Bigwala Instrument
We encountered the Bigwala during our field visit to Central and Eastern Uganda in December 2013. While staying in Jinja we invited a local Bigwala group, the Bigwala Cultural Group, to perform for Singing Wells. Click here to read our report from the field. Here is an extract from the UNESCO website, explaining about the Bigwala which was inscribed in 2012 on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding: Bigwala music…
Adungu Cultural Troupe Group
…Music of the Alur Naguru, Kampala, Uganda…
Waroco Tewaro Group
…Music of the Acholi Paibona Tugu village, Awach, Northern Uganda…
Anyim Lac Group
…Music of the Acholi Paibona Tugu village, Awach, Northern Uganda…
Uganda: Music of the Northern Tribes Gallery
Images from the Singing Wells trip to Northern Uganda, Kampala and Entebbe where we recorded the music of the Acholi, Alur and Iteso tribes. The journey started in Entebbe where we collected two vehicles to take the team to towns and villages in the north of the country including Gulu, Pakwach, Nebbi and Soroti. After 5 days recording in the north we returned to Kampala to record two more groups based near Naguru which perform in the traditional…
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
…starting this project: “I led the revival of entenga royal drum music of Buganda kingdom. At the time of doing this, I received an audio recording from Peter Cooke, telling me of his recording on his first field trip in Uganda in 1967. The multi-rhythmic texture of the drumming, Basoga traditional yodeling and humming plus the poetic recitations can no longer be heard anywhere. As a child I heard the likes of Kamu Kasata and Ndhote singing like t…
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
…ng our best to record accurately the songs, performers and instruments. We welcome all corrections as we recognize that there will be mistakes. With that out of the way, let’s begin. We arrived in Dar es Salaam Tanzania at 0815AM (yes, our departure from Nairobi was early!). The full Singing Wells crew is sleepless. The Abubilla Music Foundation Crew (Jimmy, Hunter, Sophie and Elliot) arrived in Nairobi from London the night before. The Ketebul te…
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
…s evolved more organically. You’ll remember in 2013, Singing Wells came to Uganda and we started to discuss the issue of the royal instruments. At the Kampala Museum, Singing Wells, Albert Ssempeke and I talked and all concluded: we really have to focus on the Entenga, the Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom. If we lose these, we’ve lost something truly unique. Singing Wells then agreed to kick-start a project based on what we had done together on…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 2 – Flutes Story
…f the Buganda kingdom, and Albert has dedicated his life to rediscovering Buganda music through his Buganda Music Ensemble. We first met Albert in 2013, when we recorded his Ensemble playing various Buganda string-instruments. During that recording, James Isabirye, Tabu, Albert and I committed to restoring the Buganda Royal Drums. Left: Richard Sewanyana, Right: Albert Ssempeke Albert is here this time to record the Royal Flutes, the Endere. He th…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…’ Entenga drums And this brings us to the Entenga, the Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom. While drums thrive in Uganda, these drums were lost. If drums are thriving, what is the point of focusing on the Entenga? We come away from this trip giving three reasons: They are on the endangered list. 15 drums and six musicians is a big expensive ensemble and most villages will have never heard these drums or their performances. Without intervention, the…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…ganda Kingdom are made 2) Interviewing other surviving musicians from the Buganda Palace Here’s our summary of part two: We travelled to two separate villages to meet four other surviving members of the royal palace musicians: a flute player, a trumpeter and two members of a xylophone-drumming team. A note here on surviving musicians: James Isabirye continues in his quest to track down surviving members of the musician corp. The good news is that…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…ganda Kingdom are made 2) Interviewing other surviving musicians from the Buganda Palace Here’s our summary of part one: Part One: Drum Making The Singing Wells team was joined by James Isabirye today as we travelled to Mukono, to visit Ssebengwa Drum Makers (P.O. Box Mukono near Colline Hotel, Jinja Highway, opposite the Pork Joint). The shop is run by Abass Mirimu, a gentleman from the famous village of Mpambire which is known for its drum maker…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…players, verses the xylophone instrument itself. We have recorded a lot of Ugandan xylophones over the years, but this time we really wanted to understand the players themselves as the arrangement mirrors in many ways the royal drums. There are generally six players, 3 on each side, configured very roughly as follows (I say roughly, because the notes each plays depends on the song): Akubaa Obuto: meaning player of the small slabs, this musician pl…