Ribbe Ber (Drummers) Group
…Music of the Acholi Acet, Northern Uganda…
Uganda: music of the Batwa Gallery
Images from the Singing Wells trip to Kisoro, Uganda where we recorded the music of the Batwa. The journey started in Nairobi where the team boarded a flight to Kigali, Rwanda. From there we travelled by road to Kisoro where we stayed at the Traveller’s Rest Hotel. Our hosts were from the United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU) who arranged for us to record the performances of six Batwa communities from the district of Kisoro…
2. Naizungwe Drums – progress report 1 Story
…rk quickly 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 – h…
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…ms that James talks about: http://www.singingwells.org/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…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…en invited Sophie into one of the huts to watch their dance in private. In Uganda and Kenya we have a lot of recordings of rites of passage, mostly around male and female circumcision rituals – happily the songs survive but not the rituals in the places we visited! But we have far less on the theme of ‘women for women’ songs of instruction, or the rites of passages of women preparing for adulthood. We encountered these in three separate villages a…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…his name is a sign of respect – think, ‘Old Man Morris’. He was born in 1920. At two years old, he lost his sight as a result of a bout of small pox. He died in 1999. Throughout his long life he drummed. Here’s Leo Mkanyia , our 2017 Influences Artist, describing his experience listening to Mzee Morris’s music: “He wasn’t normal. He plays his drums like a guitar. You have to listen very carefully to realize not only is he keeping the beat, but h…
A Report by Professor James Isabirye – Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion News
…journals.sagepub.com/eprint/XGBCQ8EJIVZXHMMGUZ2V/full James Isabirye is a lecturer of music and music education in the Department of Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kyambogo University, Uganda. His research interests include: social constructivist learning and teaching, decolonization of music and general education, and the roles of indigenous practices in those processes….
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…are? This matter has concerned a circle of my friends deeply since around 2003 and we’ve all tried to deal with it. I have a circle I talk to all the time about this, including Julius Kyakuwa, Centurio Balikoowa, Haruna Walusimbi, Sarah Mukyala and Cornelius Mwima. We all understand that without intervention, somehow, all this music – all this culture will die. But we also know that the issue will always be resources: how do we bring new resources…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 2 – Flutes Story
…ul Studios: we identified a whole set of extraordinary musicians from our 2013 visit to Uganda and have invited them back to do studio recordings. But today, we focused on two things: 1) Discussing in detail some of our observations from our time exploring the royal instruments of the Kingdoms of Uganda. 2) Recording again Albert Ssempeke’s Buganda Music Ensemble. Given that we first decided to rediscover the Royal Drums after recording Albert’s g…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…ul Studios: we identified a whole set of extraordinary musicians from our 2013 visit to Uganda and have invited them back to do studio recordings. But today, we focused on two things: 1) Discussing in detail some of our observations from our time exploring the royal instruments of the kingdoms of Uganda 2) Recording again Albert Ssempeke’s Buganda Music Ensemble. Given that we first decided to rediscover the Royal Drums after recording Albert’s gr…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…s at the palace for generations. I started to play at the palace in the 1940’s and believe I was born around 1929. Sadly, at the time of Hugh Tracy I also wasn’t good enough to be on those recordings. We lived in the palace and when we were needed to play we played for the king. I loved it. During the attack in 1966 my friend and I were at home. After the attack we didn’t go back. But in 1967 they brought us back to pay some wages and thank us for…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…the bottom and will wrap up from the bottom of the drum and end up about 50% up the drum’s length. So this piece was about 30% larger than the drum’s bottom, which is smaller than the top. 5. Stage one of stringing the drum In the first stage of stringing the drum, “you tie the top skin and bottom skin together with nylon strings then take the tied together drum and put this into the sun for 24 hours.” This is a hugely skilled job. Essentially, h…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…dying on the proverbial vine. James Isabirye found James 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…
Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…his own story. Musisi being recorded on camera telling his story We are in Uganda to revive the Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom, the Entenga. This project was the result of the work of a very large team, but at its center is Musisi, the last surviving drummer that we know of. Here is his story, in roughly his words: “My father was the leader of the flutes at the Buganda Kingdom, and as his son, I was trained to play the flutes and eventually jo…
The Return of Bigwala News
…ch 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 seems to be a promising future for this important thread in the tapestry of Uganda’s cultural history. Sources: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ugandan-music-bigwalahttps://ich.unesco.org/en/news/uganda-young-ugandans-mobilized-for-safeguarding-bigwala-music-and…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…nga. Centre: James Isabirye We have been working closely with James since 2013. During a conversation with James and Albert Ssempeke in 2013, we talked about reviving the Entenga, the Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom. Along with flutes, trumpets, strings and xylophones, the Entenga were part of a set of ‘royal instruments’ and much of the music was lost in 1966 when the palace of the Buganda Kingdom was attacked by government troops. The palace…