Irimbene Cultural Dancers and Self-Help Group Group
… Irimbene Cultural Dancers and Self-help Group, formed in 2000 with 21 young men, and is led by Edward Kiogura. They play in the Authi style and are from the Ameru ethnic community, from the Irimbene Village, upper Kiungone Sublocation, Abogeta West Division. The group uses Mbere (shakers) worn by Bernard Nkonge, Ginfold Mbae, Amos Munthi and Fraras Ikunda. They also use a flute, Coro, which is performed by John Mwiti….
Mr Bado Group
…’ and ‘Susumila’ were mega hits in the coast region, earning him a performance slot at Safaricom Live in 2010. He has performed internationally, including in the USA as part of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2014. He released his album Kama Kazi with Ketebul Music. He mixes an impressive combination of styles, and part of his mission is to help preserve styles such as Taarab which are fading on the modern music scene. To do this, he performs at…
Day Zero: 6 March 2022 – Travel To Stream Story
…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 situation, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the…
Ayub Ogada Group
…ly interesting to hear his theory of the name nyatiti, which he translated from the Luo word nyar as queen and titi, making it “the queen of the clan”. The most interesting points Ayub had made were on the difference between playing at home, in an informal or traditional setting and playing in a foreign setting (notably in Europe). He said: “When I’m home, I’m free, I don’t care about my tuning…When I’m playing in Europe, now the violin wants to c…
Day Five: January 22, 2019 Mwanza Continued Story
…orded six performances: Omusingero: A song about playing the drums and dancing Nchuma: A song about traditional music that the elders love to play Mrondogomo: A wedding song Kidedeya: A send off song, a marriage song Kidedeya: Freestyle Magic Moment: Omusingero again https://youtu.be/AtwkoD3sDFo From recording we then drove eight hours to Sigiir. We woke and spend January 23rd driving onward to the New Dodoma Hotel. That evening we had a priva…
Aynu Traditional Group Group
…. They mainly had chiefs who were their leaders. They formed friendly alliances with neighbouring chiefdoms to ensure their security against attacks from other ethnic groups. Rather than an army, every able-bodied man had the duty to protect his village hence all able-bodied men were automatically considered a soldier though this was not a permanent duty. Language: They are divided into many mutually intelligible dialects, but mainly they speak th…
Watmon Cultural Group Group
…he had learnt when he was young, both from grandfather in his village and from watching dancers at village events. He went around his district in Kampala, telling people he would like to start a dance troupe, and was met with a positive reaction. Eventually he had people coming to him asking to be a part of it, and from that point the group became an institution. In the fallout of the war against Idi Amin’s regime, many people were looking for an…
Global Influences Project: Loop Library Page
…e very excited to see how other musicians can use and be inspired by this incredible music. If you are interested in becoming a part of the Global Influences Project, you can download the project brief here or head back to the main page for more information. If you want to independently release your music for sale or streaming using these samples, please get in touch with us so that we can grant you a license. Loops By Tempo/BPM Adungu Cultural Tr…
Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…Magic moment – trumpets and trombone. Once this band started, they played for 25 minutes. When the lead trumpet played a solo, they switched styles. We were able to distinguish between three main styles. The dancers danced and sung throughout. The village joined in the dancing as they continued to play. By the end it felt like a joyous party with many joining in, reminiscent of New Orleans Mardi Gras. …
Day Four: January 21 2019 Mwanza Story
…://youtu.be/uRfFn7ZgUrU Group 2: Camera: Camera, who has been performing since 1999, is from Nzega and from the Sukuma community, playing in the Kadete style. Camera plays the Kadete (like the Zeze from earlier and Orutu from Kenya). He is an extremely cool cat, who we actually discovered walking the streets with his instrument during the RECCE. We recorded five performances: Changamoto: This is about life’s challenges Mawazo Gakwira: About deep w…
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
…because of the strength of the British navy. The islands gained independence from England in 1963. A month later the Zanzibar Revolution occurred. Several thousand Arabs and Indians were killed. Thousands more were expelled leading to the Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba. Soon the islands joined the Mainland Tanganyika and were subsumed to form Tanzania. Today, the population of the islands is over 98% Muslim. Second, one of our main partners f…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…ble them to develop a better understanding of how to improve their performances. These adjustments were of utmost importance in making it easier for these rural and peri-urban based musicians to migrate their shows and concerts to online platforms in order to reach wider audiences and create new revenue streams. As we headed back to Nairobi on Friday, 11th March 2022, we had lively discussions on ways and means of empowering these marginalized cre…
Day Three: January 20th, 2019 Story
…be/dHeTdA5m5gQ Group 3: Awilo: The group, which is a comedy circus act, is from Ikungu lya nkoma and performs in the Bununguli style. They are from the Sukuma community and were formed in 1981. They played the Ng’oma and entertained the kids with circus acts involving fire, razor blades, knives, etc… It wasn’t really part of the Singing Wells Field Visit but we were thrilled to stumble across it! From the village, we then drove a little over three…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…oups and switched to their own compositions at our request. With a little encouragement from a few fans who were attracted to their ohangla music, which is the favorite genre in Kisumu, the Asego Ensemble soldiered on ending their performance by 9:00pm. Profile: Peter Akwabi Peter Okutoyi Akwabi, was born in 1946 in Ebuhonga village in Kisa, Kakamega County. He started his musical career in 1963 when he cut his first disc ‘Kifo Cha Mukabi’, a song…
Support Singing Wells Page
…rchived and published, giving each group further opportunities to gain an income from their music. Our Gift to You As well as a special thank you on our website, we’ll send you details of the song your donation funded and an MP3 download of the track, plus a commemorative digital Singing Wells poster. Donate £25 and Sponsor a Song CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW * Please note: donations are made to the Abubilla Music Foundation, our registered charity wh…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…e 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 process of building the Embaire, also known as the xylophone, to help educate our young music scholars about music, melody and instrument building. We are shown how they finish off their Embaire and then talk to some young students about what they have learned. What is clear from our tri…