Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…ally beaten a number of strokes depending on your age, in his case it was 300. Odika called it the ‘bush mind’, and sometimes even once soldiers returned that mind would come back again, in nightmares or in daily life. To help returning soldiers they were taken to Gulu Children of War Rehabilitation Centre for 6 months before going home, partly to make sure the rebels couldn’t find you in your home village but also to help the returning soldiers a…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…(our style of ‘Apiri’ in Acholi is typically only performed by the women). Today the reason there was a man playing the drums is because one of our women is sick, normally there are no men in the performance. In Gulu when I want to meet with the other women I play drums and they all come, usually in the evening. I want to push the music to it’s highest level so that we can get some sponsorship from NGOs or from the Ugandan Government. I have opene…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…e carved into a hill, with rows and rows of streets below us, and an equal number of streets and houses piled up above us. There were cars, motorbikes and taxi’s driving past and planes flying overhead. Everything was for sale by everyone who walked by. No sleeping cattle. No flower beds. But, as always, there was wonderful music. The first group was the Adungu Cultural Troupe, masters of the Adungu. We had interviewed their leader on our ‘recce’…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…ally performed with his father’s group and then he founded this group in 2007. They use a number of styles, most notably Sengenya, which we covered fully in our March 2011 field recordings in Malindi. We interviewed Swalhe Mwatela Massai and his grandson, Ali Tungwa : Q to the grandfather: In contrast to Uganda, we have seen many villages in Kenya where the traditional music is only played by the older generation. And yet your group is so young…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…ion by the government. We then hinted at problems. Rather than leave at 13:00 to travel to Kampala, we were forced back to Soroti with a broken wheel and only managed to hit the road again at 15:30. So we knew we were in for one of those ‘African Night Drives’ we so often do and so often swear we’ll never do again. We’ve decided night driving in Africa is like child birth. While you’re in the throws of it, you’re swearing to the lord almighty that…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…on her head and marches into the local market to sell a packet for about 2,000 Ugandan shillings ($1). By our calculation, that is a 15-30 kilometer round trip the market, giving her time to make two runs. Most of the women carry empty bottles and cans on top of the grass bundle so she can buy essentials, like cooking oil at the market. The thatched bundles are then sold at the market to businesses that are working on new thatched roofs or those n…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…l about 1900, by which time it was pretty dark – okay, very dark. The good news is we have good lighting equipment. The bad news, good lights attract bugs. These are Nile bugs, mind you, so in addition to the millions of little moths you’d expect, we had bat size critters, from very big grasshoppers to fairly intimidating beetles. Our recording sessions were part Singing Wells and part BBC wildlife documentary. We reassured ourselves that at least…
ATTA is following Singing Wells News
…guest at the World Travel Market at Excel and I met representatives from a number of organisations and companies in the travel and tourism industry operating in the East African counties we are visiting during our field recording trips. I met Nigel Vere Nicoll, Chief Executive of the African Travel & Tourism Association and explained a little about Singing Wells and our aims to record and celebrate the cultural music heritage of East Africa. It se…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
…nt imaginable: The Flute (yep, a flute) The Ndara (the amazing Ugandan xylophone) The Rigi-Rigi (similar to the Kenyan orutu) The Agwara (trumpets) The Adungu (the harp we’ve encountered every day now) The group was formed in 1993 and is professional, touring Kampala and other parts of Uganda, sponsored by NGO’s and typically campaigning for things like HIV Awareness, Cultural preservation, etc… Except for the fact they wear clothes under their an…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…so learned a great deal about their history and their lifestyle in Uganda today. The following week, we invited ten of the Batwa performers to the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi to record more songs, and in particular, collaborate with contemporary music artists to generate new material for ‘Influences’ – a series of new songs influenced and inspired by traditional themes. Our aim is to provide a lasting benefit for the Batwa community in Ugand…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…Book Pro 2 MOTU Traveler MK3 Audio Interface 4 Headphone amps 8 Sony MDR-V600 headphones 2 Shure mics & stands 2 Rode Lavalier omni-directional mics 2 Rode NTG-1 condenser Shotgun mics 1 Matched Pair of AKG C414 XL Microphones 1 Matched Pair of Rode NT5 Microphones2 Rode professional boom pole 1 K&M telescopic mic stand/boom 1 Canon EOS 7D 1 Canon EOS 60D 1 Canon EOS 5D 1 LED video camera lights 1 Flip HD video camera ThinkTank sun screens (for th…
UOBDU report on Singing Wells visit to the Batwa, Kisoro Uganda News
…to record the music of the Batwa. Since then we have been pleased to hear news updates from our friends and hosts at UOBDU about the Batwa communities we visited. This week UOBDU Coordinator Zaninka Penninah sent a detailed report to us with feedback about all the music groups who performed for the Singing Wells project. The good news is that being involved in the project seems to have given the groups a new and added pride for their music and ha…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…e changing, however. Since the Female Genital Mutiliation or ‘FGM’ Act in 2009 the practice has been on decline, but this year in particular Pokot men have come to women’s aid by rejecting the practice. There were reports in February of this year of men demonstrating with large placards against FGM. One man, Mr Lotolim, a resident of Jumbe village in Amudat District, reported that Pokot men often only resort to polygamy because their first wives h…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…ked lunch. We drove. We drove. And we raced faster and faster to make it to Gulu before DARK, our true horrible enemy on drives. Darkness just fell as we hit Gulu, which was fine, as we slowed right down and joined the chaos of the Gulu city center. We pulled into our hotel at around 1910, only 10 minutes or so after our target time. We pulled into the Acholi Inn, unloaded all the equipment to our rooms and quickly feel into a dinner of Nile Speci…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…arly around the valley) you can find many instruments that date back over 5000 years, many, like the nyatiti, are also found in Egyptian hieroglyphs (right). The Luo people are related to the Acholi people of Uganda, a tribe we will come across in our next field visit. They play a similar instrument called the Adungu. Style: As music is mainly functional for the Luo, traditionally a nyatiti player is called upon to play at weddings or funerals, as…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…Certainly, in the documentary ‘War Dance’ by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix in 2007, people in the North dealt with the scars of the recent attacks by the Lord Resistance Army thorugh playing and making music together. This transcends any past tension between tribal groups. In parallel, music is a fantastic way of holding on to tribal identity, as many villages were evacuated and millions were moved into displacement camps. Being away from home, the tr…