Conclusion: Challenges and Recomendations Story
…ing: Showing us the trees where the wood for the instruments are extracted from; Where possible, felling of the tree; Preparation of the wood from the tree: trimming the bark, treating etc.; Carving and shaping of the wood for the body and frame of the instrument; Preparation and treatment of the skin for the instruments; Preparation of the material used to attach the bridge; Final construction and assembly of the instrument. All of these stages a…
The Luo of Kenya Album
…roup led by Ogoya Nengo. We next move to Aluny Village – with performances from The Joginda Boys, Otieno Aloka and the late Okumu K’Orengo and his Nyatiti Group. The Kochia Traditional Dancers gave a very visual performance, and one of their tracks, recorded on the shores of Lake Victoria at the Homa Bay Hotel is also included. The final day of recording on the trip saw us head to Rongo – and the settings of Dinky’s Resort Club. The Otacho Young s…
Kangema Mwomboko Dancers Group
Kangema Mwomboko Dancers: led by Maina Kirhoro. From the Kikuyu ethnic community. They are from Kiangunyi Village, Muguru Sub-location, Kangema District. The group has 45 members and was started in 2000, but the original Mwomboko style was started in 1943. This is a ‘pairing’ dance style, inspired by colonial masters but adapted locally. Mwomboko, Peter Mwangi is the lead singer and plays the accordion. George Kinyua plays the Karing’aring’a (…
Here for the Music? Page
…ownload through our Bandcamp store in your choice of formats. The proceeds from the sale of our albums will be fed back to the musicians involved in the recordings, wherever possible. Galleries As well as filming and recording, our incredible team also 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…
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
…ountries. The most important and famous of the musical styles originating from Zanzibar is Taarab, which roughly translates in Arabic as ‘having joy with music.’ Taarab’s origins are in the late 1800s. Mohamed Ibrahim, studied music in Egypt, where he learned to play the Qanun and returned to Zanzibar to form the Zanzibar Taarab orchestra. Of course, there are a variety of musical styles in Zanzibar, including (every use of quotes in this pos…
Makunga Group
…customs – human shakers! We recorded seven performances: Intro, Freestyle recording of their entrance. Masasi: the celebration song after circumcision completed Nindo: Song on social issues Muhene: Song during girl ceremony where she reaches puberty and now must be hidden from village for 40 days (song acts out how girl learns to reject the advances of men, represented by two men playing shakers) Muziki: A song to gain support of the people for th…
Camera Group
…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….
Tarajazz Group
…ule to Tarajazz. He combined African rhythms such as Msewe and Kyaso (both from Zanzibar) with Singeli (a new tribal rhythm). Taarab came from early 1800’s as Egyptian music. In Zanzibar the Mother of Taarab, Siti Binti Saad, made Taarab more popular in the 1920’s to 1950’s. We spoke to Hassan Mahenge, the assistant director of this band. He is a teacher at the DCMA. He teaches the Oud and plays the saxophone. All the students at the DCMA study tr…
Day Two: February 17, 2020 (Stonetown) Story
…ey were very impressive and unique. Truly beautiful. 3. Zam Zam Group – From the hotel we moved on to the Dhow Countries Musical Academy, which is located in the old custom house. Here, we recorded the Zam Zam group on the ground floor, in the center court under an open roof three stories above. Made for the perfect backdrop to Zam Zam’s choir. Their leader and teacher is Ibrahim Ali Hassan. He teaches and performs in Nyumba Ya Vipaji, The Hous…
Global Influences Project: Loop Library Page
…idinda Cultural Group 158BPM Kidinda Cultural Group – 158BPM The group are from Kidinda, Uganda. They play music in the Kidinda style using the Amadinda, a 22 slab xylophone which was historically an instrument which could only be played in front of the King. You can find out more about the band here. You can watch the full visual performance of this song on our Youtube channel by clicking here. Download the loop Joginda Boys – 116BPM Joginda boys…
Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…sed team and all went according to plan until a group of mourners appeared from nowhere with a coffin of a dead relative that had just recently arrived from Nairobi. Although the burial was planned for the following day, the emotional villagers were already wailing loudly and playing mournful dirges. This dramatic twist of events threw us off guard and we were forced to stop our program temporarily. As required by local custom, we dutifully went t…
Day Four: January 21 2019 Mwanza Story
…RfFn7ZgUrU 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 worries Nkewan…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…usic in 1985 and recorded his first song ‘Bikundo Obaba mbono’ in 1994 and from then on he has been the main star of the obukano music genre from the region. Ontiri has performed in most entertainment venues within Kenya and is among the few Kenyan musicians with a huge fan base in the US and Canada, where he has also toured extensively. Ontitri has been invited to perform in South Korea and Germany, not mention that he was one of the leading perf…
Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…ule to Tarajazz. He combined African rhythms such as Msewe and Kyaso (both from Zanzibar) with Singeli (a new tribal rhythm). Taarab came from early 1800’s as Egyptian music. In Zanzibar the Mother of Taarab, Siti Binti Saad, made Taarab more popular in the 1920’s to 1950’s. We spoke to Hassan Mahenge, the assistant director of this band. He is a teacher at the DCMA. He teaches the Oud and plays the saxophone. All the students at the DCMA study tr…
Aynu Traditional Group Group
…so believe in a certain kind of mythology, mainly that man are descendants from the first creatures put on earth by spirit (the creator of men). Spirit created a man (gboro-gboro) and a woman (meme), and then domestic livestock. Meme had wild animals in her womb so that after the gazelle had broken out all animals followed from her womb. Man was the last to come out. The first human beings are said to have been twins: Arube and O’duu. Arube was a…
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…