Before They Pass Away News
…only shares the wonderful cultures and traditions of these people with the world, but also serves to highlight the struggles these communities face: constant threats of displacement from their land, potentially deadly diseases brought by newcomers, and loss of the habitat on which they rely. It’s now more important than ever to understand, respect and celebrate the world’s indigenous cultures and remaining tribes, before it’s too late. To find out…
Happy new year from Singing Wells News
…e checked in on the preservation of the Bigwala trumpets The Bigwala is a trumpet-style instrument made from gourds. Singing Wells has been supporting the work of James Isabirye to preserve this fantastic traditional instrument, so in 2015 we went back to Uganda to check on the progress of the project. 4. We learned about the art of drum making During our 2015 trip to Uganda, we had the privilege of being able to watch and record the making of the…
We’re discovering the lost music of the Ugandan Kingdoms News
…s field trip Interviews with the palace players and a great deal of information on the art of drum making You can also keep up to date with our latest news from the field via our Twitter and Facebook pages….
Singing Wells surpasses 500,000 YouTube hits! News
…we’ve found an extra-special artist on our journeys and recorded their work. To celebrate our 500,000th YouTube hit, we’ve put together a selection of our most popular videos. We hope you enjoy, and please keep visiting our channel and sharing the traditional music of East Africa with the world. Recording Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club perform in Gede, Kilifi, Kenya on our Singing Wells Pilot trip in 2011. A brief collage of the story of the recordi…
Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…e other cultures and share our own. I think there is a place for us in the world market and we haven’t tapped into it yet. For a long time Kenyan’s have just been music consumers. In exchange for our buying other’s music, we want them to see them buying ours. Who inspires you, and who are your influences? Anyone who is doing something original inspires me. I don’t like copycats. I like music from Jazz to Hip Hop as long as it sounds original. In t…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…tures in his masterpiece Soge (and this is the tube fiddle, the sister instrument of the Orutu which inspired Benge in the Luo tribes): What do Singing Wells, Jimmie Rogers and ILAM have in common? Read here. The Otacho Young Stars and the Sadness of Joyous Praise: Travelling around Africa you always pray a little to the gods above that Africans would enjoy the benefits of a few more responsible folks with power, in power. And then we ran into t…
Current Leading Figures News
…it all. where is culture? How much support would one expect?” Words that truly reinforce the crucial work of many of the individuals and organisations explored throughout this series, along with all the work that James does himself. His students at the university perform at carol services, annual university graduation ceremonies to a crowd of over 40,000 people, and perform every Wednesday to each other during a recital hour. However, when asked…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…he album Delicious Peace: Coffee, Music & Interfaith Harmony in Uganda. 5. BBC Radio 3: World Music Audio Archive Presented by Lucy Duran, the World Routes programme on BBC Radio 3 is a mixture of interviews with top performers, live concerts, a monthly CD round-up, and special location features. For 13 years the programme has been exploring the globe and making on site recordings of world music, whilst also giving some background on the culture a…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…l recordings, in order to inspire his students. He was then transferred to run the music department in the National Teachers’ College at Kyambogo, where his recording work ‘took on even more importance.’ However, when it came to the archiving of Uganda tribal music, Cooke faced a disappointing set back; ‘It was important to leave copies of materials behind for further use by the Ugandans and others that followed me after I left [Uganda] in 1968. U…
Tracey Instrument Collection News
…n be found in many variations throughout East Africa and is considered the national instrument of the Baganda people. It is specially a Kiganda bowl lyre, with the face of the bowl covered with the skin of legavaan and laced to cow hide at the back. Klaus Wachsmann speculates that the instrument came to Uganda with the Luo people from Sudan in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, and, after passing through the Basoga people, reached the Baganda…
ILAM, Repatriation and Jimmie Rodgers/Chemirocha News
…illage music. We listen to the likembe music in Uganda and here the steel drums of Calypso music. We listen to Benga blues and here the music of Cuba, demanding that we look further into the circles travelled between musicians between the Congo and Cuba, and we listen to Samba drumming and particularly the tambourin only to be reminded of the Watmon Cultural Group’s use of the Calabash. Our heads appropriately spin and we’re happy about that. The…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…ontent and then worry about sales and marketing. No point in arguing about marketing until you have deep and rich content. Our government is pushing for local content which is good, but my view is that we first have to have great Kenyan content and then our people will want it because it is good not due to regulations. Spotlight: We are also working on Spotlight on Kenyan music Volume 6, having released Volume 5 in 2013. We have focused on the Ken…
The Birara Batwa Community Story
…c from Winyo, including ‘Imparake Yagahinga’, a song in celebration of the National Park which used to be the forest home of the Batwa. The Birara Singers stayed in Kisoro for the next two days and the female vocalists recorded more songs with Winyo. Francis also recorded two traditional Batwa songs: “Inanga Nyamunini” – The Biggest Guitar’. A song often performed at a celebration event in praise of all the beautiful things in the forest – honey,…
Preserving Threatened Heritage News
…Dongo, 79. Irene Nabirye, a resident of Butongole village, one of the two villages which play Bigwala music, attributes the music’s decline to two main factors: western influence and the 1966 abolition of kingdoms by former president Milton Obote. But, there is hope as the National Council of Forklorists in Uganda (NACOFU) has been helping the villagers to preserve the music, by encouraging them to grow gourd trumpets, teach it to the youth and in…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…e. The Evolving Markets discussion looked at both the African and Indian markets and how the markets are evolving. India was a particular suprise here – in a population of 1.2 billion, 50 % are under 30 and consuming music. In Africa – 60% have electricity whereas 86% have a mobile phone. This is again another area in which the Singing Wells project may be interested in the future – mobile phones and ring back tones as a method of delivery for m…
The Batwa Community Story
…their homelands, cutting back the forest to provide land for crops and livestock. However, it was in 1991, with the creation of formal conservation areas to protect the endangered mountain gorilla population and outlawing all human activity in the forests surrounding the Virunga mountains, when everything changed for the Ugandan Bawta. Unable to live and hunt in the forest, the Batwa were forced to live in areas not suited to their traditional way…