The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…rs. Some of the instruments that Mr Mukadisi has in his position are over 100 years old. Once the correct tree has been found that is of an appropriate age, around 10 years old so the wood is fully formed, it is chopped down and into smaller pieces to begin the drying process. When the wood has appropriate time to dry, it is prepared for chopping and shaping, and the next process of preserving the wood through the use of animal dung. More on that…
Day Two: January 19, 2019 From Tarime to Buturi to Bariadi Story
…freestyle recording’ – what we mean here is we allow our three camera operators to ‘roam’ and to ‘release the band’ to dance. We are trying to overcome the somewhat artificial nature of ‘archiving’ where the band is constrained into a single shot. Magic Moment: We loved the percussion and wanted to capture this as magic moment. https://youtu.be/u7xcXahAlzI Group 2: Upendo Jazz: The group is from the Murangi Village in the Mara Region and their c…
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…ny stops. But we digress. From the Dodoma Hotel, we drove about 90 minutes to Nzali to record four groups: Group 1: Makunga: This group is from Dodoma and the Wagogo Community, which they argued is the main indigenous community of Tanzania (always from the land, never migrated into Tanzania. The group was formed in 2018, but was built on a much older group. They perform in the Wuyina style. Their instruments/costumes include the: Ndulele (Horn…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…trative areas of Samia district. Ekhunjwe ya Abasamia was formed in April 2008 with common focus on using music as a tool for community development. The group promotes traditional African values and acts in both education and local economy. Members also engage in traditional crafts like basket weaving and jewellery making for exhibition and sale. Their chairman, Mr. Bwire, also chairs the County Culture Committee and says he is “biased towards eth…
Baseki Group
…he band brought up children from the village and taught them about hoeing the soil to the song. Later we saw several videos of how this song is used in the fields to motivate farmers, who hoe to the beat. Throughout Tanzania, we saw school kids walking to/from school with their hoes, where they often tend to small plots at the school. Serengeti: We are near the national park and this is a song in celebration to Tanzanian parks and wild life. Frees…
Ekhunjwe Musical Group Group
…strative areas of Samia district. Ekhunjwe ya Abasamiawas formed in April 2008 with common focus on using music as a tool for community development. The group promotes traditional African values and acts in both education and local economy. Members also engage in traditional crafts like basket weaving and jewellery making for exhibition and sale. Their Chairman Mr. Bwire also chairs the County Culture Committee and says he is “biased towards ethno…
Aynu Traditional Group Group
…ums) and a tin sheet for percussion. The Lugbara Tribe Population: Around 900,000 History: They were known in the 19th century as ‘The Naked People’, due to the lacking importance of clothes in their culture. In the early days, the Lugbara were a mainly chiefdom-based community. They did not have kingdoms and kings presiding over them as like other ethnic groups in Uganda. They mainly had chiefs who were their leaders. They formed friendly allianc…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…the local mountain) Ngoma (generic term for drums) Troupe and starting in 2009 played all sorts of functions that would bring money in to support the band members, all of which live on the premises. Shortly after, a friend of Julius’s donated some brass instruments and Julius started a brass band, called the Elgon Hero Brass Band. When you combine the two bands, the traditional and the new brass sound, Julius says, they blew audiences’ minds. As t…
Day Zero: 6 March 2022 – Travel To Stream Story
…ew offices at the GoDown Arts Centre on Kayahwe Road off Dennis Pritt by 9:00am. It took us an hour to load the van with the equipment and our personal effects. On our team was Tobias Odhiambo (or Shunkyz as he is known in the music circles) as soundman in charge of the technical aspects of the recordings. Shunkyz was assisted by Fiston Lusambo, a Briton of Congolese origin and guitarist with the London-based Afriquoi Musical group. The video sect…
The Batwa of Kisoro Album
…so taken by the music we heard, we then invited some of the musicians back to Nairobi to record more of their music at the Ketebul Studios. The album begins in the village of the Birara Community – with the village leader Francis taking the main role on the performance. The Mperwa dancers are included, whose leader Jovah stunned us with her voice during the recordings in their village – featured on the album cover. Our trip to the UN refugee camp…
Tarajazz Group
…rom 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 traditional music such as Taarab as well as Western music. Members of the grou…
Mr Bado Group
…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 cultural events with his fathe…
Watmon Cultural Group Group
…upe, 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 escape, and the troupe presented just such an opportunity. The group performed for President George Bush during a state visit to Uganda. They were also recorded in 2012 for the BBC’s World Routes album, p…
Twone Mbee Group
…tempting the position because it is already taken by the one they are praising. ‘Nzembanie 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….
Day Three: Bungoma Town to Kakamega Story
…told us the history of the band. The band, Bungoma Roots Band, started in 2005 when all the members were young men at the Kumugui Secondary School, in the Michimeru Village. Wilbert and his school friends formed a band and competed with other school bands. They were quite good and had all their school fees paid for. During breaks from playing at the school they took up ‘Marketing’ and showed up at any events that were being held. After graduation,…
Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…smoothly with Johnstone Mukabi and the Omutibo Stars coming on stage at 11:00am. Accompanied by Francis Massanga on vocals, they were joined by guest musicians, Fiston Lusambo on guitar and Ben Mukabwa (a college tutor whose other calling happens to be music), on guitar and percussion. On shakers was Ben’s elder brother, Fredrick Mukabwa, while veteran musician and producer Gido Kibukosya (formerly of the groups Musically Speaking and Zanaziki) wa…