to be doing…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…e recorded them in their villages and invited them back to our studios in Nairobi to work with some of Kenya’s best musicians. We maintain a great relationship with our Batwa friends and recently invited Jovah to meet us last year in Entebbe to record with additional Ugandan artists (see lullabies below). Here are three vocalists: Meet Francis, the leader of the Batwa musical communities, the master of the bird dance and master of songs about the…
Current Leading Figures News
…ar points out that Jan England, the UN under secretary for Humanitarian affairs, stated that ‘Northern Uganda has suffered from one of the most under published and holistic humanitarian disasters of our time’ (14th April 2004). For Odwar, creativity is the best way to help Northern Ugandans overcome this hardship, “In times of trouble, art has helped us to come to terms with our situation, to express our hopes for the future and to keep alive the…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…de on Kenya – you can listen to recordings of the singer Suzanna Owiyo in Nairobi, the rain songs in the north of the country which frequently suffers from terrible drought and the Massai who sing of the dangers of cattle raiding – and two others on Uganda; one featuring the Bugandan Royal Court Music and the second is about the Busoga Kingdom. Unfortunately there are no short clips available of the programme on YouTube from East Africa, but acros…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…rvice to listen to the recordings on site at the British Library. Michael Baird produced 21 CDs of Tracey’s work; Historical Recordings of Hugh Tracey series. These can be bought online at SWP Records and a review of most of the CDs can be found here. Michael Baird said “The sad conclusion after compiling this series is that so much music recorded by HT [Hugh Tracey] has since disappeared — within the space of fifty years. This is something HT for…
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…for aspiring to be an English man, not a Ugandan. She only 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 differe…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…r Colmore. We are getting all the genres of Kenyan music. I would like the book to be done by types of music. It needs to involve DJ’s, musicians, writers, etc… We have almost all the material. It is now about making a big impression. My dream is we launch this book during the Smithsonian conference next year in Washington DC. In terms of artists, Winyo is doing very well. Benga Blues is sold out. He’s been to China, where he met Jackie Chan, and…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…flying in from Nairobi and London, the Singing Wells team will meet at the Airport Guesthouse in Entebbe. It’s the perfect place to stay on our first night being just minutes from the airport (the BA flight from London arrives at 22.40). We have stayed at the Guesthouse before and Jan Willem, George and the rest of the Gorilla Tours team have always been excellent hosts. On our final day of the Uganda 2012 trip we had an very special afternoon in…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…nd, look at the Ugandan village behind it – how clean it is, how fresh the air, how tight the community: Or in Kenya, as you listen to the Sega Sega Band, look at the wonderful Luo Village, with its vast support network: We are not naive – providing sustainable support for villages in Africa is not easy – and there are a lot of folks trying (see here for some of the issues). But it is better to start at the source. An important proxy for the healt…
What people say about Singing Wells News
…at you got this far with them and their recording trips to the studios in Nairobi. I was here shedding tears when I saw Winyo totally and perfectly singing the Batwa dance song and dancing a long with them, indeed that is what music is all about especially to reach out to the unreachables (sic) to me, I salute you guys, you indeed communicated not to them only but to rest of the world as well. Thank you so much for reaching out and may God bless y…
Kampala traffic jam Story
…hs to plan the itinerary for our field recording trips so that we make the best use of the limited time we have. Steve K from Ketebul Music is our Africa Project Manager and he does an amazing job in the weeks prior to the trip, contacting music groups, booking local accommodation and arranging vehicles and drivers to transport us to some very remote destinations. But even Steve’s meticulous planning could not help us avoid the infamous Kampala tr…
The Beat of Kenya News
…s the curator of Contemporary Cultures at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg, Canada. Andrea explained that she was planning an exhibition of traditional African musical instruments and during her research she had come across Singing Wells. We were able to provide Andrea with some information about the instruments and, importantly, some photos and videos of the instruments being played, which are from our field trip to Western Kenya in November 2011….
The First Singing Wells Influences Session Story
…lazing sun, under a gazebo, hastily bought two days before in Nakumatt in Nairobi. The recording of the groups went well. After Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club, we moved the set through 90 degrees and recorded Zaire Ndindingwara. We managed to capture special performances from both groups and went on to sample their percussion. One of the members of the Nyerere Wa Konde Music club then played us some of the music he had created in a project studio he…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…ails that travelled the world, Tabu and I were brought together by Joyce Nyairo, then of the Ford Foundation, East Africa office. After several long e-mail exchanges and a few Skype calls, we agreed to start the Singing Wells project. We both knew we wanted to do something to preserve the music but it took us a while to define exactly what to do. Finally there was a eureka moment – the best thing we could do was to go the musicians, to their villa…
Day 9 (AM): Ketebul Studio – Influences session for Cheri Story
…for the first time in March 2011 and now he is re-writing bass and guitar lines in Pro Tools). Their words are mainly about love so strong that they are willing to give her anything. They see her and want to give her the clothes offer her back. Macadem was then inspired. The song was so sweet and ernest we encouraged him to come and sing an ‘anti love’ verse over it. He sings ‘Love don’t love me’ and talks about a woman who he offers everything t…
Meet our ‘Influences’ artists News
…r his musical composition but for his unique sound. Find Eddie Grey on Facebook here. Eddie Grey recording with Ben Kisinja Eddie joined the Singing Wells team on the field recording trip to Kenya (Great Rift Valley). Akello Akello Jackie is a young Ugandan singer who writes and performs both African contemporary and urban music in languages like Acholi (her mother tongue), luganda, abit of Kiswahili and English, among other languages. Akello st…