Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…we don’t get these artists out into the market very well at the moment. We need to look for a platform to promote our stuff, whether it’s online, digital radio, TV – we need to make the music more accessible to all. Why is Singing Wells important? Singing Wells is important because we’re trying to capture our East African heritage. Many of the musicians we record from remote tribes are old and we run the risk of the traditional music in Kenya dyin…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…ord knows where… Missing A song about Spain that switches to Africa and ends with the Batwa song lamenting the loss of their homelands… That’s it. There are 230 more stories that we need to tell you and 1000’s more waiting to be recorded. Don’t just pull up a chair next time. Jump in our jeeps and join the show… Jimmy…
Current Leading Figures News
…s the project coordinator of the Retracing Series, documentaries which aim to to research, archive and document the musical culture of Kenya, the latest of which ‘Retracing Kenya’s Songs of Protest — Music as a Force for change in Kenya 1963-2013’, was released recently. His extensive background of involvement in the East African music industry can be found on his About Page at Ketebul Music and his thoughts on some of the central issues surroundi…
Archiving Guidelines News
…erent types of establishments; homes and institutions, with materials that need to be preserved for differing lengths of time. It also provides information to be passed on to guests of the archive wishing to play materials. Advice can also be found on the Council on Library and Information Resources website. Section 5 of a report, Magnetic Tape Storage and Handling: A Guide for Libraries and Archives, provides a lot of information on specifically…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…der the David Rycroft South African Collection. However, to play these you need to be studying further or higher education to obtain access to these. More Hugh Tracey, his Sounds of Africa and Music of Africa, can be found on the British Library Sound and Moving Image Catalogue – however, this simply confirms the existence of the recording. To listen to the recordings, one must make an appointment with the Listening Service to listen to the record…
Singing Wells in Numbers…. News
…Andy did a litte homework for this one: Number of recordings of groups: 374 (this does not include other recordings like Magic Moments, Influences, etc…) Number of groups recorded: 83 Number of hours of music: 27 hours and 30 minutes. …
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…e and needed to be erased. Traditional songs about spirits, about witch doctors needed to be ended and replaced with Christian music. James: I think that explains some of it. But the church no longer does that and yet we still reject the old ways. I think another reason is we were all taught to aspire to a “White Man’s identity.” This goes way back. I remember by Grandmother used to always greet me saying ‘Welcome back from school.’ It was very im…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…a set of panels. Everyone wants to be involved. One major project we still need to finish is Kenya at 50, both a documentary and coffee table book – which presents 50 years of music. We still need to finish this. A gentlemen named Andy Eisenberg, a Oxford Professor, gave us access to a collection of music and photos, from music promoter Peter Colmore. We are getting all the genres of Kenyan music. I would like the book to be done by types of music…
Preserving Threatened Heritage News
…sic heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences.” And it is always great to hear of stories where others are attempting to do the same, especially in countries so close to our heart, such as Uganda. An article on the website of the Ugandan daily newspaper, New Vision, warns about the need to preserve ‘Bigwala’, the royal music of the Busoga region. Bigwala music is performed at ceremonies such as cor…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…s – the main example being given as the Caribbean. This is an area we will need to look closely at, if we are to make the Singing Wells library commercially available at any stage in the future. In the ‘Growing your audience through Social Media‘ conference, the production team from BBC Radio’s Jazz on 3 led a discussion on social media and how it can be used and has been used to increase interaction with the program. One interesting idea was wh…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…sic heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences. The last five years has only re-enforced our commitment. On our first goal, we only have to remember that we were probably the last folks to record Okumu K’Orengo, one of the great Nyatiti players, before he died. On our second goal, we only have to remember Francis and Jessie playing together in Kisoro. And as we plan for our next trip to Kampala this…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…st Hotel in Kisoro, Uganda!) We can also combine the two recording units into one to increase the number of inputs, while still working off battery power. The laptops use Avid ProTools recording software – an industry standard for recording and music production. The microphones we have chosen are industry standard models used in studios the world over but, most likely, not seen in the villages of East Africa. The equipment has been carefully selec…
What people say about Singing Wells News
…e future.” PSN Europe Magazine Read the review of Singing Wells here. Mark Totokwa via YouTube “This is good stuff – a good example of a sustainable project both in context and content. A big thank you to those behind this project and most importantly to the resourceful musicians. A job well done!” (Posted on YouTube here) Atesh Sonneborn, Associate Director, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings “Andy, It was a real pleasure to speak with you this morn…
A quick summary of the Singing Wells Project News
…music. I do hope you enjoy. The good news is you can ‘turn me off’ if you need to get on with your life. My poor friend never had that chance… Forgive me, but here are 10 things I would like to say about Singing Wells…. 1. Singing Wells is all About Ensuring that others can hear about the Macedonia Band: We’ll provide background later, but let’s story with the story of Uganda Land of Freedom. Let’s start with the music – click play and let the ba…
73,603 views on YouTube News
…was the very first video we uploaded to YouTube following our field visit to the Coast Region to record the music of the Mijikenda tribes. Is second place is a video from our field visit to Kisoro in south west Uganda where we met and recorded the wonderful Batwa people. The music is performed by Kamuntu ‘Tiny’ Moses accompanied by our Influences artist Winyo. And in first place with over 21,700 views is ’71 Hours to Monday’- a global tra…
A new type of city Story
…n the distance. Despite this unconventional type of city,I loved it. There was certainly a lot going on and during the week Akello told us many stories of the vibrant buzz in Kampala. Every night there’s music to listen to somewhere in the packed hub of 180,000 people . The image above of the tin houses and the Uganda House of Commons in the background was one of the first pictures I took on the trip….