Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…for Singing Wells in Nairobi. Ketebul and Abubilla Music personnel joined together to record some of the most important ‘bridge’ artists in Kenya – a group of musicians that build a connection between the music of their villages and modern music. These were the founders of Benga, the African Twist, ‘Luhya Omutibo’ and the ‘Yoodle sound’ and represent the Luo, Luhya and Kikuyu ethnic communities. We dedicated six days of studio time at Ketebul Mus…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
…brant performers, racing all over the place. When we tried to contain them to get good vocals, we lost the explosive force of the drums. When we let them run wild it was pretty difficult to get a good vocal or audio take. Also, we were accidentally constraining them by asking them to go through their songs one by one, when in fact, what they loved to do was race through all the songs at once, in a single act. We finally sorted through all this tho…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…the chair from the ground and moved it to a new location. The boys decided to get an ‘arty’ picture with the chair. From the lovely views in Ruthumbi Forest, we then travelled back to Nkubu hotel to record three additional groups (our route is below). The first two we recorded in the main court yard and the last we recorded near the outside pub, where Gregg later served as a DJ. Muturi Wa Wandindi His actual name is Geoffrey Mutwiri, Mbaraka. He i…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…is twice, once with and one without the ladies humming (they needed to hum to get the beat right). Kangema Urban Women Group The group is led by Jacinta Njoki Mwangi and formed in 2006. The group plays in thee Gitiro style – the dance performed by women during ruracio, a dowry payment occasion. Gitiro: led by Jacinta Njoki. Ndumo (ya iritu): led by Jacinta and Mary Njoki. Kibuthi: led by Jacinta Njoki. Kangema Mwomboko Dancers The group is led by…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…about hearing the sounds of African music. Last night, she and Andy played together, with Andy working out a guitar part. So first, we recorded the two of 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….
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…endent Tanzania. “It was all about love, all about unity, all about coming together and building a new nation”, said Benson Rukantabula, who also works on the project. But as with any state-sponsored propaganda, some messages were politically acceptable, while others were not. Also in the archives are other historical gems, including speeches (there’s one the Aga Khan delivered in 1946, and reportedly another by Che Guevara), as well as the origin…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…d the factors influencing the spread of HIV and how the community can come together to deal with it. Very tragic song telling the story of deaths with man sobbing at one point. The Lead vocalist is Jane Babirye. Akabira (Worship Song): Means a small forest where spirits tend to run, deep in the trees and high in the mountains. But they are not always well cared for and they then tend to cause havoc with the rest of family members (please note simi…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…he only festival since 2005. Many people are performing around the country today due to those festivals. The group is very literate in music and we had a clear vision from 1990 of what we wanted to do. We are not doing badly and have a comfortable life from the performances. Some musicians who didn’t even have a bicycle not have houses. We are showing you can have a musical career. We are growing our knowledge and getting better at representing th…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…ty to help amplify instruments. Every time we try, we struggle but we have to get the solution.” Here’s their music: The Bakuseka Majja Matta Group Our final group was also a stand out act, with the legendary performer (yes, as Tabu said we had two legends of Ugandan music visit us today) – Natha Matta Nyende performing for us with his band the Bakuseka Majja Matta Group. Nathan is 76 years old and has been blind since 1956. He formed his group in…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…s with the main hotel (Vicki, Nick, Andy). We took showers, met for dinner and as we normally do at this point in our trip, we brainstormed a way to get the performers to join us at the hotel tomorrow. We’ll see!…
Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…ray – lots of partying, lots of late nights. The singers are deploring him to get a job, settle down, find a woman and return to the quiet, moral life of the village. Magic Moment: We concluded with a magic moment with the Omulere (flute) player and the Endingidi ( ‘tube fiddlers’) The flute player was George Wandela. The two Tube Fiddle players were Wilber Mutanse and Geoffrey Wamagaga. Here’s their music: While the dancing and percussion were fu…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…and they are from Masaka Nyendo. They have performed for roughly six years together and their musical style is Nganda from Buganda. They are called the ‘Boys’ band, but there are girls in the group too. They sang three songs: Mbidde (Medley): The Mbidde is the banana plant that makes the local brew and the song talks through each step to make the brew that locals consume (we will hear this song again from the Bukaala Twesitule Troupe): Butuuse: Th…
Sponsor a Singing Wells recording session News
…nning our next trip to record more of the traditional music of East Africa to take place in November 2015. Our Singing Wells trips generally last about 10 days, depending on how much ground we’re trying to cover. We also organise a pre-trip ‘recce’ where a smaller team visits the country/ region in advance to pre-record groups, identify key talent and make all the preparations to ensure we don’t waste a moment on the full trip later in the year. Y…
Who’s looking at you? Story
…This little fan joined us along Lake Victoria to record some of the best Nyatiti players in Kenya in November 2011….
Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…ment? The worst was the day when Jimmy poured water on Andy. He was trying to get something from the tent and somehow, I’m not sure how it happened, he ended up soaking Andy. Actually, thinking about it now it wasn’t the worst, it was pretty funny! The worst was driving from Mombasa to Malindi at night, it was dangerous. The road was narrow, unmarked and I didn’t like it. We said after this we wouldn’t do it again. Now we hardly drive at night. As…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…e session): The Royal Instruments of Uganda As mentioned, James is working to restore the royal instruments of Uganda. He supports the Bugando Musican Ensemble, which we recorded (click here) and he is trying to restore the The Bigwala (trumpet). There are few surviving musicians and we recorded some of the few players surviving. But what we loved about Uganda is all the great the instrument bands, from the Xylophone, to the Likembe, to the Adungu…