Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…at some of the venues chosen for the recordings had no main power outlets. Fortunately and for a nominal fee, good neighbors always came to our rescue by allowing us to tap into their main power supply lines with our snake cable. When all the issues were sorted out, the rest of the recording went smoothly with Johnstone Mukabi and the Omutibo Stars coming on stage at 11:00am. Accompanied by Francis Massanga on vocals, they were joined by guest mus…
Global Influences Project: Artist Submissions Page
…r each genre and that’s what we did here and we really appreciate you guys for believing in us.” We think what they created just from a percussion sample is amazing! If you want to find out more about Jay P Production, follow them @jay.p_production_kenya NG’AT MALER X OTACHO YOUNG STARS//NYATITI GROUP//WATMON CULTURAL GROUP We are loving this track from Ng’at Maler who utilises several different loops for his submission. He told us how the project…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…n are also taught about building the Embaire as well, creating instruments for themselves to learn on. In this first part, we look at how selecting the correct tree’s are integral (Despite the fact they are on the verge of extinction due to their large use in charcoal creation) and we look at how to shape these trees to create and tune each note on the Xylophone. From Embaire to Entongooli: Part 2 In this video, we continue to learn about the proc…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…notably bull-fighting (Mayo) songs, funeral (LWIKHULU) songs, wedding (SHISELELO) songs and circumcision (SHISHEBO) songs. Unfortunately, our daily programme was cut short by rain showers. DAY 6 – Thursday 22nd February 2018 On Thursday 22ndof February, in the interest of time, we set up a recording station in a friend’s compound in Ilesi town (location) of Shinyalu sub-county, Kakamega. We have decided to record several groups at that location…
Mohamed Uthman Kidumbak Group Group
…family. He became interested in Kidumbak style music at 16 and taught himself the violin and bass. He went to Egypt off and on for six years on a scholarship from the DCMA to study violin and the oud starting in 2000. He’s been teaching at the academy for 18 years. Members of this group include: Mohamed Othman Faki – leader, on violin, Kheri Mizaka Aliy on African Bass, Makame Ali Juma on drum, Buruhami Makame Haji on 2nd drum, Mgeni Seleiman Mak…
Support Singing Wells Page
…he Singing Wells project to record the songs of traditional music groups, help us tell their stories and keep their music traditions alive. Your donation to the project will be spent in East Africa and will go towards supporting music groups during their Singing Wells recording session. Each group receives a payment for their performance, which they can use to help them continue practicing and performing in the future. The songs and videos we reco…
Omong’oluk Traditional Dancers Group
…about the instruments and costumes used by the group; these included: Atenus: The bass drum Igelu: Shakers Akwara: Sticks Isiman: Jingles worn around the ankles Etwoo: A gourd that you blow into for a ‘bass’ beat. The dancers wore “Emukule”, skins of cows and more rarely, Cheetahs. One of the dancers wore a “Amugwar”, a head piece made up of antelope horns….
Imachina Group
…rather they keep to themselves until the fight. And then they win. The Shiselelo procession – this is for weddings. The songs include: Hoya: This is encouraging the groom to forward and be welcome. Mbabo: This is about everyone coming together for the wedding. Khuchende Pole: This song is telling everyone to walk slowly to and from the wedding so all the people can gather and honour the bride and groom. The Shishebo process – this is about rites o…
Recording Resources Page
…phers and ethnomusicologists. However, it has taken us time to really work out the best processes for working effectively out in the field. With that in mind, we have created some resources for other groups to use for working in the field. Please feel free to use the below resources for your field trips in whatever region you are based, and please do reach out to us. We love to meet others who are passionate about music in their own region! Villag…
Day Two: 8 March 2022 (Ilesi) Story
…We woke up to a misty morning on the second day of our recording. The plan for the day was to record the Obasie Palnyang band. Seeing the dark clouds hanging over the horizon we decided not to take any chances of being rained on so we arranged for Spade to pick up the musicians from Malaba and bring them to Josephine Garden in Ilesi. Like the Omutibo Stars and the Super Phoenix Band that we recorded the previous day, we had worked with the Obasie…
Super Phoenix Band Group
…to a rich man who askes a young man to watch after his house while he travels constantly for business. Soon the young man starts to pretend the house is his and also propositions the man’s wife to be with him. More generally, it is about many Kenyans that are asked to watch cars, or trucks or possessions and begin to tell others that they are the real owners. Mukangala instrumental as influences session with Fadhilee, our influences artist. We do…
Recording, archiving and sharing the traditional music of East Africa Page
…ous different instruments and styles of music we have encountered on our field trips. Here for the Music? Click here! Want to just enjoy some beautiful East African music and revel in some jaw-dropping performances? Head this way to see more videos of the inspiring performances we have captured on our field trips, incredible photography and purchase some of the albums we have recorded with the groups that we have met. Previous Next Click here to C…
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
…goma styles throughout Tanzania” Kidumbak: “Kidumbak is a music style closely related to taarab. It is less refined and more upbeat! Musically it falls between Taarab and Ngoma..[and is] typically played..with two small clay drums, a violin played in a frantic fiddler style, a sanduku (or the bass) and the cherewa, a kind of shaker made from coconut shells…” We will meet this style on our second day, group one: Mohamed Othman Kidumbak Group…
A Report by Professor James Isabirye – Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion News
…ions. He has also written a report analysing how indigenous learning can inform modern schooling, in which Singing Well’s gets a featured mention as collaborators within his project. You can read more about that here: https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/XGBCQ8EJIVZXHMMGUZ2V/full James Isabirye is a lecturer of music and music education in the Department of Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Kyambogo University, Uganda. His resea…
Fundraiser for Matthew Watmon News
…with Matthew’s brother, Constantine Odida ((MTN) +256-782-236-742 and (Airtel) +256-704-261-037). If you are based elsewhere in the world, we have created a GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mathew-watmon The donors of Abubilla Music Foundation, who support the Singing Wells project, will match these contributions up to £1000 so we greatly appreciate your support at this time. We are sending our prayers to Matthew and his family in…
Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
…this is a project worth showing people! We can’t wait to bring more songs and stories to the world. Keep an eye out on the Singing Wells Youtube channel for the footage and recordings from our field trip to Zanzibar and Pemba….