Day One: February 16, 2020 (Ngawala Hotel) Story
…The group is from Rahaleo and normally they have 28 members but brought 9 for the performance. The members included: Topsy Surrie (Oud, a beautiful version with inlay), Asha Khamisi Amur (violin and background vocals), Tatu Hamisi Amur (accordion and backing vocals), Ummy Suleiman Alli (violin and background vocals), Mtuswma Makame Seheli (percussion), Zainabu Wazari (tablah drum), Zainabu Mdiliko (accordion) and Fatima Yuma (bongos). The group h…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…embers of his group, of which 100 are performers. They are roughly divided between the two bands. For income, they do performances and also work four acres of land to feed themselves. Many of the members also do arts and crafts or a skilled trade – Julius’s dream is to open up a hair and beauty studio so they can support the bride with her beauty and music. He hopes the troupe will give them opportunities to travel away from their homes, but also…
Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…joy it and have created their own brass bands. This band has been together for 20 years. Performers: Salmin Ali Borafya (trumpet, leader), Ali Borafya (base drum), Fatihi Hassan (trombone), Ali Rajab (trombone), Ahmed Hassan (drum), Mahmud Ali (cymbal), Abdalla Iddi (tabla). Dancers/singers: Pili Idi (lead singer) Aisha Khamis, Zainab Khamisi, Aldeh Jonas, Nafla Khamis. Director: Omar Mohamed – he didn’t play in the band but directed it and spoke…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…k almost an hour for the two to figure out Akwabi’s unorthodox, expressive free style for most of his songs before the actual recording began at 2:00pm. After a few false starts we finished the recordings of Peter Akwabi at 4:00 PM with his latest song which is a tribute to D.O. Misiani, the maestro of benga music who died in the lakeside city in May 2006. Next on stage was Olith Ratego, a musician whose unique dodo style is one of the oldest form…
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…rs and musicians, b) we have three video cameras operating – one wide shot for full performance, one close up to capture details of instruments and one roving camera to provide a second angle on the performance and c) we interview all group leaders to understand group musical styles and background, instruments and songs. In almost every village, we struggle with spellings of songs and instruments as these can differ by village and by band. We full…
Here for Research? Page
…here to browse through groups by Location or Genre, or to search directly for a Group that we have met. Each page has information about the group, videos from our visit, recording information and any related content we have about them on the site. Group Map The groups we have met, presented on a map so you can see each region that the group is from. A brilliant resource and great for comparing musical styles amongst groups that are local to each…
Here for the Music? Page
…find moments to take some beautiful photography of our surroundings. Head here to see some images of our time on the field, the people we meet and the stunning scenery. YouTube You can find the full collection of our video recordings on our Youtube channel. With over 500+ videos for you to choose from, delve into the world of East African music and dance with us. “We set out on this mission not to become ‘fossil collectors’… We work with musicia…
Day Two: 8 March 2022 (Ilesi) Story
…the nearby Ilesi center. We returned to the Josephine Garden just in time for the last orders that evening. Profile: Obasie Palyang Band The Obasie Palnyang Band was founded by the veteran Iteso musician Obasie Palnyang, an accomplished accordion player and folk singer who died on 27 May 2021. The band currently features his three daughters, Monica Obali, Millicent Akorot and Caroline Obasie on vocals with their two brothers, Donald and Tobias Ob…
FAQ’s Page
…oject goals. You can specify just how much you would like to spend and on what. For example, you could sponsor a song, a group or a whole field recording day during our next field visit in East Africa. Or you could sponsor one of our annual CD/DVD collections. Either way, we guarantee that your money will be spent on the ground in Africa. (Note: representatives of Abubilla Music who work on the project are either volunteers or are personally funde…
Day Zero: 6 March 2022 – Travel To Stream Story
…ons. Another possibility was to sell tickets with the use of online access codes that admit ticket holders into the virtual performance. The result was that a number of live streaming studios where performers book sessions to perform and stream their concerts sprung up in Nairobi. Some venues also adapted to hosting online performances, directly streaming shows to mobile devices and computers of audiences wherever they may be. With the prevailing…
Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…he completion of this project, we did not have time to conduct a recce and for that reason we came to realize rather late that 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 Mukab…
Super Phoenix Band Group
…s 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 don’t know: Fadhilee then taught the band to play his song, We Don’t Know. This is about politicians who pay lots of attention to voters when it is election time but then are never…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…lead and one rhythm, a water dispenser drum and vocals only, the group performed for us six original compositions. Among them, the popular hit composed by Luseno in 2006 entitled “Mukangala”. This inspired Fadhilee to join in and we recorded “Mukangala” Influences. Fadhilee also shared one of his original compositions called “We don’t know”, which we recorded in two versions, accompanied by Itenya on guitar only and accompanied by his back-vocals…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…What we love most about this project is that it is providing opportunities for free education to these young people, as learning an instrument can provide opportunities for scholarships to local schools. Some of the children here tell us about their reasons for learning the instruments, what other instruments they are learning and how they are enjoying the process. We cannot wait to see their progress and finally watch them perform with this incre…
Global Influences Project: Artist Submissions Page
…always believed in selecting the best drums and sounds for 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 diffe…
Ayub Ogada Group
…me in Nyahera location, not far from Kisumu town, and conducted a long yet free of form type of interview. Although a Luo himself, Ayub had never learned how to play the nyatiti in a traditional setting. He picked it up later in his career and studied from a player/teacher at the national cultural centre of Bomas of Kenya in the 1980s. He remembers he had gone for 6 lessons (at a 100 shillings) only and then continued practicing and experimenting…