The repatriation of Kenya’s music heritage News
…he 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 project. Read Bill Odidi’s article about the August project here….
Singing Wells is on Bozza! News
…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 accessed by visi…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…studios to record). Here is the most simple, but to me, one of the most profound African songs ever written. It is a simple song, a tribute to the local sugar factory manager. They are singing his high praises for… doing his job. I love this! Influences: what can happen when we fuse this music. These are just two humble examples of what can happen when you start bringing these musicians to the studio. If you only have a minute (and by this time y…
Current Leading Figures News
…y can be found on his About Page at Ketebul Music and his thoughts on some of the central issues surrounding East African music are here in his interview with James, with more to be published on Singing Wells soon. He also gives insightful commentary on the artists that we record, in our field reports. Wolimbwa Julius Julius founded the Elgon Ngoma Troupe in 2009 and, shortly after, the Elgon Hero Brass Band. We at Singing Wells were lucky enough…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
1. International Library of African Music The International Library of African Music (ILAM) was founded by the great Hugh Tracey – whose efforts to record African music can be found in the History blog – in 1954. What is particularly significant about this African Music archive is that it is actually in Africa; on its website, it boasts the accolade of ‘The Largest Archive of African Music in sub Saharan Africa’. When it was originally founded by…
Archiving Guidelines News
…line storage of the data. It cites two viable options for open repository software, which are basically softwares that allow organisations to give access to their data. The first is DSpace, “very popular and widely adopted repository within the higher education and research sectors, although knowledge of its use within the museums and cultural heritage sectors is limited but growing.”[1] The second is FEDORA. However, it is clear that to set up an…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…cultural malaria.’ Tracey, although very aware of the colonial oppression of African culture, or perhaps because of it, made it his life mission to record traditional African music; a mission which many others adopted after him. After making the first recording of indigenous Rhodesian music, being awarded the Carnegie Fellowship grant to study South Rhodesian music, with which he made over 600 recordings, and inspiring traditional English musicia…
Tracey Instrument Collection News
…the ILAM and Hugh Tracey himself can be found on the History of Archivists of East African Music (coming soon). Siilili bowed lute This is a lute of the Gishu (also known as Gisu or Bagisu) people, who mainly live in the Mbale district of Eastern Uganda, on the slopes of Mount Elgon. The skin stretched across the cylinder is held with small pegs and two metal strings go over the wooden bridge, with nails as tuning pegs. We recorded the Elgon Ngoma…
ILAM, Repatriation and Jimmie Rodgers/Chemirocha News
…a series of conversations with the Director of ILAM (International Library of African Music), Diane Thram. ILAM was founded in 1954 by the late Hugh Tracey, the legendary ethno-musicologist, who conducted ground breaking village recordings from the 1920’s to 1950’s. We are working with ILAM to begin to repatriate these recordings back to the villages from which they were taken. We hope to start with two pilot villages in July, where we can a) iden…
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…gram you have arranged for us, James, is you have brought us so many diverse voices. From the legends with 50 years performing, to the school boys learning to be in a brass band. Each of them has a unique voice and each of them makes a great contribution to Singing Wells. It was a good moment just to listen and take notes…….
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…about leadership. These are three great songs that I’m particularly proud of. Many of the songs we recorded from scratch but we also published songs that had been recorded previously. The project is video and audio and we have lots of great interviews. This was sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Bridging the Gap: We have also completed Bridging the Gap. It is similar to Singing Wells and Spotlight, where we are trying to bridge the gap between gen…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…– which will feature on the site soon. The Team A big thanks to Mike and Louise who were marvellous evangelists for the project over the course of the 4 days. Here is a picture of us all at our stand: And Finally… We were intrigued by the two fellas with a load of equipment at the end of one of the rows on the other side of the hall – they seemed to be doing something with records… Further investigation showed us that they were creating vinyl…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…ortantly, the secretary of a cultural organisation called National Council of Folklorists of Uganda – NACOFU. James turned out to be very resourceful on the music and culture of Uganda and organises an annual tribal music festival. He was very impressed by the Singing Wells project agenda and very pleased to be part of the project and suggested we explore even more collaborations in the future.” After recording these two groups we will head back t…
Group of the Month – Otacho Young Stars News
…ndy 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 dance hall – the grass at the rear of the hall forming a natural arena for our groups – one of which was the Otacho Young Stars. We later me…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…nd on one level, of course, this remains true. As we consider any ‘triage’ of African problems, of course we want the next shilling, dollar, pound or Euro of support to help that child. Music can wait. But at another level, we’re no longer sure. The more time we spend in the villages, the more we believe the following to be true: As many aid agencies now recognize, a key conduit to sustainable support for Africa is a healthy village. One of the mo…
What people say about Singing Wells News
…erve traditions for future generations. By involving a younger demographic of East African musicians, producers and videographers like Winyo, Jesse Bukindu, Partick Ondiek and Steve Kivutia, the project generates bridges of local musical influence that directly funnel into East Africa’s popular music industry. This innovative approach of strategically addressing the past, present and future, situates Singing Wells as a uniquely imperative initiati…