Happy new year from Singing Wells News
…i and heard his story Musisi is one of the last remaining drummers of the Buganda Kingdom in Uganda. He performed for the King during his time at the Buganda Palace before fleeing in fear when the government arrived to shut the palace down. Here’s is Musisi’s incredible story. 3. We checked in on the preservation of the Bigwala trumpets The Bigwala is a trumpet-style instrument made from gourds. Singing Wells has been supporting the work of James…
Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…We recorded two very dramatic groups in Budaka and then headed off to Mbale….
We’re discovering the lost music of the Ugandan Kingdoms News
…and the beginning of our journey to discover the lost royal drums of the Buganda Kingdom Context 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…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…ab instrument was the only one that was allowed to be used to play for the Ugandan king (Kabaka of Buganda), and this village has been performing on the Amadinda for at least five generations. They played three songs: Ebijja bisamba endege: The song is about spirits that come with bells Omusang’ Ogw’ abalere: The song is also called the ‘case of the flute players.’ The basic story is one of the flute players was with one of the girls at the King’s…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…the easy part of the trip. We then had to clear all our equipment through Ugandan customs. Everyone was polite and helpful. But it took almost 1.5 hours. By that time we were caught up in a UN group that passed very slowly through customs. We made it to the hotel at around 1630. It was great to see our old friends at the hotel. We had a quick dinner and a few free drinks (we had charmed some flight attendants on the plane to contribute to Singing…
Singing Wells surpasses 500,000 YouTube hits! News
…da, including visiting the tribes of the Kenyan Coast, Central and Eastern Uganda, our work to share the music of the Batwa community and the Luo community. We’ve told the story of repatriating Kenya’s music heritage after 50 years and celebrated magic moments – where we’ve found an extra-special artist on our journeys and recorded their work. To celebrate our 500,000th YouTube hit, we’ve put together a selection of our most popular videos. We hop…
Sponsor a Singing Wells recording session News
…Uganda. We have a jam-packed schedule to keep to: we’re going to be following the story of Uganda’s Royal Instruments, identifying key talent and inviting them back to Nairobi for recording sessions at our partner Ketebul’s studios, and travelling into eastern Uganda to record several tribal groups in the region. Check out our previous work in Uganda. Now we’re looking for sponsors to help fund our important work discovering, preserving and promot…
From the streets of Kisoro Uganda to a professional recording session… Story
…Tiny Moses, backed by Winyo, plays guitar and sings in the Ketebul Studios in Nairobi. We discovered Tiny Moses during our visit to Kisoro Uganda to record the Batwa trips. Along with Francis and his wives and Jovah, we brought Tiny Moses and his team back to Nairobi to record them in a professional studio. Johnny and Bishop, on guitar and bass respectfully, joined Winyo to help Tiny Moses. Go here to listen to the result. …
Singing Wells discovers ‘the voice’ Story
… This is Jovah Nyiramajoro. She is the leader of the Mperwa Dancers – the music group of the small community of Mperwa Batwa living on the outskirts of Kisoro, SW Uganda. She is a beautiful woman, full of joy and passion for the traditional music of her fellow Batwa tribes people. But wait until you hear her beautiful voice – we were blown away……..
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…you two good news groups, where the young are central to the music, one in Uganda, one in Kenya: Uganda We are struck by how many young people remain involved in village music in Uganda. Here’s an example and show how we do ‘Magic Moments’ where we ask performers to do a ‘one minute’ performance of their favourite bit of song or dance. Kenya In contrast to Uganda, Kenya’s musical groups are aging and dying out. But we found one extraordinary ‘boy’…
Hitching a ride Story
…ur journey from Kisoro to the Birara community while we were in south west Uganda documenting and recording the music of the Batwa. It’s about 35kms by road, most of which is uphill, following the winding road through the stunning, lush countryside. This guy was lucky enough to have a bike and took advantage of the passing lorry. Most people seemed to be on foot and many of the Batwa make the arduous journey to town three times a week, without bei…
Current Leading Figures News
…that promotes world music, and NACOFU (National Council of Folklorists of Uganda) . A Ugandan himself, the preservation, recording and archiving of his country’s music is very close to his heart. He believes “Ugandan Folk Music is the sincere, honest expression of my country’s values, feelings, thoughts, musics, history, aspirations……not copied from any where, not just learned but inherited.” He sees music, traditional music with history, as a wa…
The story of Anyim Lac Story
…iscovering Anyim Lac It was day 3 of our field recording visit to northern Uganda. We were staying at the Acholi Inn in Gulu and, as usual, gathered in the early morning for the day ahead. We travelled about an hour from Gulu to Awach and the small community of Paibona Tuga which is well known for the music of the likembe, the thumb piano. We found the ideal setting for the performances – under the shade of a large tree which not only served to pr…
Amone Watmon Matthew Story
… Our story with Amone Watmon Matthew We had spent 4 days in the north of Uganda, travelling back through Soroti and into Kampala, where, arranged by Jimmy of the Adungu Cultural Troupe, we arrived in the Naguru area of Kampala. Jimmy led us to another location for the recording, away from the road – a space in front of a house where Matthew Watmon lived. We were introduced and in the time before the group had even managed to begin to unload the…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…d the Massai who sing of the dangers of cattle raiding – and two others on Uganda; one featuring the Bugandan Royal Court Music and the second is about the Busoga Kingdom. Unfortunately there are no short clips available of the programme on YouTube from East Africa, but across the continent on the West, here is a sample of the World Route programme in Equatorial Guinea. 6. Putumayo Putumayo is a World Music record label that was established in 199…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…ondon However, as Cooke’s aim is, and always has been, to make traditional Ugandan music available to Ugandans, he was determined to see his work accessible there and it is now available at the Makerere University, although it wasn’t a simple decision; ‘until I was assured that a well managed archive was being set up at Makerere I was loath to deposit my materials there, after what had happened at Kyambogo Teachers’ College. The Makerere archive e…