Support Singing Wells Page
…oject is funded by the Abubilla Music Foundation, the below link will direct you to make a donation to the Abubilla Music Foundation: — CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW — Donate your time, products or services We are always keen to hear from people who are happy to offer their time to help the project and from companies which may be able to support us with products or services free of charge. If you can help out in this respect please contact: info@singin…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…e look at how to shape these trees to create and tune each note on the Xylophone. From Embaire to Entongooli: Part 2 In this video, we continue to learn about the process of building the Embaire, also known as the xylophone, to help educate our young music scholars about music, melody and instrument building. We are shown how they finish off their Embaire and then talk to some young students about what they have learned. What is clear from our tri…
FAQ’s Page
…ording gratuity on the day of the recording. This amount varies based on a number of factors such as the number of members in the group and the number of songs we record. In the event of any music we record making money directly (through sales, sync licensing or performance royalties) we will endeavour to channel this money back to the original performers. Can I buy the music you have recorded? A selection of our music is available to download fro…
Day Two: January 19, 2019 From Tarime to Buturi to Bariadi Story
…e recorded three groups: Group 1: Maisha Bora Suba Group: Our first group, from the Mara Regio (Roria District) was formed in 2012. They are from the Abhasimbete community. Their style is Rirandi and they play the Zeze/Endongwe (a one stringed instrument similar to the Kenyan Orutu and Ugandan Rigi Rigi), Rirandi (a giant horn, similar to the Uganda Big Wala, but made with 6 gourds, not one), Ekeborogo (flute), the Ekedomwa (drums), Ama’ghorro (hu…
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…ent used (the wooden trough) Group 2: Nyati Muchoya (also spelt Mchoya): From Nzali, the group is from the Wagogo Tupu community and was formed in 1966 by the grandfathers of the current performers. Their instruments include: Nindo (jingles), Njuga (Shakers), Mbega (animal Skins), Muheme (drums), Kabati (kayamba-shakers), Manyanga ( Maracas), Madodolo (cow bell), and Pangwa/Kipangwa (a double headed lyre). We recorded four performances, where…
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…unded by the Norwegian government that brought together performing artists from all disciplines from Norway, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania & Kenya in a 14-day creative camp. This experience gave him a very wide perspective in music and he “discovered that his style of music was actually world music”, too wide to be placed in one musical style or category. This marked the end of our interview with Fadhilee, as Wilbert and his group – the Bungoma Roots…
Makunga Group
…customs – human shakers! We recorded seven performances: Intro, Freestyle recording of their entrance. Masasi: the celebration song after circumcision completed Nindo: Song on social issues Muhene: Song during girl ceremony where she reaches puberty and now must be hidden from village for 40 days (song acts out how girl learns to reject the advances of men, represented by two men playing shakers) Muziki: A song to gain support of the people for th…
Ekhunjwe Musical Group Group
…Oduor, this is a very organized group of twenty eight (28) members coming from the different administrative areas of Samia district. Ekhunjwe ya Abasamiawas formed in April 2008 with common focus on using music as a tool for community development. The group promotes traditional African values and acts in both education and local economy. Members also engage in traditional crafts like basket weaving and jewellery making for exhibition and sale. Th…
Ayub Ogada Group
…in a traditional setting. He picked it up later in his career and studied from a player/teacher at the national cultural centre of Bomas of Kenya in the 1980s. He remembers he had gone for 6 lessons (at a 100 shillings) only and then continued practicing and experimenting by himself. It was equally interesting to hear his theory of the name nyatiti, which he translated from the Luo word nyar as queen and titi, making it “the queen of the clan”. T…
Twone Mbee Group
…tine Kisove and Eliza Musyoka use the whistles. The song encourages parents to invest in education because that is key to success. ‘Mwaki’: This is a political phrase song praising a prospective parliamentarian. It discourages other prospective candidates from attempting the position because it is already taken by the one they are praising. ‘Nzembanie na ivinda’: (Chasing After Time). This song talks about the President’s call to stop corruption….
Day Five: January 22, 2019 Mwanza Continued Story
…eya: Freestyle Magic Moment: Omusingero again https://youtu.be/AtwkoD3sDFo From recording we then drove eight hours to Sigiir. We woke and spend January 23rd driving onward to the New Dodoma Hotel. That evening we had a private meeting with Dr. Harrison G. Mwakyembe (MP), Minister, Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, The United Republic of Tanzania. Dr. Harrison G. Mwakyembe (MP) We also met with Mizengo Kayanza Peter Pinda. He was…
Camera Group
…Camera, who has been performing since 1999, is from Nzega and from the Sukuma community, playing in the Kadete style. Camera plays the Kadete (like the Zeze from earlier and Orutu from Kenya). He is an extremely cool cat, who we actually discovered walking the streets with his instrument during the RECCE….
Baseki Group
…le virtues Balimi: A song about farming where the band brought up children from the village and taught them about hoeing the soil to the song. Later we saw several videos of how this song is used in the fields to motivate farmers, who hoe to the beat. Throughout Tanzania, we saw school kids walking to/from school with their hoes, where they often tend to small plots at the school. Serengeti: We are near the national park and this is a song in cele…
Aynu Traditional Group Group
…so believe in a certain kind of mythology, mainly that man are descendants from the first creatures put on earth by spirit (the creator of men). Spirit created a man (gboro-gboro) and a woman (meme), and then domestic livestock. Meme had wild animals in her womb so that after the gazelle had broken out all animals followed from her womb. Man was the last to come out. The first human beings are said to have been twins: Arube and O’duu. Arube was a…
Albums Introduction Page
…h the music of the area we were recording in. Each album also contains a number of extra tracks that weren’t strictly part of the archiving recordings we were making. These recordings are of ‘Influences’ sessions – where a popular musical artist has joined us on our trip to collaborate with the groups we record. In the event that we have invited one of the musicians back to the Ketebul Studios in Nairobi to record, we will also include these rec…
Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…sed team and all went according to plan until a group of mourners appeared from nowhere with a coffin of a dead relative that had just recently arrived from Nairobi. Although the burial was planned for the following day, the emotional villagers were already wailing loudly and playing mournful dirges. This dramatic twist of events threw us off guard and we were forced to stop our program temporarily. As required by local custom, we dutifully went t…