African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…egyptian lyre. It is traditionally played by the Luo peoples, an ethnic group now situated in Western Kenya, Eastern Uganda and Northern Tanzania. They were originally from the Nile River Valley and migrated down the River Nile to the Lake Victoria region after the Nubian peoples. In Egypt (particularly around the valley) you can find many instruments that date back over 5000 years, many, like the nyatiti, are also found in Egyptian hieroglyphs (r…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…urchison Lodge in Pakwach and meet up with ‘The Aynu Traditional Music’ group, (a Lugbara group) ‘Wenipac and ‘Ndara Troupe‘ who will spend a day with us at the Lodge. These groups represent all of the Alur, Lugbara, Acholi, Kakwa, Madi and Kebu tribes! This seems to demonstrate how traditional music has created a sense of unity between many different tribes in one area. These tribes are grouped tightly together in the North, as shown on the map b…
Lango Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…ar to those of the Acholi and the Alur. They are part of the Luo group or “Western Nilotic Group”, and so all of the languages in this area are fairly similar to understand. Origins: Their original homeland was north of Lake Turkana where they used to live along with the Jie and the Karimojong. This means, by implication, that the Langi are also related to Dodoth, Lotuko, Topsa, and Turkana of Kenya. Together with the Iteso, Kumam and Karimojong,…
Alur Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…y the Ugandan ban on traditional monarchies in 1966. Language: Part of the Western Nilotic language group, their language is closely related to Acholi. Some Alur speak Lendu. Origins: Their tradition states that they migrated from southern Sudan with other Luo following the Nile banks. Their original homeland is said to have been Rumbek on the confluence of the Nile and the Bahr-el- Ghazel rivers. The Alur legend of origin says that there once liv…
Day 3 continued – an interview with Steve Kivutia Story
…002-3. He tried to join the Air Force but his mother wouldn’t let him sign up so he joined Creative Edge a graphics design firm, and then Smoke and Mirrors a multi-media company in 2003-2004. In 2005 Steve moved to Eye 4 Design but later that same year he met Tabu through a friend who sang with Tabu’s band, He knew of Tabu because of his legendary status within Kenyan music. Tabu invited Steve into a meeting where he brought some songs he had work…
Singing Wells – Origins News
…. And as musicians, we risk becoming undifferentiated. Rather than drawing upon what makes us unique we risk our voices being lost in the sea of American and British groups’. At Ketebul Music, Tabu recruits and develops musicians committed to the rich musical cultures of East Africa. His goal is not simply to preserve this music, but bring it back to life with contemporary musicians putting a modern stamp on traditional music. A few thousand miles…
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…East Africa they changed the ways people sang to fit with the traditional Western hymns. The children learn to sing from their elders and naturally join in when others are singing. There isn’t any formal training in tribal music. It is mother to child.” Tabu goes on to describe the role of tribal music,” Their music is a ‘way of life’. They use music for communication, passing on information and entertainment. Music is always present when there i…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…ifficult to take in. Impossible to understand. Images too graphic to dwell upon. Stories from survivors too upsetting to hear. We were all left numbed by the experience. In 1994, all civil life in Rwanda had totally collapsed. The country was dead. That was just 17 years ago. It seems inconceivable that a country could recover from that horror in such a short time. But Rwanda appears to be in full recovery – Arun (our driver) says that the country…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…’ve asked her to sing lead on a couple songs and love her voice. She lives up to her name and is always up for anything; the first in the studio and the last to leave. Jolly Naiti Paskazia (and baby Julius) One of Francis’s two wives and part of the trio of female singers that support Francis. Paskazia Nyirakarombo Vastina (and baby Robson) The second of Francis’s wives, the third of the trio that sings with Francis and on their own. Beautiful voi…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…tps://youtu.be/BQYtWOBQyBQ https://youtu.be/MJcIi3aY9zI Aloka Ohangla Group Fantastic group featuring the Orutu, the second major instrument of Luo music. If played by a master it takes on the role of the ‘fiddle’ in Irish or US Country music. This band played it well…. but the highlight was the drum solo in the Ohangla style. Here’s the ‘Magic Moment Video’ of the performance: https://youtu.be/2FOs3TObydk What you need to know as you listen is…
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…t two vans early in the morning to pick them up and suggested that each group bring up to 8 people to sing and dance. They each brought over 20. In two vans. Both groups were fantastic, the first was the Gatera Community: https://youtu.be/ab4ZEqPNYpE https://youtu.be/yMq_r9XSXM0 https://youtu.be/lrowXUbwTSU https://youtu.be/lu1YXMKnJts https://youtu.be/BulZceL6gXs Kabahenda Batwa Community We now think we know where James Brown got “the act” fro…
Day 5 (PM): The ‘Togetherness Group’ from Kanyabukunga Story
…onderful dancing and singing. As we unload the vans, the ‘Togetherness’ group are waiting to greet us on the ‘stage’….. The performance is fantastic… here the group are singing ‘Waratsinze Sikota’ in praise of God, but lamenting that the Batwa people had lived in the forest under grass huts, but now live near the streets under tin roofs…. The crew worked hard in the blazing sun – getting close to the action to make sure we captured the energy of e…
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…cording happened at the Go Down Arts Centre. The Spot Light series brought up the whole richness of Kenyan music. Some of the groups were very large, but because of budgets we could only bring a small number. We had good production but we couldn’t get the whole band in their element . Gargar was an example. Huge women’s group with lots of culture things – women’s rights … we could only work with four. We realised it would be better to take the stu…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…o focus on writing her book about Kenyan running. She grew up listening to Western groups including Madonna and Michael Jackson. She only heard traditional music at weddings – it ‘wasn’t cool’ to listen to it otherwise! She started appreciating traditional African music from Western Africa. Now she is much more interested in learning about traditional Eastern African music and her roots. She has been following the Spotlight series produced by Kete…
Music of the Luo: video playlist News
…In December 2011, the Singing Wells team travelled to western Kenya on the shores of Lake Victoria to record the music of the Luo tribes. To read the daily field reports from this trip, click here . Video Playlist The trip was facilitated by the generous support of donors to our charity the Abubilla Music Foundation. …
Recording the Luo: photos & music News
…Music and photos from the Singing Wells field recording trip to Western Kenya, recording the music of the Luo tribes. …