Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…g to recreate that one riff. It took me three months of non-stop listening to get it down. And that was just 30 seconds of his lifetime of drumming. All I want to do is master his style.” As Daudi mentioned, Mzee Morris became the sound of Tanzanian news. The TBC announced each hour with a drum riff of his drums. Every hour, for decades. He was honoured in his time, with the then Prime Minister creating a specific post for him, so he could continu…
Fundraiser for Matthew Watmon News
…followers may be able to help us. If you are based in East Africa, please get in touch with Matthew’s brother, Constantine Odida ((MTN) +256-782-236-742 and (Airtel) +256-704-261-037). If you are based elsewhere in the world, we have created a GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mathew-watmon The donors of Abubilla Music Foundation, who support the Singing Wells project, will match these contributions up to £1000 so we greatly appre…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…a chance to interview James Isabirye about how and why we found ourselves together. This is a summary of that conversation, roughly in James’ own words. I use the term roughly for two reasons: 1) These are African roads and James was highly distracted by his own driving during our interview, dodging vans, cows and potholes. 2) I was trying to take notes in a car that seemed to be driving as fast and far left to right on the road as forward. Betwe…
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…low, and also find out more at their website here. Shades of Benga: The Story of Popular Music in Kenya delves into the foundations of modern Kenyan music, examining external influences from the English waltz to Afro Cuban Rumba and how they helped mould new music styles across Africa. Rumba was brought to Eastern Africa via the itinerant Congolese musicians Edouard Masengo and Jean Bosco Mwenda who’s intricate guitar-picking styles largely shap…
Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
…traditional music of East Africa to a wider audience. It amazing to see the Youtube algorithm agreeing that this is a project worth showing people! We can’t wait to bring more songs and stories to the world. Keep an eye out on the Singing Wells Youtube channel for the footage and recordings from our field trip to Zanzibar and Pemba….
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…le for the drums’ revival. James Isabirye met with Musisi and they set out together to revive the drums. They worked with Shaban, a professional drummer, and John and Albert Ssempeke, who have kept many royal instruments alive, to relaunch the drums. Essentially, this took four major steps: Rebuild the drums: they needed to re-assemble the drum kit, building each of the 15 drums and re-making the Enga, the sticks used to play the drums (named afte…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…we lost? We’ve lost the connection that comes with all generations singing together, with laughter and joy. We sang every song we knew. We sang the whole night. We were learning about our cultures and rituals as we sang but we didn’t know that. We were just singing. I was reminded on Day 3 that this is their way of life and it is pure joy. This was very deep. SW: What most concerned you? GT: What really concerns me is that the resources we have at…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…with a steady rise to a climax or crescendo and an equally quick refrain, together with the arrangement and sectioning mark benga apart from other music. Luo guitarists long cultivated a unique technique of playing the guitar. They commonly do not massage the strings as their Congolese counterparts do but rather they pluck and pick single notes rapidly in a fashion akin to playing a nyatiti—the traditional lyre of the Luo people. Benga is undoubt…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
…brant performers, racing all over the place. When we tried to contain them to get good vocals, we lost the explosive force of the drums. When we let them run wild it was pretty difficult to get a good vocal or audio take. Also, we were accidentally constraining them by asking them to go through their songs one by one, when in fact, what they loved to do was race through all the songs at once, in a single act. We finally sorted through all this tho…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…the chair from the ground and moved it to a new location. The boys decided to get an ‘arty’ picture with the chair. From the lovely views in Ruthumbi Forest, we then travelled back to Nkubu hotel to record three additional groups (our route is below). The first two we recorded in the main court yard and the last we recorded near the outside pub, where Gregg later served as a DJ. Muturi Wa Wandindi His actual name is Geoffrey Mutwiri, Mbaraka. He i…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…is twice, once with and one without the ladies humming (they needed to hum to get the beat right). Kangema Urban Women Group The group is led by Jacinta Njoki Mwangi and formed in 2006. The group plays in thee Gitiro style – the dance performed by women during ruracio, a dowry payment occasion. Gitiro: led by Jacinta Njoki. Ndumo (ya iritu): led by Jacinta and Mary Njoki. Kibuthi: led by Jacinta Njoki. Kangema Mwomboko Dancers The group is led by…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…he only festival since 2005. Many people are performing around the country today due to those festivals. The group is very literate in music and we had a clear vision from 1990 of what we wanted to do. We are not doing badly and have a comfortable life from the performances. Some musicians who didn’t even have a bicycle not have houses. We are showing you can have a musical career. We are growing our knowledge and getting better at representing th…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…ty to help amplify instruments. Every time we try, we struggle but we have to get the solution.” Here’s their music: The Bakuseka Majja Matta Group Our final group was also a stand out act, with the legendary performer (yes, as Tabu said we had two legends of Ugandan music visit us today) – Natha Matta Nyende performing for us with his band the Bakuseka Majja Matta Group. Nathan is 76 years old and has been blind since 1956. He formed his group in…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…s with the main hotel (Vicki, Nick, Andy). We took showers, met for dinner and as we normally do at this point in our trip, we brainstormed a way to get the performers to join us at the hotel tomorrow. We’ll see!…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…and they are from Masaka Nyendo. They have performed for roughly six years together and their musical style is Nganda from Buganda. They are called the ‘Boys’ band, but there are girls in the group too. They sang three songs: Mbidde (Medley): The Mbidde is the banana plant that makes the local brew and the song talks through each step to make the brew that locals consume (we will hear this song again from the Bukaala Twesitule Troupe): Butuuse: Th…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…e session): The Royal Instruments of Uganda As mentioned, James is working to restore the royal instruments of Uganda. He supports the Bugando Musican Ensemble, which we recorded (click here) and he is trying to restore the The Bigwala (trumpet). There are few surviving musicians and we recorded some of the few players surviving. But what we loved about Uganda is all the great the instrument bands, from the Xylophone, to the Likembe, to the Adungu…