Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…you perform changed over time? I would say it is the same. I have no right to change it, I want to preserve it as much as possible for the future generation. However now the music means something different. When we sing about war and peace we are referring to the recent war that struck Northern Uganda. It helps us to heal but also to celebrate that we are now in peace. Who taught you the music? My parents taught me how to sing and dance and all ab…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…ion caused by the war. The name translates to ‘how much is left’ referring to how the war hasn’t taken everything in the North, they still have happiness. The next song was called ‘Yom Chunya‘ is of a similar style, and it means ‘my heart is happy’. They then sang a song in part English and part Swahili, called ‘Pearl of Africa‘. This was actually written by Jimmy Adokwun around five years ago, but it uses traditional styles to convey their messag…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…head of us have pushed the scary things in the shadows further and further onto the shoulder. The only negative is when our driver sees an opening and wants to pass. We prefer no openings. But that’s okay because as we write this, our back left tire has blown so we have pulled over to change it. Front right to begin our journey 6 hours and 17 minutes ago and now back left. And we are nowhere near Kampala and estimate another four hours journey. Yo…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…near Mombassa ). We recorded three songs with the band at Ketebul studios tonight. These are: Ndege Ya Panda Mlima (Sengenya Style) : Written in 1988, this literally means ‘Music’ Strengt’h (Ndege) can climb up (Ya Panda) mountains (Mlima) and is about the power of music to heal and transform. Howenaya (Ngarawa Style) : This is about ‘asking back’ – the singer is promising the power of his music to the audience and wondering what he will now get…
How music archives can help communities News
…ard for a generation after the Buganda Kingdom was abolished in 1966 by Milton Obote. The Kingdom was reinstated in 1987 and the Wachsmann recordings have inspired a new generation to revive some of the instrumental and stylistic traditions of old. The Klaus Wachsmann collection is being repatriated to Uganda at the Makerere University in Kampala. The curator of the music archive is Dr. Sylvia Antonia Nannyonga-Tamusuza who we will be meeting whil…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…and over again the music was neutral and only had alligience to Uganda not to one side or the other in the war. There were lots of scary moments when rebels would try to force them to declare alligence or die. But by miracle the rebel leaders let them live and play music as neutrals. In 1992, the Uganda Army then re-took control of the area. One of their first acts was to go to each village and accuse them of collaborating, typically killing the m…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…her time to make two runs. Most of the women carry empty bottles and cans on top of the grass bundle so she can buy essentials, like cooking oil at the market. The thatched bundles are then sold at the market to businesses that are working on new thatched roofs or those needing repairs. A thatched roof lasts for between five and ten years. Then there are the charcoal makers and sellers. The thatch ladies ensure that the roads are dotted with that…
Singing Wells – The Story So Far News
…ful hardback book about Singing Wells which tells the story of the project to date, starting with our launch in 2011 when we travelled to Kenya’s Coastal Region to record the music of the Mijikenda. Full of stunning photos and excerpts from our field reports, the 110 page book is a detailed representation of our mission to celebrate and share the unique cultural music heritage of East Africa. Support the Singing Wells project and buy a copy! You…
ATTA is following Singing Wells News
Our friends at Hills Balfour and the Kenya Tourist Board continue to be wonderful ambassadors of Singing Wells, introducing us to interesting and interested people who we can talk to about the project. Earlier this month I was their guest at the World Travel Market at Excel and I met representatives from a number of organisations and companies in the travel and tourism industry operating in the East African counties we are visiting during our fie…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…this message from Henry Neza, UOBDU Capacity Building Officer and our liaison contact with the Batwa communities while we were in Kisoro. Dear Victoria, The Batwa of Kisoro as a result of your visit felt an international belonging and recognition. Through the generation of money by the Abubilla Music team to the Batwa who performed their cultural dance, the Batwa managed to acquire things like goats, clothes, seeds, utensils, beddings and tarpauli…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…have two mobile recording units, each capable of recording from four microphones plus other sources at a high resolution to Apple MacBook Pro laptops. The benefit of the systems we have chosen is that they can run off the battery power of the laptops if we are in the situation where we do not have a generator (or there is a power cut mid-session which happened to us when we recorded to the Batwa at the Travellers Rest Hotel in Kisoro, Uganda!) We…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…wn to about 6 inches. For this band, the ‘bass’ Likembe is played directly onto an over turned ‘tub’ so it resonates the low bass notes (later, with the Macedonia band, the bass Likembe was huge and stood on its own). The bass player is joined by a percussionist who will also pound the tub for the kick drum and then use a little metal brush as a tom. There are then lots of men with big sticks with metal on them which sound like a snare. All the me…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…) and the Gwara (calabash or tambourin with Samba drumming, in this case a tortoise sized shell that they hit with a brush of wire). In addition, one of the groups featured the Uvure, a wonderful horn. The Uvure in action… Omee Odokomit Our first group was Omee Odokomit, who played Apiri style. The group is led by Evelyn Ojok and was formed in 1981, disbanded for the war and reformed in 1999. The leader summons the band to practice by playing drum…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…ately we all made it to super-market where we loaded up with money, mobile phone cards and other sundries and headed out. The William car stopped to pick up Akello, a lovely Ugandan singer/songwriter, who is joining the group as our Influences artist. The Emmanuel car headed into Kampala to pick up our press badges. We then headed off to Gulu at around 2PM (yes, we tend to spend a lot of time getting mobile phone cards!) and headed out on a 360 km…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…on that I spent some time working with the GIS department at Harvard in Boston specifically learning how to use the mapping software, and I also attended GIS classes given at Harvard. I then brought the idea to Singing Wells when I began work in the summer of 2012. The Virtue Foundation – Ghana – Yellow Fever Immunisation Why do you think it is the best way to display data? When displaying data it’s no secret that people often understand it better…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…e is his website. The Instrument: The Adungu is based on the major or pentatonic scale. In modern Africa the Adungu has tuning-pegs, which the Egyptians did not, and play the harp with it away from the player’s body, whilst the Egyptians leant the harp against his chest like a musical hunting bow. Great care was taken to achieve the ideal of sound timbre desired, such as the movable rings attached round the neck of the instrument, one to each stri…