The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…annels for more critical aid And this is our emerging insight. Perhaps the best proxy for sustainable aid to a village is to follow the music. Where there’s a strong, vibrant and young musical group, you’ll find, in most cases, the necessary structures, through which you can funnel aid. You’ll find a village that is still telling its stories, still encouraging rites of passage, still bringing young and old together to celebrate life through the pa…
What people say about Singing Wells News
……it’s great that you are dedicated to keeping indigenous music alive. Very best wishes and I hope we can keep in touch.” Scott Mathews, Music Producer, California: “…what you are doing as a non-profit is very special and soulful. I firstly want to congratulate you on your efforts and achievements and secondly let you know I am here in California wondering if there is anything I can do to help out…? If the timing wasn’t so tight, I’d love to join y…
Kampala traffic jam Story
…hs to plan the itinerary for our field recording trips so that we make the best use of the limited time we have. Steve K from Ketebul Music is our Africa Project Manager and he does an amazing job in the weeks prior to the trip, contacting music groups, booking local accommodation and arranging vehicles and drivers to transport us to some very remote destinations. But even Steve’s meticulous planning could not help us avoid the infamous Kampala tr…
73,603 views on YouTube News
…ls YouTube channel……73,603 views and still counting! It’s not a meaningful number in itself (like a nice round 100,000 – our next target) but it does mean more and more people are finding us and enjoying what we are all about – bringing the more traditional sounds of East Africa to an enthusiastic audience. Thanks for watching! Our top 3 video hits In third place, this is the Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club from Sita Village, Gede in Kenya’s Malindi…
A new type of city Story
…hat the capital would be like; this image speaks a lot about the city. The number of ‘proper’ buildings were few and in only the small centre. It was hilly and most of the roads were not built for vehicles. The shops were small shacks mostly and at night stayed open, lit by candle light. There were animals everywhere and make-shift houses, which starkly contrasted to the taller office buildings you could see in the distance. Despite this unconvent…
The Boy with the Headphones Story
…hen we travelled to the Mperwa Batwa community. Consisting of just a small number of families, the Mperwa have settled on a small area of borrowed land just a few kilometres from the town. At first glance the setting appeared to be spectacular, with the lush valley and terraced hills of local farms as a backdrop and the magnificent Virunga volcanos in the distance. But we were quickly struck by the impoverishment of this small community. As we a…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…hile to define exactly what to do. Finally there was a eureka moment – the best thing we could do was to go the musicians, to their villages, to their homes and record them with their families. We would record them singing their songs to their children, three generations dancing together in their village. Andy Patterson, who helped design the mobile studio, noted, ‘I’m a sound engineer and used to recording in professional studios, but I must say,…
Day 10: File Management at Ketebul Studios Story
…We wrap up with a long file sharing session – then the final Abublla Music gang heads to the airport for a flight to London while the Ketebul team returns to their homes and apartments for a well deserved rest!…
Day 9 (AM): Ketebul Studio – Influences session for Cheri Story
…re Wa Konde to come in and work on the verses. We asked them to find their best love song that fits the beat and recorded them. Their musicality is amazing and the lead was able to introduce a whole new melody over Stanley’s song and deliver it as Bishop reported with pitch/timing perfect. By this time Nyerere Wa Konde wrote a new part requiring a different bass and guitar for part of the song. They rushed into the control booth to offer something…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…ration. Every village had a group of young musicians and dancers. Some the best percussionists were 12-15 years old. Most of the best dancers were teenagers. You felt the next generation is passionate about the music and it is not just ‘a thing your grandparents did.’ This is really important. The key is that the traditional songs are taught to the children in the villages and then that the traditional music permiates into popular music. Northern…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…sits the staff would offer facilitation and would advise the groups on the best way of managing their groups. It is the same committee which usually selects the Batwa who are to perform to different occasions. All in all the staff performed to their expectations, thanks to them for their seriousness and dedication. BIRARA group This is one of the communities that is still cherishing music and dance as the Batwa culture it is still leading and very…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…ere ‘trained’ to shoot in a matter of days, and were periodically beaten a number of strokes depending on your age, in his case it was 300. Odika called it the ‘bush mind’, and sometimes even once soldiers returned that mind would come back again, in nightmares or in daily life. To help returning soldiers they were taken to Gulu Children of War Rehabilitation Centre for 6 months before going home, partly to make sure the rebels couldn’t find you i…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…e carved into a hill, with rows and rows of streets below us, and an equal number of streets and houses piled up above us. There were cars, motorbikes and taxi’s driving past and planes flying overhead. Everything was for sale by everyone who walked by. No sleeping cattle. No flower beds. But, as always, there was wonderful music. The first group was the Adungu Cultural Troupe, masters of the Adungu. We had interviewed their leader on our ‘recce’…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…ome time. We’re 50% of the way there we think. Better than we were but the best is still to come. As we write this in pitch black we’ve turned on to the Kenya road that links Nairobi to Kampala. We turned right toward Kampala and now are in bumper to bumper traffic. Strangely this is comforting as we know legions of cars ahead of us have pushed the scary things in the shadows further and further onto the shoulder. The only negative is when our dri…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…with his father’s group and then he founded this group in 2007. They use a number of styles, most notably Sengenya, which we covered fully in our March 2011 field recordings in Malindi. We interviewed Swalhe Mwatela Massai and his grandson, Ali Tungwa : Q to the grandfather: In contrast to Uganda, we have seen many villages in Kenya where the traditional music is only played by the older generation. And yet your group is so young and vibrant. Ho…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
A day of two halves, with one of our best village visits combined with a long, nightmare journey to Kampala. The Macedonia Band We met the leader of the Macedonia Band at the Soroti Hotel and he led us to his village, Obuell-Lira, a 30 minute drive down rich clay roads. On the way, Joshua told us about the history of the group, which was founded in 1982. The group and its song Uganda Land of Freedom is legendary in the Teso region (the name for t…