Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…tion started everything. We needed to revive these trumpets. I got UNESCO support, I got Singing Wells support and gradually, we formed a group. Singing Wells filmed them in 2013 and helped us tell their story. We also invested in the farmers – James Lugolole is coordinating them to grow the gourds and we are building new trumpets (we now have about 20). And finally, James Lugolole is helping train the new musicians and we now have 4 separate grou…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 2 – Flutes Story
…to a local village. Flute being tuned with a bottle of water An Endere Group is made up of six flutes, moving from longest to shortest, following again, the notes of the Pentatonic scale; these are: The Enkologi: the longest The Ekiwuuwa: the second longest. The Entengezi: the third longest The Ensaasi: the fourth longest The Entabitabi: the fifth longest The Entemyo: the sixth and shortest, sharing the same note as the Enkologi, but octave diffe…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…at they are missing – but the local communities must decide if and how to support this music on a sustainable basis. Step 4: if there is support, build the infrastructure. This involves seeds for gourds for trumpets, or drum-making for drums. Inevitably something needs to be invested in the infrastructure. Step 5: Bring on the young. Inevitably, you then need to bring on the people to learn and enjoy this music. And here we had an interesting deba…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…rison. And I was there for three weeks but they would release me only if I signed a paper saying I didn’t have a gun and wouldn’t fight. I signed. So then a man came in and said that anyone can leave who lives close by. But I lived far away and they said those that lived far away could go and wait back in the prison another week. But I didn’t want that and knew I needed to leave. One of the boys had a mother that was close by: she was at Kyaliwajj…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…ece is for 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. Esse…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…e Bigwala trumpets These trumpets are made of long gourds and a trumpet group is made up of at least five trumpets (or more), each of which plays a specific role. They are tuned to the pentatonic scale and like the royal drums are often tuned to the xylophone. Our group had five trumpets: The Enhana: meaning ‘calf’ — this is the largest trumpet, lowest in pitch and the one tuned initially to the xylophone The Empala: meaning ‘leopard’ and tuned on…
Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…and sometime in the middle of the night [the morning of May 25th), I woke up to the sound of gun fire. At first, I wasn’t too scared and rose to brush my teeth as I always do. But the guns got louder – the Central Government was attacking the Buganda Kingdom and had attacked the Parliament first, which was about a kilometer away from the palace. I realized it was very real when bullets started hitting the palace and the hut where we kept our drum…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…orded the Entenga in the 1950s, and thanks to the International Library of African Music we brought his recordings with us and have repatriated the music back to Uganda. In addition, Lois Anderson recorded some performances of surviving musicians, wrote about the tradition and published transcriptions of about 26 tunes. His articles, ‘The Entenga tuned-drum ensemble’ (1968) and ‘Essays for a humanist: an offering to Klaus Wachsmann’ (New York, 197…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…e come on influences. We could have rehearsed performances and help the groups reach a far higher level of performance. And in every location, we could have recorded another 20 groups. It is all out there and it is all amazing but fading fast, and we are two teams in two cars chasing after it, trying to capture as much as we can. But as a Kenyan I am frightened that we are devoting so little to this. Where is the supply of talent to help us go fur…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…ruitment of Nelson Ochieng’ Orwa two years later, Ogara transformed his group into a three-piece acoustic and vocal group. Ochieng’ Orwa was a young and extremely talented guitarist who would come to be known by the stage name of Ochieng’ Nelly. He must be distinguished from another accomplished performer bearing a similar name, Ochieng Nelly Mengo, who was one of the founders of the 1970s Victoria Kings Band. Other pioneers and contemporaries of…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…nd of The Ogara Boys Band, and Benga music in general (see Ketebul’s write up on the history of Benga). Part of this style was a direct result of the Luo Nyatiti that he grew up with in the village – his guitar and the Benga bass works to copy the syncopated style of the Nyatiti in traditional Luo music. Nelly worked with his Congolese mentor for a while before joining The Ogara Boys Band in 1962. The Ogara Boys Band also consisted of founding mem…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
…. This song warns men about being too much loved by women because they end up becoming foolish and unable to manager their manly affairs. [Think back to the ‘circumcision lessons.’] Medley of Mware, Ukiona, Wenda: We then did a medley of their songs to keep the energy – Mware was led by Gitai Thura, and Wenda Kuthii by Eustace Njuki and Gitar Thura. Mware is about an uneducated woman who wants to be married to an educated man. This song challenges…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…valley below. Here’s our route: Irimbene Cultural Dancers and Self Help Group This group formed in 2000 with 21 young men. They are led by Edward Kiogura. This is Authi style, they are Ameru from the Irimbene Village, upper Kiungone Sublocation, Abogeta West Division. The group uses Mbere (shakers) worn by Bernard Nkonge, Ginfold Mbae, Amos Munthi and Fraras Ikunda. They also use a flute, Coro, is performed by John Mwiti. The group was in beautifu…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…away. We recorded four groups. The Music Groups Gacharaigu Gitiro Women Group The group is led by Fidelia Nyambura Mwangi. They are from Munuga Village, Munuga sub location, Muguru Ward, Muguru Division, Kamgema District and was formed in 2006 and dedicated to self-help. Their style is Ndumo, an old women’s dance purely for entertainment and preservation of culture. For all their songs, the ladies used the Kigamba (leg shakers). The group played 6…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…e). The final group also introduced us to the Kilumi (drums). The Music Groups Twone Mbee The group is led by Christine Kisove, using the Itheke dance styles (Mwen-yenyo, Mutundo). The group is part of the Kamba ethnic community (Ukama wa Kitui), from the village of Kiongwe, Ngungi Sub-Location, Thua Location, Nzambani District. They performed three songs: Asyai: they use the Ileve (Tin Shaker) and Vilingi (Whistle). David Kithome performed with t…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 0 – London/Nairobi Story
…ho is from the Kamba ethnic community and will be helping interview the groups (e mail: gregtendwa@gmail.com) Lewis Koome (Video 3), who is from the Meru ethnic community and has been our primary contact person to support this trip (e mail: lkoome2000@yahoo.com) Raphael Sipalla (Audio 4) our ‘Influences’ artist (e mail: ruffmaud@yahoo.com) We will be interviewing them throughout this trip to provide additional color to our Field Reports. We spent…