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 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…t Guesthouse Ensemble Okay, we’ll work on the name. But this is our first super group. The Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young of East Africa. We had Passy, Jacinta, Maita, James (our musical leader in Uganda and co-founder of Nile Beat Artists) and Jovah, the wonderful female singer we first listened to in Kisoro and then again in Nairobi. We will talk more about Jovah below. The group practiced and performed two songs: Ugandan Lullaby: We knew that J…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…ed the night before and morning so everything was glistening. The Music Groups Bukaala Twesitule Troupe Their Leader is Charles Ikula and they were started in 1991, with over 200 members, 50 of whom are active. Musical style is Baganda. Group performs in different areas, mainly engaged in advocation and sensitization on social awareness and theatre. Their instruments include: Amadinda: Xylophone Endingidi: Tube Fiddle Emlwanzi: Pan Flute Adungu: H…
Kenya’s Amazing Musical Instruments News
…played with a bow, whose notes are created by finger pressure against the central stick, producing the effect of ‘fretting’ notes. Watch here as the Aloka Ohangla Group plays “Nyar Karapul” (the Orutu is on the far left): Nyangile The Nyangile is a Luo instrument whose name literally means “box.” To play it, a musician holds two metal rings called “ogeng’”, one in his right hand, one with his right big toe. Both are placed on a wooden box. With h…
Interview: fusion band Ndoto Afrika News
…t cases are the radio favourites. A brother has to dream on though, giving up is so ‘unAfrican’ they say. Anything else you want us to know? In the banks of these rivers, shoes of these great lakes, thickets of these forests and slopes of these mountains, there lies a sound so beautiful and pure that you can never find anywhere the world over. The African sound is just so unique and diverse that you can’t help but love it. And we will be bringing…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…we were ready to record at about noon. There were founded in 1990. The group were voted group of the year in Uganda in 2004. Their leader is Haruna Walusimbi. They have 4-5 drummers depending on the song, 2-3 flute players, 2 tube fiddle players and 2 thumb pianos. They also have the traditional Ugandan Xylophone. All instrumentalists also sing and are supported by three ladies who sing and dance. The three core members are: Walusimbi Nsibambi Ha…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…es at Kyambogo to implement our entenga restoration scheme to preserve and promote this traditional instrument for future generations. Students practice entenga drum-chime at Kyambogo in 1968 (Musisi is furthest from the camera) Peter’s research into African music is extensive. “It all began in 1964, a few weeks before travelling out to begin teaching in Kampala, Uganda,” says Peter. “On the stage of the Prince’s Theatre, London, I received my fir…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…coordinator and lead female vocalist in the group is Irene Nabirye. The group is made up of 6-7 Bigwala players and drummers, plus dancers and singers. They performed four songs and then we did a magic moment with their instruments; these were: Muwe Bwobona Asaba: When someone asks you kindly assist them Mperekera Omwana Womurembe: When you are walking and living with someone by your side, they are the special one and you don’t look at anyone else…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…her beauty and music. We are here on site to listen to three different groups. The Elgon Ngoma Troupe Julius wanted to make sure we opened our morning with him with two major performances from the Elgon Ngoma Troupe, both centered around the tradition of circumcision to mark a boy’s transition from child to man. “In our tradition, if you are 80 years old and have not gone through the ritual of circumcision, you are not a man and cannot sit at the…
Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…cing and general throw-abouts. Lots of fun. James Isabirye said of this group, “This is group is the culture symbol of Namaddu – everything they do is a ritual. They will never perform without a drummer, without a specific conflict during the ritual. They must bring out props and everything means something. Everything is hugely symbolic. While there are many people performing, there is always only one person singing AND they must also be to play d…
Happy new year from Singing Wells News
…tional East African music. Before we start posting exciting news about the upcoming year, here’s a quick recap of what we got up to in 2015: 1. We went discovering the lost music of the Ugandan Kingdoms In Nov/ Dec 2015 we travelled between Kampala and Jinja in Uganda in search of the lost music and musicians of the royal palaces. We posted regular updates about our journey and the incredible people we met along the way. You can read them on our F…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…ond group). We talked to James Isabirye, our musical expert, about this group. “This group does not perform formally anymore, because they have no platform. The King invited them to play but no longer does. They have great songs, they have a great history but today they are silent. No one asks to listen to them. This is so sad. How do we revive demand for what was one of the sixth great ensemble bands commission by the king to play exclusively in…
Singing Wells surpasses 500,000 YouTube hits! News
…n 2011. A brief collage of the story of the recording of the music of The Batwa in Uganda and then back in Nairobi at Ketebul Studios. The Watmon Cultural Group, recorded in December 2012. The Elgon Ngoma Troupe sing about the circumcision ritual….
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…nment of the Airport Guesthouse. An early start the next day meant not staying up long on arrival – little did we know that a thunderstorm of biblical proportions was on its way….. A Note About Our Sponsors We are very grateful to have two sponsors for this recording trip. Firstly, The Mara Group are sponsoring a full recording day and have chosen to support our day in Mbale (Day 4: Thursday 21st Nov). We are also very pleased to have the support…
Rediscovering Afropop and its influences News
…r music as ‘Afropop’, a contemporary music genre that combines traditional African music and Western popular music. Afropop influences The Sauti Sol band members have named a musician that influences them as Daudi Kabaka. Kabaka was a popular Kenyan artist whose songs include African Twist.The traditional Benga sound is about 60 years old with its formative years occurring between the late 1950s and the 1960s. Its roots run deep in age-old Luo mus…
Discussions on music and culture with a young Kenyan News
…challenge. It’s just not where the energy is. Well we’re not going to give up that easily, so what can we do to excite people? One of the challenges with building any kind of platform or promoting an initiative to young people is that it has to connect really closely with what they stand for and believe in, otherwise it won’t work. If you could find a way of making Singing Wells relate to what young people believe in, that might just work. I recko…