2. Naizungwe Drums – progress report 1 Story
…the skins have been formed. One of the early milestones was finding a tree out of which to craft the largest of the drums, no trivial task given the size and type of tree required. Here is our first video, James Isabirye talking about the tree and introducing the project: https://youtu.be/bZUxKhTGmCA The lead drum maker is called Muhamudu Kaziba (in the left of the video above). He comes from a famous family of drum makers from Kalalu village, Buy…
Day 7: Friday, February 24th, 2017 Story
…hile at Nafasi Art Space, we met Rebecca Corey, who is the Director of the Tanzanian Heritage Project. This project is similar to Singing Wells, but as she said, the ‘preservation role’ is more physical – she is working to preserve all the physical recordings of Tanzania musicians, many of which are rotting away on dusty reel to reel recordings. And that is it. We then rushed to the airport to depart to Nairobi for a weekend of recording at Ketebu…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…ing for three reasons: We had the whole day so were able to record a large number of songs and do an “Influences” session. This gave the village children time to get to know us and understand our mission. By the end they were singing along to all the songs. In addition to being a professional musician, Leo also teaches music to school children so he is a natural with kids. On all the songs that he did, he had the whole village singing and laughing…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…ome 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 team (Tabu, Steve, Patrick and Nick) spent the evening preparing equipment. After…
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…r online series Shades of Benga Online, to go alongside their book ‘Shades of Benga: The Story of Popular Music in Kenya 1946 -2016’. You can watch the latest episode below, 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 A…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…the age of the musicians at his funeral, and I thought: man, we’re running out of time. My first step was to meet with James Lugolole, one of the oldest survivors of the Bigwala, the trumpets for the Busoga King. We talked about the problems: no one played the music, no new musicians knew the trumpets, farmers had forgotten how to grow the gourds used to make the trumpets, and the seeds were lost. That conversation started everything. We needed to…
Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
…ce. 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….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…ple: things are focused on other matters that have nothing to do with the software of life, nothing to do with the soul. In that context, this music stuff is viewed as entertainment, it is a discretionary item – you don’t really need to support it. The government is focused on politics and big money items like tourism and business is focused on marketing which demands immediate return. So on one hand, our government investing in messages that say…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…claim for shaping a genuine Kenyan sound. Electric Bands and Big Producers Out of the Ogara years came a marked proliferation of the first proper bands, which were now outfits of at least three guitars and a drum set. With them came the 45 rpm vinyl records and the debut of the now well-known names in benga, who include George Ramogi, George Ojijo, D. O. Misiani, Orwa Jasolo, Ochieng Nelly Mengo, Collela Mazee, Paddy Onono, Brother Charley, Peter…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…twa) to visitors Imparake: This is the heart-breaking song of the Batwa, about the loss of their forest home. Henry Neza from UOBDU who travelled from Kisoro with Jovah and her four month old baby Gerald, help translate the song for us. This is how Jovah described the song: ‘During the eviction everyone was running and crying out “our forest has been taken from us”. They lamented the fact that the animals that they shared the forest with and cheri…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…ter politely agreed to hold off on his duties. We set up the band in front of one of the huts. Oh, and there were no trees. Oh, and it was sunny and hot. We cooked. Buganda Music Ensemble The Group was founded in 2004, led by Albert Bisaso Ssempeke Jr. Son of Dr. Albert Senior, a legend. Music style: Kiganda. Dr Albert Ssempeke, father of Junior was a legend. He was a palace performer for the King. Albert Jr’s grandfather was a palace gatekeeper a…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…owever: that she should never play in the rain. Amagombe: This is a song about the death of the leader’s father. He wrote it after his father’s death. 95% of the song is about what his father told him before he died. Ebibira: This song talks about the dangers of deforestation. The forest is where the spirits of the fore fathers can rest. If you destroy the forests, you destroy their homes so they will be loitering around and the living won’t have…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…recording studio. We have been able to set up the computers in the kitchen of one of our cottage rooms and have the groups either perform on our dining patio or our porch. We had three groups today and the drivers were sent out to round them up from the surrounding areas. The Bigwala Cultural Group One of this group’s primary purposes is to restore the Bigwala, the big Ugandan trumpet, to Ugandan musical culture. According to our local musical exp…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…night. It felt good to be back on Ugandan soil in the familiar environment of the Airport Guesthouse. An early start the next day meant not staying up long on arrival – little did we know that a thunderstorm of biblical proportions was on its way….. A Note About Our Sponsors We are very grateful to have two sponsors for this recording trip. Firstly, The Mara Group are sponsoring a full recording day and have chosen to support our day in Mbale (Day…
Amone Watmon Matthew Story
…the musicians continuing their performance in the vehicles. In the garden of the Airport Guesthouse, we recorded a further 6 performances, the group collaborating with Akello, our artist in residence for the trip. We also recorded an interview with Matthew, which we include here: Matthew was born on the 25th November 1951 in Kipgum district, Awedi village in the north of Uganda. He lived there until 1992, when he moved to Kampala, due to the rebe…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…ies today can sell hundreds of thousands of copies.’ Putumayo is living proof of this, as they have sold over 20 million CDs since it began, showing world music can be commercially viable – people want to hear it! Putumayo also has a smart business model. They have created a strong, unique brand identity; Nicola Heindl’s vibrant, folky art beautifully adorns their CDs covers, they know their customer base; “Cultural Creatives” (a sociological term…