An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…feel the rhythms and I try to teach them what I’m doing, but I also adapt to how they feel the music. I let them take the music where they want to take it as long as it is rooted in our traditions. I just watch them dance and move and create the linkages. Q to the grandson: Why are you doing this? Are you viewed as cool by your friends, or somewhat ‘out of touch’? A: Maybe it’s the friends I pick, but I’m viewed as a role model by my friends. I p…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…ng the weaknesses of 1 and 2’s position). We even sorted out after a while how to stop the groups from starting the song while our poor clapper board person (Nick) was still running from the shot. Third, we then had to sort out interviews and research. We’re really good now at doing interviews on songs, villages and groups and supporting that with research. This all sounds like pretty basic things and we agree. But imagine arriving at a village th…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…e band’ played for the rebels and were visited by all the leaders. They refused, however, to play rebel songs or support the rebel side. They said over and over again the music was neutral and only had alligience to Uganda not to one side or the other in the war. There were lots of scary moments when rebels would try to force them to declare alligence or die. But by miracle the rebel leaders let them live and play music as neutrals. In 1992, the U…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…things Uganda. These are the background colours over which you splash the yellow of bananas, the blacks of clay pots, the grays of cutting boards, etc… And now a word about the genders. Hmmm. Let’s see how to put this. We see women working for dawn to dusk, with babies tied to their backs. We see men sitting in blue plastic chairs under big trees. Jimmy On the road to Soroti …
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…kids, over our equipment and through performers Part of our routine now is to have Vicki on top of one of the vans to get a good 3rd angle (much of the Acholi dancing involves circling a drummer, meaning you can’t see said drummer unless from above…) The Music Groups Rubanga Kingom (Awach Boys) Our first group was Rubanga Kingom (Awach Boys), a full Likembe band. They formed thirty years ago and their goal is ‘Edu-Tainment’, helping African childr…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…crease 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 selected so it can easily fit into four rugged peli-cases which protect everything while in…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…) and the Gwara (calabash or tambourin with Samba drumming, in this case a tortoise sized shell that they hit with a brush of wire). In addition, one of the groups featured the Uvure, a wonderful horn. The Uvure in action… Omee Odokomit Our first group was Omee Odokomit, who played Apiri style. The group is led by Evelyn Ojok and was formed in 1981, disbanded for the war and reformed in 1999. The leader summons the band to practice by playing drum…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…ue Foundation in 2011. They were keen on this new technique and trained me to use it for mapping health data in Ghana (example shown below). This was in collaboration with Harvard University. Following on that I spent some time working with the GIS department at Harvard in Boston specifically learning how to use the mapping software, and I also attended GIS classes given at Harvard. I then brought the idea to Singing Wells when I began work in the…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…ns made functional. The harp is constantly evolving, and while in the past tortoise shell was used to make it, it is now largely made out of wood. They come in a variety of different sizes and are often played as an ensemble: Tradition: Traditionally, the harpist was the only musician ever allowed to play in the room of the royal ladies, whilst there would often have been a harpist situated in the Kabaka’s palace (the chief of the Baganda tribe in…
Day 6: Recording the Tugen & back to Nairobi Story
…ge rescue and then again went crossed to head back to Nairobi. That brings to six the total Singing Wells Equator crossings in the last 12 weeks. Arrival We arrived in Nairobi safe and sound at about 10pm, having survived the wonderful horrors of the road. We actually breezed through a traffic free Nairobi, although Tabu was at war with the GPS and decided to go his own way. The GPS, which had served us well for 1,000Kms, was not happy and yelled…
Day 3 continued – an interview with Steve Kivutia Story
…llage and two groups stranded and wet. As we write this we are working out how to see them this week. Chelagat Lebo – ‘Chela’ Finally, we have been joined by Chela. She’s amazing and was there taking down the tent during the deluge. It should be noted that most of the Singing Wells crew were in the vans by this time. Chela is a professional documentary maker and Kathy interviewed her in detail. That’s it. We are spending our evening backing up fil…
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…ager, was cracking the whip. Pato, head of Video, was quickly learning how to use the new lighting kit (SW 4), but he was constantly distracted by the new Singing Wells Flip Camera. Nick focused on learning the Clapperboard. And Willie joined Jimmy in the studio with Johnnie, the guitarist, to lay down some guitar tracks for the new fund raising song, Missing – Global Remix. An interview with Tabu The the midst of all the packing chaos, Hunter and…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…tely stunned. Henry explains that this lady would need to make the journey to town 2 or 3 times a week, leaving her home one day, staying with another Batwa community overnight and returning the next. Extraordinary. Getting a lift in the van saved her half a day’s walk. The van pulls up on the track and Henry says we are there – or nearly there. The village is just up here he says, pointing to the top of the hill which looms high above us. We can…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…y Neza to see if he would be willing to travel with a selection of singers to Nairobi. We told him if he left immediately he would probably make it back to Nairobi at the same time we did. We called him on Monday the 28th of November, hoping he could make it to Nairobi by the 2nd of December. It is a sign of Henry’s amazing devotion to the Batwa cause that he said yes to such a request. First, their travel story. He was able to contact all the sin…
How To (Arc)Map News
…ng and replicate it. To that end, Singing Wells will be blogging about how to use ArcMap 10 and what exactly we’re doing with it, so anyone with access to it can understand and follow along (and that includes members of the Singing Wells team itself). Watch this space for future posts, and if you’re interested in ArcMap, you can find out more here. You can also check out their non-profit organisations’ scheme, which allows registered charities acc…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…of the roots of Bob Dylan… https://youtu.be/iRQlHbyzoKM https://youtu.be/9Qx_vs2Uw-U https://youtu.be/bmFyePat-VY https://youtu.be/HRXyT1czwG8 https://youtu.be/4jnrLn92SxA And with the Jose recording, we officially finished our November field trip, which took us to Rwanda, Uganda and Lake Victoria. Tomorrow we head back to Nairobi where we will be greeted by the Batwa singers and musicians we invited back to record in the studio. They have been tr…