Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…. I Love You Kanini Mukabi This is the son of the great omutibo player George Mukabi; we recorded 5 songs with him all of which were his father’s: Mutoto Si Nguo Ram Lus Tunga Kweli Nougo Om ulanga Wa Muka Kunywa Kidogo …
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
…ustace Njuki and Gitar Thura. Mware is about an uneducated woman who wants to be married to an educated man. This song challenges the woman to get an education in order to be at par with the prospective spouse. We then wrapped up and took lots of final pictures, including of three children, practically our only children from the trip! We packed for a final time and departed for Nairobi. We made pretty good time to Ketebul music, where we unloaded…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…was at the table from 18:30 to 23:30 each night. We counted 478 individual trips to our table she made on one night alone. Working Practices: A Typical Field Recording Session The basic steps we use in a typical session are as follows: Arrival/introductions/set-up The interview team immediately sits with the groups and talks through how the session will work and then collects information on the group, the songs and the instruments and musical styl…
Tanzania 2017, Dar es Salaam and Bagamoyo News
…We’ve just returned from our latest field trip discovering the music which took us to the eastern side of Tanzania. We witnessed an amazingly rich offering of music and met some extremely talented musicians. Read our field reports here to learn about our experiences with a snake dance, an amazing performance of a female initiation ceremony ,and recording members of the extraordinary Zawose family….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…na ivinda (Chasing After Time). This song talks about the President’s call to stop corruption. The call to chase after time comes from the society that won’t condone these malpractices. Kaniini Kaseo The group is led by Mumbi Wambua, in Kyolo style. The group is also from Kamba ethnic community (ukambani wa kitui) and also from the village of Kiongwe. They have 16 members and were formed in 1980. They performed 3 songs, all of which use the Ileve…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 0 – London/Nairobi Story
…(e mail: ruffmaud@yahoo.com) We will be interviewing them throughout this trip to provide additional color to our Field Reports. We spent our Saturday packing and preparing the vans for the trip. Let’s remind you of our team – we cheated and took photos from the trip that follows: Tabu Osusa STEVE KIVUTIA & PATRICK ONDIEK NICK ABONYO GREGG TWENDA LEWIS KOOME RALPH SIPALLA JONAH KEGAH KENNETH KIPSANG Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team For…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…f Singing Wells know a lot about Jovah. We first heard in during our first trip to Uganda, where she was the lead singer of her group, Mperwa Dancers. We then invited her and others from Kisoro to join us in Nariobi for a set of songs. She was amazing and we’ve recorded two separate influences sessions with her: Bashitsi Bahire with Winyo and Inyange mixed by Abubilla Music, both of which feature on a sampler of music we gave away at Womex this ye…
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…so have cool music.” We wish them all the best, and hope one day to take a trip to Tanzania for a few recording sessions of our own! Check out the Tanzania Heritage Project here. Here too are a few YouTube videos of their catchy music: Mziki wa dansi- Zilipendwa Sikinde- Shemeji Issa Mziki wa dansi – Zilipendwa – Super rainbow – Hidaya Mziki wa dansi – Zilipendwa – Kimulimuli – Chiku lala salama peponi Mziki wa dansi – Zilipendwa- Marijani- Fanya…
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
…atio or our porch. We had three groups today and the drivers were sent out to round them up from the surrounding areas. The Bigwala Cultural Group One of this group’s primary purposes is to restore the Bigwala, the big Ugandan trumpet, to Ugandan musical culture. According to our local musical expert, James Isabirye, it was close to dead, but a Unesco project has helped to draw attention to the group by pointing out the instruments and its players…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…. Musisi is now working with James at Kyambogo to implement our entenga restoration scheme to preserve and promote this traditional instrument for future generations. Students practice entenga drum-chime at Kyambogo in 1968 (Musisi is furthest from the camera) Peter’s research into African music is extensive. “It all began in 1964, a few weeks before travelling out to begin teaching in Kampala, Uganda,” says Peter. “On the stage of the Prince’s Th…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…aced – either has orphans or from severely disadvantaged homes. He started to go to University but found that gathering the funds for tuition each time extremely difficult. He had raised the funds for another semester and then asked himself, “Do I want another semester of education, with no promise I will be able to fund another, or can I take this money and start to make a difference?” So he took the money and invested in instruments for children…
Happy new year from Singing Wells News
…of the project. 4. We learned about the art of drum making During our 2015 trip to Uganda, we had the privilege of being able to watch and record the making of the Entenga drums. It’s an incredibly skilled job, requiring the maker to cut up a tree and shape the wood, soak and cut cow hide to size and string the drum – ensuring it’s in tune. Here’s how it’s done. 5. We visited the Ketebul team in Nairobi and interviewed Tabu In early 2015, one of o…
We’re discovering the lost music of the Ugandan Kingdoms News
…xt on the Entenga royal drums we’ve been searching for The story of Musisi – a drummer from the royal palaces and the fall of the Buganda Kingdom Some information on the progress of the Bigwala trumpets – an instrument we restored on a previous field trip Interviews with the palace players and a great deal of information on the art of drum making You can also keep up to date with our latest news from the field via our Twitter and Facebook pages….
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…the group because they have talent. They are good at it. My parents tried to stop me from music and I refused to listen. They are the same. It is a higher calling.” We agree with James. This group is fantastic, energetic and committed to their music. Again and again in our trips to Uganda we find that the rural youth of Uganda are passionate about tribal music; sadly, this is in direct contrast to Kenya, where we find the interest of the rural yo…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…and a few free drinks (we had charmed some flight attendants on the plane to contribute to Singing Wells with a few whiskeys). Most of us then went to bed for the night, deciding to have one final evening free of our London friends. Patrick, however, woke up in time to be a ‘greeting party’ to the London arrivals. Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team Representing the AMF are Jimmy Allen (Founder), sound engineer Andy Patterson and Vicki De…