Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 1 – Nairobi to Kiongwe to Muranga Story
…and that we hope will be useful to others setting up a similar project. Today we focus on roles/responsibilities of the core team. On arrival at the site, we divide into three teams: Interview Team This team is typically Tabu Osusa, who acts as the on-site Singing Wells representative, formally meeting the band and handling all their questions about the project and their role in it. Tabu is typically joined by our local music expert, in this case…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 0 – London/Nairobi Story
…s trip to provide additional color to our Field Reports. We spent our Saturday packing and preparing the vans for the trip. Let’s remind you of our team – we cheated and took photos from the trip that follows: Tabu Osusa STEVE KIVUTIA & PATRICK ONDIEK NICK ABONYO GREGG TWENDA LEWIS KOOME RALPH SIPALLA JONAH KEGAH KENNETH KIPSANG Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team For this trip, we are Jimmy Allen (Video 2) and Andy Paterson (Audio 1). We…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…song talks about morning sleep and about hard working women. Unlike those days when women used to wait for men to provide for everything, nowadays, they wake up early and go to work. Olugend’olw’ebukakkata: He went to visit a village called Bukakkata. He found a girl who was seeing two men who didn’t know each other. She was still in her parents’ home so she was not allowed to be seeing men. One day, the parents found a man peeping through the wi…
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…l parks. We also have cool music.” We wish them all the best, and hope one day to take a trip to Tanzania for a few recording sessions of our own! Check out the Tanzania Heritage Project here. Here too are a few YouTube videos of their catchy music: Mziki wa dansi- Zilipendwa Sikinde- Shemeji Issa Mziki wa dansi – Zilipendwa – Super rainbow – Hidaya Mziki wa dansi – Zilipendwa – Kimulimuli – Chiku lala salama peponi Mziki wa dansi – Zilipendwa- Ma…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…on social awareness and theatre. Their instruments include: Amadinda: Xylophone Endingidi: Tube Fiddle Emlwanzi: Pan Flute Adungu: Harp Entongoli: Bow Lyre Drums: Engalabi (Long drum, longest) Empuny (Main Drum) Entujza, 2 medium drums Namunjoloba, 2 small drums, one pitched very high and one lower Their members include: Ronald Muwonge (drums and dances) Denis Kasasira (long drums) Samson Basoga (Tube Fiddle) Isabirye Basoga (15 slab xylophone) J…
Interview: fusion band Ndoto Afrika News
…and listen to stories. So we will have to transmit these stories to their iPhones and iPads in the form of music, the universal language. Where are you from? From Kenya, in the East of Africa. To be more specific, we hail from a small village in Siaya County where most of the renowned Luo musicians come from. Ever heard of Otieno Aloka (the famous Ohangla artist)? He is our next door neighbour back at the village. We borrow each other’s salt from…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…g Director of Nile Beat Artists. Walusimbi was once the Global Youth Earth Day Ambassador for Africa after winning the Global Youth Earth Day Ambassadors Competition in Marikina-Philipines. Nabayaza Sumaya Baiga: She is a senior member of Nile Beat Artists and is vice president of the cultural association in my university. During her school life she was best dancer in 2007 and 2010 in high school, and best dancer in her university in 2010 and 2011…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…sional monkey. The staff has been warm and helpful and offered the hotel today as our recording studio. We have been able to set up the computers in the kitchen of one of our cottage rooms and have the groups either perform on our dining patio or our porch. We had three groups today and the drivers were sent out to round them up from the surrounding areas. The Bigwala Cultural Group One of this group’s primary purposes is to restore the Bigwala, t…
Before They Pass Away News
…to sustain the musical heritage of East Africa, we want to promote it in today’s world. With this in mind, we’ve been following the work of British photographer Jimmy Nelson with interest, who spent four years travelling to meet and photograph some of the world’s last surviving tribes. His book, Before They Pass Away, is a fascinating insight into these communities’ ways of life. Nelson’s breathtaking photographs capture how these last remaining t…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…oir with alternating lead vocals. Their style is Embaire, which is the xylophone. Their instruments were: Embaire, Xylophone Endigidi, tube fiddle Enkwanzi, pan pipes The performance was simply spectacular. Our search for the best xylophone players in Uganda is declared over! What a group. Obutasoma (Education), with lead singer Muniru Ayubu Obwiire Bukyeire (The Time Has Come), with lead singer Kisubi Eliasa Magic Moment: We loved the xylophone a…
Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…Malinywa. Their instruments were: Ekongo: Thumb Piano Embaire (13 slab xylophone) Endingidi: Tube fiddles Omulere: Flute Engoma: Drums Efumbo: Long drum Engalabi: Shorter drum, but still ‘long’ Ensasi: Shakers Ekwanzi: Pan Pipes They performed four songs: Olumbe Namuna: This was a song about aids, beautifully but mournfully sung. You could feel the sense of loss as the female singers performed. Animals were sacrificed during the story to bring hop…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…ying to set up (and stay standing up). We were here to record two groups today. The Kidinda Cultural Group Our first group was the Kidinda Cultural Group, which were 8 men who collectively played the Amadinda, a 22 key wooden xylophone. There total group size is 15. The musical style is Kadinda. The group lead is Waswa Hood and he started playing when he was 17. There were two other original members: Kiwuwa Buruhan and Sulayiman Sserubiri. The gro…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…thunderstorm of biblical proportions was on its way….. A Note About Our Sponsors We are very grateful to have two sponsors for this recording trip. Firstly, The Mara Group are sponsoring a full recording day and have chosen to support our day in Mbale (Day 4: Thursday 21st Nov). We are also very pleased to have the support of Gorilla Tours, owners of the Airport Guesthouse who have provided one of the transport vehicles and a driver for the week,…
Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…ges about identity. Best and worst Singing Wells moment? The worst was the day when Jimmy poured water on Andy. He was trying to get something from the tent and somehow, I’m not sure how it happened, he ended up soaking Andy. Actually, thinking about it now it wasn’t the worst, it was pretty funny! The worst was driving from Mombasa to Malindi at night, it was dangerous. The road was narrow, unmarked and I didn’t like it. We said after this we wou…
Our top 5 Singing Wells songs for March News
…the kind of song everyone should listen to when they wake up to start the day with positive vibes. 2. Ochieng Nelly – Osare I’ll admit, a few weeks ago I knew very little about the history of Benga. But the more I’ve found out, the more meaningful this song is. Ochieng was one of the founders of Benga, a Kenyan music genre adapted by the Kikuyu musicians of the ’60s. We were privileged to have the chance to record him and preserve his music in Ma…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…ich this performance shows, here. A word about brass bands: It isn’t every day you discover a brass band in the middle of Africa, but it isn’t every day you meet Julius, an orphan determined to save orphans. Click here. Benga: The beauty of cultural integration: I was able to tell two stories involving music as part of my day job, so I will let you read the story as I tell the story of Benga music as a lessons of Corporate Strategy (click here)….