Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…e drums. I told Musisi, ‘please teach our boys 100 songs.’ I told Shaban, ‘you must learn every part and every song.’ And that is how we ended up on this road. We filmed the drums yesterday and today we are going to see the Bigwala and discuss more lessons learned. Tomorrow, we are going to find out how much more there is to do.”…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 2 – Flutes Story
…visit to Uganda and have invited them back to do studio recordings. But today, we focused on two things: 1) Discussing in detail some of our observations from our time exploring the royal instruments of the Kingdoms of Uganda. 2) Recording again Albert Ssempeke’s Buganda Music Ensemble. Given that we first decided to rediscover the Royal Drums after recording Albert’s group in 2013, we wanted to end this field visit with his recordings. Part two:…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…song-writing. Are all instruments the same? Here we are less sure. The xylophone is extraordinary and continues to thrive outside of palace life. Xylophones didn’t disappear in Uganda village life after the fall of the kingdoms in 1966 because they were part of village life. We don’t need to rediscover the xylophone and we are fairly sure it is not on the endangered list. Contemporary Ugandan musicians are incorporating the xylophone into contempo…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…didn’t live in the palace so we waited until we were called to play. Every day was a great day at the palace and the one thing I learned was to be humble. When the king came in and sat we had to sit on the floor. I am very comfortable sitting on the floor, showing that I have humility. On the day of the attack in 1966 I was actually at home because it was not my turn to play. But when the news came I grabbed my bike to go back to the palace, but a…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…art One: Drum Making The Singing Wells team was joined by James Isabirye today as we travelled to Mukono, to visit Ssebengwa Drum Makers (P.O. Box Mukono near Colline Hotel, Jinja Highway, opposite the Pork Joint). The shop is run by Abass Mirimu, a gentleman from the famous village of Mpambire which is known for its drum makers. Abass was the maker of some of the Entenga drums (the royal drums of the Buganda King). Above: Abass Mirimu To be speci…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…e short drum with a lizard-skin playing surface, and the bass drum The xylophone Here, we will focus on the players, verses the xylophone instrument itself. We have recorded a lot of Ugandan xylophones over the years, but this time we really wanted to understand the players themselves as the arrangement mirrors in many ways the royal drums. There are generally six players, 3 on each side, configured very roughly as follows (I say roughly, because…
Singing Wells Youtube Channel hits 2.5Million views News
…erere Wa Konde Music Club. This was filmed back in 2011, on the very first day of the Singing Wells pilot trip to Kenya. Seeing the generations of Nyerere’s family performing together was a special moment (his son Mr Bado is also a musician). We captured a great fusion of old and new https://youtu.be/-MU13FLg_io You also need to check out the Elgon Ngoma Troupe, performing a traditional circumcision ritual dance. Please keep following our channel…
Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…was really traumatic for me. I lost my home, my job, my music in a single day. I was just happy for the day to end. I’m telling you all this to tell you that this was the last day I played drums in the palace. I was arrested and I stayed in jail for a couple of weeks. Then, in 1966, I got employment at the Kyambogo music department for Peter Cooke (who was head of the music department at the time). It was then called the National Teachers’ Colleg…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…me at the palace. In terms of the music, we recorded the following songs today: Ganga Alula Omusango gw’abalere Mubandusa Ekyuuma kya Bboola Veneneka Olugambo olubuulire Sekanyolya The Drummers In terms of the moment, let’s stress a few things: These drums are magnificent. They are actually 15 drums, 12 of which are tuned to the notes of a xylophone and thus we are hearing a full song – percussion, bass, rhythms and melodies across the six players…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…grew as they played. Here are four things we learned about these drums on Day 1: There are 15 drums. 12 of the drums operate as a collection, set in stands off the ground and as you face them, they move from largest to smallest, right to left. All these drums are played with the Enga, the curved drum stick. Again, as you face them, to the right of the smallest drum are three standalone drums, played with different sticks much thicker than the Eng…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…that say ‘see our animals not our people.’ And business is looking for big numbers which means popular things, which sadly means easy to digest, disposable pop culture. The whole drive to “marketing” is killing our culture. If the numbers don’t come in on something than you stop it. But culture is hard to really invest in. You don’t go for the popular musicians doing the big things. You have to go to the real groups in the rural villages. And they…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…he Kondele “Beer Belt” in Kisumu comes alive every night, peaking on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Almost every pub has some make-shift band and some groups have been lucky enough to make a breakthrough nationally. But in many ways, Benga is caught in a time-warp. Shapers of Benga Perhaps the best known Benga artiste in Kenya and abroad is Daniel Owino Misiani, commonly known as D.O. Many Benga musicians, including those from other c…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…ings backing vocals on our recordings. They have a regular gig every Wednesday through Saturday in a place called the Bumira Centre. He’s teaching him the old Benga sound and they are composing new songs. One of the interesting conversations we had with him in the studio was about how current music is written. In his day, he wrote songs and performed them for a full year before bringing them into the studio – by that time he knew what worked with…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
Our final day. We woke, drove our waitress nuts with sequential breakfast order and departed for Mukuuni: We arrived on the site, the playing fields of the Mukuuni High School. We’re here to record one band, the Original Chuka Drummers, led by Eustace Mjuki Bundi. They are 30 males who all play drums except for their banner waver. They were formed in 1930 and have spawned so many imitations that they had to add the word ‘original’ to their name….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…en and children. They are also taught what will be expected of them on the day of the ritual and after as they start their lives as men. On the day of the circumcision, they are woken very early and taken as a group down to the local river and they are covered in mud. This is meant to be an anesthetic and the boys are told it will help them with the circumcision. They are then told to march to the site of the circumcision itself – in Steve’s case,…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…p under a tree and recording 4 separate groups, all of whom stayed for the day. The 80 or so band members, all in full costume, were scattered across our 100 meter field. Unfortunately, the field was also shared by biting red ants – this created some interesting video moments, trying to keep the camera steady, while large chunks of your lower leg were being carted away. We recorded four groups. The Music Groups Gacharaigu Gitiro Women Group The gr…