Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…s Lugolole around 2005 and set out to restore the tradition. They formed a new group, which we recorded in 2013, and they re-discovered the gourd seeds and started coordinating farmers to grow the next generation of trumpets. There are now four trumpet groups and about 20 trumpets, with many more growing in the fields in different parts of Busoga. Everything about the Bigwala model has become the inspiration for our attempts to rediscover the lost…
Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…minutes later and said the soldiers were now far closer having broken into new rooms closer to where we were. The King asked him to go out again and find any other news. The man didn’t return and the King told me that meant he was killed and we must run. Soldiers were everywhere. He grabbed me and we ran through several palace gates and came into one of his Throne Rooms (there were several). There were a lot of us, around the King and in the room…
The Return of Bigwala News
…walahttps://ich.unesco.org/en/news/uganda-young-ugandans-mobilized-for-safeguarding-bigwala-music-and-dance-00251https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1333991/bigwala-busoga-royal-music-dance…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…o play the drums, learned to tune the drums and ultimately learned to play new music. Over the course of their studies, the new drum students (most of whom are actually highly accomplished drummers and professors of music) starting calling Musisi ‘The Professor.’ Left: James, Right: Musisi And that is why we found ourselves under beautiful trees on the campus, facing the 15 drums and six drummers of an Entenga ensemble. We used our time to record…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…emble’ (1968) and ‘Essays for a humanist: an offering to Klaus Wachsmann’ (New York, 1977, pp.1-57), are available at SOAS and at the British Library . But, with few exceptions, this music largely died when the Buganda palace was attacked and destroyed on May 23-24, 1966. The king fled, the musicians were disbanded, the drums destroyed. And the Entenge were considered dead. That is how we felt in 2013 when we considered reviving the drums. But we…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…the demand for session musicians went down. Many of these pioneer ‘sessionists’ have since passed on. Only a few of the sessionists are still in operation. They include Osumba Rateng, wo has since relocated from River Road to his rural home in Sega, Siaya County. And as new trends emerge on the market and technological advances pose new challenges, Benga continues to hold its own as the definitive Kenyan sound. END Reprinted for MIA with permissio…
Latest Field Trip – Kenya 2018 News
…We’ve returned from our latest field trip, this time to western Kenya. Field reports coming soon….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…ed traditional music – but I kept telling them I was taking their music to new places. We knew we were on to something big because everyone responded well to it. I think it is fine to be creative and innovative and rebel – but be a rebel with a cause. Too often kids rebel without a cause – they aren’t rooted. I was a session musician at AGS (African Gramophone Studio) and CMS (Capital Music Studio) studios, both on River Road. I formed Sega Sega a…
Naizungwe Drums News
…by long time Singing Wells partner Prof. James Isabirye about an exciting new project he was hoping to undertake – the revival of the naizungwe drums of the Basoga people in Uganda. James led our revival of the entenga royal drums of the Buganda kingdom starting in 2015 and contacted Singing Wells with the hope that we would support him with funding for his new project. We are excited to announce that we have agreed to support James in his endeav…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…ll in Nicabune’ – it is a song to prepare the boys being circumcised for a new thing that is about to befall him, e.g., the circumcisers knife, responsibility (new ones that they don’t have), not going back to the mother’s hut, etc… In this context, the knife is cutting away his old life and forcing him into a new life. Ruuji rukuru, led by John Gitoriga, means ‘old water’ and is a song to prepare a boy for manhood. Water is a cleanser so the wate…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…preparing the next take. They also handle the end, usually asking a whole new set of questions about the songs. The video and audio group then break down most of the set, but Audio 1 creates a mix of the session and plays back key songs, while creating a CD of the performance to give to each group. Very often this is the first time the groups have heard themselves over speakers and will be the first recording they have. We then breakdown final mi…
Entenga: Performing twice for the king of Buganda News
…e then invited to shake hands with the king, and upon learning that James knew ethnomusicologist Peter Cooke, the king invited them to the palace to perform. They performed the song “Ganga alula”, a version of which we recorded during our visit in 2016. James played the Kyawakati and Entemyo, John Ssempeke played the Nakawombe and the younger boys played the rest of the drums. This is a wonderful story for the Entenga players, and it is really enc…
Tanzania 2017, Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo News
…We’ve just returned from our latest field trip discovering the music which took us to the eastern side of Tanzania. We witnessed an amazingly rich offering of music and met some extremely talented musicians. Read our field reports here to learn about our experiences with a snake dance, an amazing performance of a female initiation ceremony ,and recording members of the extraordinary Zawose family….
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…h below. The group practiced and performed two songs: Ugandan Lullaby: We knew that Jovah and Maita knew lullabies and James came up with the idea of doing a combined lullaby involving each of the singers, using a traditional song from their village. James directed the group through rehearsals and Maita played guitar to three separate lullabies: from Jovah, from Passy and from James. We did one with guitar and one version without. Here’s the Lulla…
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…about how to take care of children or how best to help one another build a new, independent Tanzania. “It was all about love, all about unity, all about coming together and building a new nation”, said Benson Rukantabula, who also works on the project. But as with any state-sponsored propaganda, some messages were politically acceptable, while others were not. Also in the archives are other historical gems, including speeches (there’s one the Aga…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…bow harp: The bow harp, or Ennanga, which was played by Albert Junior is a new instrument for us and he is only one of 3 master players. It was played in solo performances and the Ennanga player was the advisor to the king, as people would bring him messages for the king that he would turn to song. Mulirwana: it means neighbor and the song is about people who don’t trust their neighbors and they believe that anyone that doesn’t trust their neighbo…