Imachina Group
…yone to walk slowly to and from the wedding so all the people can gather and honour the bride and groom. The Shishebo process – this is about rites of passage, and specifically male circumcision. The songs include: Bikubanda: This is a song that mocks other tribes and peoples that don’t carry out these rituals and ‘are afraid of the knife.’ Nuli Musata: This is a song that is encouraging the young men to be brave and go forward. Magic Moment: We t…
A Report by Professor James Isabirye – Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion News
…nous teaching methods used with the young people involved in the project, what this meant for the sustainability for the instruments future, and how this impacted the young people’s identity and associations with the Bigwala-playing community. You can find the full report on the Sage website here: https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/EBNMQEBVD9ECYMFJF8EP/full Professor Isabirye’s extensive work in reviving lost instruments so that they will be pass…
Fundraiser for Matthew Watmon News
We are sad to say that a special talent, and a dear friend of Singing Wells, Matthew Watmon is currently in a critical condition in hospital. We are urgently trying to raise funds to support him and his family in this difficult time, and we hope that some of our followers may be able to help us. If you are based in East Africa, please get in touch with Matthew’s brother, Constantine Odida ((MTN) +256-782-236-742 and (Airtel) +256-704-261-037). I…
Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
…ing 5 million total views across our videos. When we started Singing Wells almost ten years ago, we set an aim to bring the traditional music of East Africa to a wider audience. It amazing to see the Youtube algorithm agreeing that this is a project worth showing people! We can’t wait to bring more songs and stories to the world. Keep an eye out on the Singing Wells Youtube channel for the footage and recordings from our field trip to Zanzibar and…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…r sterility, they look more like fossils than homes. These are the images that inform our discussions. What does it mean to preserve or to rediscover cultural elements? What part of our efforts should focus on preserving music, like these grass huts, before it dies? What part of our efforts should focus on reviving the music, using it to inspire new generations to build on it in their own way, as thousands of generations did before? This has alway…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…other of the boy that they have arrived for him. And it is time. Remember that for the mother she is now losing the boy, who on return is not to enter her kitchen or live at her home. Karagua nkabume, led by Charles Kinyua. This means ‘something fell in Nicabune’ – it is a song to prepare the boys being circumcised for a new thing that is about to befall him, e.g., the circumcisers knife, responsibility (new ones that they don’t have), not going b…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…ustoms. 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 Wells with a few whiskeys). Most of us then went to bed for the night, deciding to…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…reduced rate, but is unable to distribute to those tribes and communities for free, due to their levels of funding. There is currently a campus wide initiative at Indiana University to digitise their archive, which includes the ATM though the archive digitises recordings on a daily basis. There are several folk music recordings from Uganda and Kenya that are housed at the Archive. It is located on the Bloomington Campus of Indiana University and…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…to financial support. It is an exciting time, and seems to chime in with what Eddie Hatitye announced for Music in Africa. Members of the Music Producers Guild led a discussion on ‘What do producers actually do?‘ – the answer seems to be ‘everything’. The role of producer has many meanings, but it seems to me (as a producer) that it is the role of a project manager. Working with a budget and creative energy and materials to create an end product….
A quick summary of the Singing Wells Project News
…rn me off’ if you need to get on with your life. My poor friend never had that chance… Forgive me, but here are 10 things I would like to say about Singing Wells…. 1. Singing Wells is all About Ensuring that others can hear about the Macedonia Band: We’ll provide background later, but let’s story with the story of Uganda Land of Freedom. Let’s start with the music – click play and let the band be a soundtrack for this story… We were recording in N…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…. Our driver has reported we have crossed the Nile. Let us try to explain what that felt like. Darkness ahead. Darkness behind. Darkness to the left and right. Very clear view of guard rails on the road. And the only other sign is that Andy reported over the walkie talkie that is it always better to cross the Nile than to be ‘in denial’ (In The Nile, get it?). In fairness, how often can you use that joke? It is 20:37 and we just passed a police ro…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…el song. https://youtu.be/h3PLpGb59A0 Their final song was Uganda, Land of Freedom, which was the song that saved the village multiple times. https://youtu.be/VRBYf6d8dp4 We loved the song so much we had them perform a ‘Magic Moment’ around the phrase ‘Uganda will be alright’. Lovely. And then we played footie… The second half of the day was, well, not so good. We needed to leave at 13:00 to get to Kampala before nightfall. No night driving is a S…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…king 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 thatch pillars. The charcoal makers burn the charcoal and then fill five foot high white bags of charcoal that line the roads in groups of 4-5. We often mistake them for nuns walking along the road in their beautiful white dresses. The whit…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…fierce, running around with a spear, lunging at the audience. Think about what that would be like for the children as Oramba drifts into the shadows only to fly out of the darkness at different points of the circle? So, we vow to do more nighttime recording. Maybe with mosquito netting. Cieng Dwong Tonight’s group was fantastic, especially given the full day of travel. They had about 15 bul (drums) and 2 drummers and a smallish ndara (xylophone)….
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
…Omiya Charles playing Mbeta. We loved these musicians the fun of the traditional dances. You got mad at the stubborn girl, you got scared when the hunter returned and you celebrated for the new chief. On the way to Fort Murchison where we were staying, we saw some spectacular stormy scenes as we crossed the River Nile:…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…their differences and forgive. Given the recent wars in Uganda and given that we are in formally held Kony territory, this song is pretty important. https://youtu.be/_u4-hVbcVV0 In the same vein, their second song was Lweny Dong Pee, a message to the government to bring back the children of conflict, many of whom remain displaced or imprisoned. https://youtu.be/eH1v-kwvvaQ Their third song was Songa Mbele, a song about ‘moving forward’ symbolized…