Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…d and rose to brush my teeth as I always do. But the guns got louder – the Central Government was attacking the Buganda Kingdom and had attacked the Parliament first, which was about a kilometer away from the palace. I realized it was very real when bullets started hitting the palace and the hut where we kept our drums caught fire. People started running around all over and I was getting scared, but I still carried my toothbrush. I was only 15 or…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…orded the Entenga in the 1950s, and thanks to the International Library of African Music we brought his recordings with us and have repatriated the music back to Uganda. In addition, Lois Anderson recorded some performances of surviving musicians, wrote about the tradition and published transcriptions of about 26 tunes. His articles, ‘The Entenga tuned-drum ensemble’ (1968) and ‘Essays for a humanist: an offering to Klaus Wachsmann’ (New York, 197…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…nal to be a development expert, was also a keen expert on the music of the Central and Eastern region of Kenya. He was in charge of interviews on the trip and did a fantastic job. We had the opportunity to interview him during our days recording in Nairobi. SW: What was the most surprising thing about the trip? GT: To know that this tribal music is available out in the villages. There were people singing and dancing to preserve the music – this is…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…as West Africa and as Mangwana once confessed, it was this sound and West African highlife that the people loved. The African All Stars added elements of this energetic rhythm to the existing Congolese rumba. In the 1980s some members of the African All Stars moved to Paris and formed the Four Stars (Les Quatre Etoiles) and became the base for the fast-paced Congolese music production spiced with additional Caribbean influences like zouk. This mu…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…o Obuyanzi Kali Munda Olubo Mary Queen John Nzanze One of the founders of “African Twist”, John enjoyed a major hit with ‘Angelique Twist’ in 1961. Born in 1940, he started playing his father’s guitar at 12. His band, Air Fiesta Matata, achieved fame, having come in third in the 1968 All African Music Festival in Algeria, and this led to introductions to Miles Davis and a tour of the USA. Angelique Twist Twist ni Nzuri Tama Amina Makashi ya Mrembo…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
…The final day – we record the Original Chuka Drummers and then head back to Nairobi, concluding our field visit to Central and Eastern Kenya….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…Video 1’s location. This is a balance. We want to give the groups complete freedom to perform as they would normally do, without our intervention. But we also need a good recording – and too often the groups will stray far off camera and far away from the mics. Or, as often can happen, the leader will plant him or herself directly in front of Video 1, meaning we don’t get a take of the groups. Finally, we use lapel mics on the lead singers so ther…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…A trip down and up the hill to record three lovely women groups. We were also introduced to Ndaiga Muchiri, the mad Karingaringa player. We’ll hear more from him tomorrow….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…A wonderful day at the Kiongwe Market recording four women groups from Kiogwe Village. Lots of Ileve (Tin Shakers) and Vilingi (Whistles)…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 0 – London/Nairobi Story
…Day 0 is always a day of prep and planes. The Ketebul and Abubilla Music teams, with assorted guests, assemble in Nairobi to launch the first of our 2014 Field Recordings; this time focused on Central and Eastern Kenya. Here’s our team….
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…them. Then, we decided that if she was writing about hearing the sounds of African music, she should hear the sounds. So James worked with Jovah on a beautiful line, where she sang about the Batwa people being driven from the parks. Then Passy worked on a separate melody line followed by James. So Andy started, Jovah then sang her line for a while and Passy joined followed by James. And then Jacinta started her part of the song about hearing the s…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…two beautiful Kampala Locations, two great bands: we started at Kyamboed University to record the Bukaala Twesitule Troupe and then travelled to the Ugandan Musuem to record the Buganda Music Ensemble led by Albert Bisaso Ssempeke Jr…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…o is very bitter because her mother will not let her play with her friends freely. The mother explains to her that she was barren but the spirits helped her to conceive. The spirits set the condition, however: that she should never play in the rain. Amagombe: This is a song about the death of the leader’s father. He wrote it after his father’s death. 95% of the song is about what his father told him before he died. Ebibira: This song talks about t…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…We stayed in the wonderful Gately Hotel on the Nile in Jinja to record three groups: The Bigwala Cultural Group, Adagha Nalya Drama Group and The Bakuseka Majja Matta Group. We shall refer to this day as “Two Legends and a Lot of Big Horns”…
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…it just about Tanzania; Benson also has a bigger point to prove about East African music. “Many people think that the only place where you can find really good African music is in West Africa”, he says. “We can say to people, hey, it’s not all about Kilimanjaro and the national parks. We also have cool music.” We wish them all the best, and hope one day to take a trip to Tanzania for a few recording sessions of our own! Check out the Tanzania Heri…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…rted with an Influences Song with Jacinta – they performed the traditional African song, Malaika. American Farewell: After this they performed American Farewell (originally called “Wimoweh” and popularised as “A lion sleeps tonight”). Altawale. This was a great combination of heavy brass, traditional drums, marching band drums and a good old fashioned American Marching Band Twirler, straight from Music Man. Here’s their music: We loved what Julius…