Day 9 (AM): Ketebul Studio – Influences session for Cheri Story
…for the first time in March 2011 and now he is re-writing bass and guitar lines in Pro Tools). Their words are mainly about love so strong that they are willing to give her anything. They see her and want to give her the clothes offer her back. Macadem was then inspired. The song was so sweet and ernest we encouraged him to come and sing an ‘anti love’ verse over it. He sings ‘Love don’t love me’ and talks about a woman who he offers everything t…
Meet our ‘Influences’ artists News
…rument. He was born in what he describes as an ordinary family in a modest country side setting. Coming from a musical family, he spent most of his childhood enjoying the influences of jazz, soul and pop artists at the time. His greatest influence was of course Michael Jackson, not only for his musical composition but for his unique sound. Find Eddie Grey on Facebook here. Eddie Grey recording with Ben Kisinja Eddie joined the Singing Wells team o…
Akello sings ‘Influences’ songs for Singing Wells News
…kello now lives in Kampala. She travelled with us back to the north of the country and was not only invaluable acting as a translator when we visited the Acholi communities in the area, but also performed some of her songs for the Influences series, accompanied by the local music groups. ‘Wan Wilobo’ performed with the Rubanga Kingom Awach Boys With just a few minutes to practice, Akello performed this song backed by the Rubanga Kingom Awach Boy…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…other detector ourselves (#2) Once through this line we lined up for Kenya airlines. We are our own queue and it took a while to check in our 23 bags and convince them to let us carry our 11 carry on bags… Once checked in we then waited in visa line. No issues. By this time the flight is calling for boarding… There’s another line at the gate to go through Kenya security. Big queue and one very angry mzungu who was fed up. We all had to take off ou…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…sits the staff would offer facilitation and would advise the groups on the best way of managing their groups. It is the same committee which usually selects the Batwa who are to perform to different occasions. All in all the staff performed to their expectations, thanks to them for their seriousness and dedication. BIRARA group This is one of the communities that is still cherishing music and dance as the Batwa culture it is still leading and very…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…e very loud bird, a lovely school choir across the street, planes from the airport nearby and ‘wandering guests’, folks that decided to have one last view of the grounds and walked past ‘stage.’ There’s a pretty classic routine here. Folks wander into shot and turn in our direction. First look on their face is one of contentment as they have a very good position to watch the music. Their second look, however, is one of realisation as they face thr…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…and Otacho Young Stars and we’ll going to take it further this weekend in Nairobi. We think if we can master these while following the ‘rule book’ we will succeed and you will benefit (assuming we survive this road journey. Yes, we are gradually building up a Singing Wells set of “non-negotiables”. Here is the current set… Leave every site cleaner than when we arrived and honor our hosts Back up the day before you sleep. If you are on video, wake…
How music archives can help communities News
…or of World and Traditional Music at the British Library points out in the book ‘Ethnomusicology of East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and Beyond’. In her chapter entitled ‘Connecting with Communities: Building Sustainable Models for Audiovisual Archiving into the Future’, Janet gives us some inspiring examples of how archived recordings have helped communities, one of which centres on the Batwa people of south west Uganda – the community we re…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
A day of two halves, with one of our best village visits combined with a long, nightmare journey to Kampala. The Macedonia Band We met the leader of the Macedonia Band at the Soroti Hotel and he led us to his village, Obuell-Lira, a 30 minute drive down rich clay roads. On the way, Joshua told us about the history of the group, which was founded in 1982. The group and its song Uganda Land of Freedom is legendary in the Teso region (the name for t…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…rywhere, mostly on the side of the road with someone lying beneath them repairing something. In Uganda,, on most of the roads we travelled, there wasn’t a huge problem with ‘passing’ because the roads were not that crowded. Then there are night roads. These are horrible things that will kill you. They are pitch black. They are filled with deep holes that swallow you. They are lined with bikes and motorcycles that fall from the shoulder in front of…
Singing Wells – The Story So Far News
…ging Wells project and buy a copy! You can buy a copy of the Singing Wells book at the Blurb Bookstore – just click this link: Singing Wells – The Story So Far The profits we receive from the sale of each book go directly to our UK charity The Abubilla Music Foundation which supports the Singing Wells project. Your donation will help give much needed financial support to tribal music groups in East Africa. By supporting these artists, we can help…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…ity for some Batwa who had exposure to the outside life when they visited Nairobi and were able to interact with the Ford Foundation. During this trip the Batwa benefitted from some materials such as clothes, shoes and money which improved on their social status by dressing like dominant tribes here. This gave them confidence and changed their behaviour. Today the non-Batwa believe and agree that Batwa can look smart if they are given the chance t…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…ve through black and dark red for about 15 minutes. We then just we saw the back of four elephants crossing our path before we reached the lodge. It was like the sunset had spilled onto the land and kept the fields covered in its colors as night fell. Lovely….
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…alier omni-directional mics 2 Rode NTG-1 condenser Shotgun mics 1 Matched Pair of AKG C414 XL Microphones 1 Matched Pair of Rode NT5 Microphones2 Rode professional boom pole 1 K&M telescopic mic stand/boom 1 Canon EOS 7D 1 Canon EOS 60D 1 Canon EOS 5D 1 LED video camera lights 1 Flip HD video camera ThinkTank sun screens (for the laptops) Various Canon zoom and fixed lenses Plus at least 9 Sandisk memory cards and 15 portable back-up drives and a…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…t). We landed in a field, pock marked with cement block buildings. Not the best site. But in the middle of the field was the most stunning tree that cast a hundred diameter shadow. We set up under its branches. As we did, from all directions, came a team of children and a team of performers – 6 groups with 20 members in each – and another 100 children. By the end, these two teams were joined by another group of 100 adults from the surrounding vill…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…etebul gang (Tabu, Nick, Pato, Stevo) woke up very early to get to Nairobi Airport and get approval to export/import all the recording equipment. The AMF team woke up at a more humane time of 8AM for breakfast and a little time with Simba the Locust Killer (rotweiler we previously met at the Travellers Rest in Uganda last year) It was a beautiful morning at the Airport Guest House in Entebbe with pretty flowers and strange guinea fowl pottering ab…