The repatriation of Kenya’s music heritage News
…being returned to the communities in which these songs were made in the 1950s by English ethnomusicologist, Hugh Tracey. The repatriation of these recordings began in August, during a two-week pilot project in Kenya’s Rift Valley led by Prof Diane Thram, Director of the International Library of African Music (ILAM) in South Africa and the team from Ketebul Music, supported and funded by The Abubilla Music Foundation as part of the Singing Wells pr…
Singing Wells is on Bozza! News
…e’s now a new way for audiences to discover and listen to traditional East African musicians and music groups recorded by Singing Wells. Head over to our Bozza page here. About Bozza “Bozza is a plug & play solution for musicians, poets, photographers & film makers to promote and sell their digital products to their fans throughout Africa. The platform is available to emerging and established artists from around the continent and can be easily acc…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…bout Spain that switches to Africa and ends with the Batwa song lamenting the loss of their homelands… That’s it. There are 230 more stories that we need to tell you and 1000’s more waiting to be recorded. Don’t just pull up a chair next time. Jump in our jeeps and join the show… Jimmy…
Current Leading Figures News
…ol services, annual university graduation ceremonies to a crowd of over 40,000 people, and perform every Wednesday to each other during a recital hour. However, when asked if they record their own music, James says “We lack good equipment to record the music professionally but it is an idea that requires serious and immediate consideration. ” NACOFU, which he is a member of, is attempting to address this problem – to document folk music – but is c…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…training in performance of African music. Diane Thram became Director in 2005 and, under her leadership, an online listening library has been created, in line with the cutting edge of content access, to allow anyone to listen to Hugh Tracey’s recordings, with work currently being done to also make the Dave Dargie and Andrew Tracey Collections available for online access. There are over 12000 30 second recordings from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. The a…
Archiving Guidelines News
…he Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects (IASA-TC 04) – in 2009, which is described as ‘an accepted authority on digital audio preservation in the sound archiving field.’ It is informed by their other publication, ‘The Safeguarding of the Audio Heritage: Ethics, Principles and Preservation Strategy’ (IASA-TC 03). When researching guidelines for the online archiving of sound, the term metadata is often mentioned and this is the large…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…Fellowship grant to study South Rhodesian music, with which he made over 600 recordings, and inspiring traditional English musicians, Ralph Vaughn Williams and Gustav Holst, at the Royal Academy of Music, who urged him to “discover every chord” of traditional African music, Tracey ran out of funding. He became a broadcaster, utilising every opportunity to promote African music. However, he could not stay away from Africa long, and in 1946 realise…
Tracey Instrument Collection News
…Baganda people. This mbira was collected by Andrew Tracey in 1996 and has 10 keys. Budongo Mbira This mbira is of the Basoga people, again part of the likembe family of instruments. It has thirteen keys, tuned to the pentatonic scale, and one larger note on the right in the likembe style. It was collected by Hugh Tracey in around 1950. See the mbira in action below, as we recorded the Nile Beat Artists, a traditional Basoga ‘orchestra’. Engwara Co…
ILAM, Repatriation and Jimmie Rodgers/Chemirocha News
…zens of influences on village life, from rites of passage that trace back 100’s of years, to record albums accidentally left behind by passers through. That doesn’t ‘dilute’ the music, it makes it abundantly more rich and interesting. We live in a world of musical circles. There is no doubt that Jimmie Rodgers music was inspired by and build upon the influences of Black-American music, and it is only fitting that his work filtered back to Kenya. W…
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…other issue. Part of the problem we have is our ‘everything now’ culture. 50 years ago, if you got a job, you knew that if you worked hard and stayed with the job and got promoted you could buy a home for your family, or a car. Or help your children to be educated. Once you got a job, you knew not to lose it. Now people work for a little bit and then quit and they complain about how hard life is. I tell them, “Why did you stop the job? You just lo…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…ur people a sense of history. Our partners are Hivos, Phat Magazine, Kiss 100 (every Sunday they host two artists from us and talk about the music, etc..) etc… and we will be the main stand, talking about music through a set of panels. Everyone wants to be involved. One major project we still need to finish is Kenya at 50, both a documentary and coffee table book – which presents 50 years of music. We still need to finish this. A gentlemen named A…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…ng. India was a particular suprise here – in a population of 1.2 billion, 50 % are under 30 and consuming music. In Africa – 60% have electricity whereas 86% have a mobile phone. This is again another area in which the Singing Wells project may be interested in the future – mobile phones and ring back tones as a method of delivery for music. Mike and I also attended the African music networking session which became the launch for a new initiative…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…o Masaka – Baganda music Our first recording day will take us to Masaka in Central Uganda about 140 kms south west of Kampala. Here we will record two Baganda music groups: Kika Troupe and Bukala Troupe (from the town of Rakai). These groups were identified by James Isabirye who will be our local liaison contact while we are in Uganda. Steve met James following a chance meeting with an old friend while in Kampala for the ‘recce’ trip. Here’s an ex…
Group of the Month – Otacho Young Stars News
…p on our trip to record the music of the Luo in Western Kenya in December 2011. Up to that point, we had had a bad day – which included Andy taking the collected rainfall of the past hour, in the face from the roof of the tent…. We then moved from our original recording location to the DRC – not the Democratic Republic of Congo, but Dinky’s Resort Club, down the road in Rongo. We set up the recording gear at the back of what looked like an old dan…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…a Host of More Urgent Problems: When Tabu and I started Singing Wells in 2008, we were passionate about its mission: to record, archive and share the traditional music of East Africa. Our twin goals were to sustain and celebrate the extraordinary cultural music heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences. The last five years has only re-enforced our commitment. On our first goal, we only have to rem…
What people say about Singing Wells News
…ame across Singing Wells. The production team goes all out to unearth East African traditional music, giving account of the people’s past and present through music. The recordings are a valuable treasure, since a lot of traditional African music often goes un-notated. Singing Wells is the much needed portal for ethnomusicology research in East Africa.” Matthew Morin, PhD in Musicology, Florida State University: “Singing Wells does more than preser…