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…gistered charity which funds the Singing Wells project Sponsor a Recording Day £3000 Your Gift to Us Your money will be used to support a complete day of recording traditional music for the Singing Wells project. Your donation will be spent in East Africa, funding the recording sessions in the field. There may be as many as six different music groups performing on one day and your donation will mean that every music group is able to perform and th…
Bigilia Group Group
…we drove a short distance to the village of Nia Njema, where we stayed all day recording Bigilia. They were cooking fish under the main tree and the women were sitting on the Mbuzi, which is used to cut the coconut for Wali (Coconut Rice). The dancers all had lovely necklaces (Usalu), hats (Kigarama) shakers (Mbugu), whistles (Firimbi), and ‘brooms’ (Usinga). The group leader was Asha Saidi Kazidi. The style was Unyago. Here is the group: They pla…
Group 1: Inganzo Ngari Group Story
…e and today we had about 50 performers, some fully professional, some with day jobs, but all investing time to rehearse twice a week. We started with the umutagara (the full drumming ensemble), two drum performances – one more traditional, in which the smallest drum “calls” and the other ten drums “respond”. And one with more (in Serge’s words) innovation – a modern twist on the tradition. These were performed just be male drummers. These drums we…
Matia Kakumirizi Group
…those days when women used to wait for men to provide for everything, nowadays, they wake up early and go to work. “Olugend’olw’ebukakkata”: He went to visit a village called Bukakkata. He found a girl who was seeing two men who didn’t know each other. She was still in her parents’ home so she was not allowed to be seeing men. One day, the parents found a man peeping through the window and canned him because he was trying to disturb their daughte…
Bungoma Roots Band Group
…g’ and showed up at any events that were being held. The band members held day jobs, mostly in construction, and then would gig in the evening, often in clubs filled with drunkards. However, after years of hard work and managing to record multiple records, they needed to bring in other musicians to form a much bigger band. They then produced their third CD in 2013, Namusia, again with Soundcheck in Kisumu. They started performing all over Kenya. T…
We assemble in Kisumu Story
…and Hunter have flown in. Jimmy and Hunter flew from London to Nairobi the day before. We are very happy to be joined by ethnomusicologist, Kahithe, and we welcome her to the Singing Wells family. A bit of background: Kahithe is a Ethnomusicologist and dance researcher but is also a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher. She is a skilled researcher with extensive experience in ethnographic research and fieldwork management. She has 8 years of ex…
Group 6: Sudi Mavenge Story
…l went back and had an accident and was hospitalised – the boy spent three weeks without knowing what had happened to her. The day he finally found out and was able to visit her in hospital was the day she died – he didn’t get to say goodbye. Kibuguzo (a Rwandan board game) – this is about a Rwandan board game that people would bet their Inyambo cows for. If you won, you’d win two Inyambo cows. But if you lost, you’d donate your son to the King’s…
Group 5: Ababeramuco Group Story
…on who is very selfish and doesn’t appreciate others. The song is telling him to stop and how to be a good person. Segihobe – Written and performed by Rusatsi Gerard on the Umuduri. A description of how to live life, how to dress and day to day life. It gives advice about how to live a good life. Amaribajinka (To Take a Drink) – Written and performed by Motabaruka Sylvane on the Iningiri. About taking the cows to drink water. Jado confirms we’ve h…
The Luo of Kenya Album
…shores of Lake Victoria at the Homa Bay Hotel is also included. The final day of recording on the trip saw us head to Rongo – and the settings of Dinky’s Resort Club. The Otacho Young stars, whose image graces the album cover, are featured, as are the Kanindi Jazz Band and Josey Kokeo, performing a special collaboration. As an added extra, also on the album are ‘influences tracks’, recorded in the field. Ketebul Music artist Winyo collaborated du…
Group 9: Impara Band Story
…ged and the bride would meet her husband for the first time on her wedding day. She would be scared and sad to leave her family. Ntugasaze, “Never Get Old”. Traditional song about the appreciation of the elders and all they have done in their lives. Nyiramariza, a girl’s name. Traditional song about a girl who is very elegant and would never work. She was so aloof and superior that she would only speak to white people and forgot to speak Kinyarwan…
Group 7: The Impano Group Story
…Kabanyana (“Bride”) – a song traditionally sung for a bride on her wedding day Ndabigukundira (“Why I love you”) – this is a gentle love song, an original by Yvanny, that lists the five reasons why the singer loves his woman Sakabaka (“Eagle”) – this is an original song by Yvanny about an eagle flying, and the group did a lovely eagle dance move to accompany it Kumuyira – this traditional song is set in Kumuyira, an old name for a place in Rwanda…
Ayub Ogada Group
…original and pertinent for our Masters of the Nyatiti story. We spent the day at his home in Nyahera location, not far from Kisumu town, and conducted a long yet free of form type of interview. Although a Luo himself, Ayub had never learned how to play the nyatiti in a traditional setting. He picked it up later in his career and studied from a player/teacher at the national cultural centre of Bomas of Kenya in the 1980s. He remembers he had gone…
Day Zero: 6 March 2022 – Travel To Stream Story
…t admit ticket holders into the virtual performance. The result was that a number of live streaming studios where performers book sessions to perform and stream their concerts sprung up in Nairobi. Some venues also adapted to hosting online performances, directly streaming shows to mobile devices and computers of audiences wherever they may be. With the prevailing situation, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the ability of performers to ea…
Ketebul Music Group
…ral identity and also recognizes the special role that artistes play every day in people’s lives. History of Ketebul Music Ketebul Music was established in early 2007 with the ambitious vision to carry out research and promote the diverse fusion of traditional sounds of Kenya and East Africa through the documentation and archiving of the work of musicians who have shaped the various genres of music from the region over the past six decades. In bro…
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…music. If you look at most circus troupes that are touring in the world today, a huge number of the acrobats and clowns are Tanzanian.” Singing Wells Influences: Kahithe One of our recent Singing Wells Influences was dancer and researcher, Kahithe. She has extensive experience in ethnographic research and fieldwork management, as well as 8 years of experience in ethnomusicological research in East Africa, with a special focus on dance traditions…
Introduction: Project overview and objectives Story
…ld recordings this report is based on were thus conducted in Lake Region of Kenya, notably in Kisumu and Siaya Counties. The details of these recordings will be described in a day to day report and followed by an evaluation of their success and comments on the general framework of the project series….