Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…This was a wonderful day of recording for three reasons: We had the whole day so were able to record a large number of songs and do an “Influences” session. This gave the village children time to get to know us and understand our mission. By the end they were singing along to all the songs. In addition to being a professional musician, Leo also teaches music to school children so he is a natural with kids. On all the songs that he did, he had the…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…n fact, ‘clown’ acts are quite central to Tanzanian dance as are acrobatic acts. We spoke to Leo about this. “Yes, we love to bring comedy to our music. If you look at most circus troupes that are touring in the world today, a huge number of the acrobats and clowns are Tanzanian.” https://youtu.be/C-4PdHne3Jc We’ll leave you here. We checked in to our hotel, the Mediterraneo Hotel, Dar es Salaam. Tomorrow we head off for Bagamoyo….
Day 0: Retracing the Lost Drums of Mzee Morris Story
…Over the next week we will be “Retracing the Lost Drums of Mzee Morris,”, the theme of our newest “Field Visit.” We will be travelling from Dar Es Salaam to Bagamoya, from the Snake Dance to the DCC Mlimani Park Orchestra. Enjoy….
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…e drums. I told Musisi, ‘please teach our boys 100 songs.’ I told Shaban, ‘you must learn every part and every song.’ And that is how we ended up on this road. We filmed the drums yesterday and today we are going to see the Bigwala and discuss more lessons learned. Tomorrow, we are going to find out how much more there is to do.”…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 2 – Flutes Story
…visit to Uganda and have invited them back to do studio recordings. But today, we focused on two things: 1) Discussing in detail some of our observations from our time exploring the royal instruments of the Kingdoms of Uganda. 2) Recording again Albert Ssempeke’s Buganda Music Ensemble. Given that we first decided to rediscover the Royal Drums after recording Albert’s group in 2013, we wanted to end this field visit with his recordings. Part two:…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…endangered list. Contemporary Ugandan musicians are incorporating the xylophone into contemporary songs. We do need to record the best village players and make sure others can find them, but there is probably a ‘market.’ Bigwala trumpets At the other extreme, the Bigwala horns of the Busoga kingdom or the trumpets of the Buganda kingdom are unlikely to enter the musical mainstream. They are ceremonial instruments and in some sense need a king – t…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…didn’t live in the palace so we waited until we were called to play. Every day was a great day at the palace and the one thing I learned was to be humble. When the king came in and sat we had to sit on the floor. I am very comfortable sitting on the floor, showing that I have humility. On the day of the attack in 1966 I was actually at home because it was not my turn to play. But when the news came I grabbed my bike to go back to the palace, but a…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…m to hear the tone. Quite a dance. He then explains tuning further: “Never buy a drum that has been tuned in the sun, or when the drum is too dry or too hot from the sun. This drum will always be too low – because as the skin cools it will lower in pitch. I only tune very cool drums inside and my drums will never go out of tune in the sun. As the sun dries them and the pitch rises, you simply wet them down to keep them in tune.” Here, we learn tha…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…e short drum with a lizard-skin playing surface, and the bass drum The xylophone Here, we will focus on the players, verses the xylophone instrument itself. We have recorded a lot of Ugandan xylophones over the years, but this time we really wanted to understand the players themselves as the arrangement mirrors in many ways the royal drums. There are generally six players, 3 on each side, configured very roughly as follows (I say roughly, because…
Recce to Tanzania for our 2020 Field Visit News
…e Singing Wells team has been travelling through Tanzania in search of the best groups to record during our upcoming field visit in February. We are struck once again by the amazing talent this country has to offer, and can’t wait to capture some amazing moments with these artists when we visit again with the full team in a few weeks time. Thanks to the good people at Dhow Countries Music Academy for helping us with the information and contacts fr…
Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…was really traumatic for me. I lost my home, my job, my music in a single day. I was just happy for the day to end. I’m telling you all this to tell you that this was the last day I played drums in the palace. I was arrested and I stayed in jail for a couple of weeks. Then, in 1966, I got employment at the Kyambogo music department for Peter Cooke (who was head of the music department at the time). It was then called the National Teachers’ Colleg…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…me at the palace. In terms of the music, we recorded the following songs today: Ganga Alula Omusango gw’abalere Mubandusa Ekyuuma kya Bboola Veneneka Olugambo olubuulire Sekanyolya The Drummers In terms of the moment, let’s stress a few things: These drums are magnificent. They are actually 15 drums, 12 of which are tuned to the notes of a xylophone and thus we are hearing a full song – percussion, bass, rhythms and melodies across the six players…
Singing Wells Youtube Channel hits 2.5Million views News
…erere Wa Konde Music Club. This was filmed back in 2011, on the very first day of the Singing Wells pilot trip to Kenya. Seeing the generations of Nyerere’s family performing together was a special moment (his son Mr Bado is also a musician). We captured a great fusion of old and new https://youtu.be/-MU13FLg_io You also need to check out the Elgon Ngoma Troupe, performing a traditional circumcision ritual dance. Please keep following our channel…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…grew as they played. Here are four things we learned about these drums on Day 1: There are 15 drums. 12 of the drums operate as a collection, set in stands off the ground and as you face them, they move from largest to smallest, right to left. All these drums are played with the Enga, the curved drum stick. Again, as you face them, to the right of the smallest drum are three standalone drums, played with different sticks much thicker than the Eng…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…olks roads, modernise them. But Singing Wells has discovered in fact – the best sustainable development is to keep folks rooted in their villages and the best villages are those with a vibrant musical community. This puts the soul, the software at the top of the developmental agenda. Have folks realised this? SW: What is your advice to us? GT: In the context of the vital importance of this, I ask myself ‘what is the future of this?’ What if there…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…he Kondele “Beer Belt” in Kisumu comes alive every night, peaking on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Almost every pub has some make-shift band and some groups have been lucky enough to make a breakthrough nationally. But in many ways, Benga is caught in a time-warp. Shapers of Benga Perhaps the best known Benga artiste in Kenya and abroad is Daniel Owino Misiani, commonly known as D.O. Many Benga musicians, including those from other c…