The origins of Singing Wells Story
…t will soon die out, leaving videos and songs in the archives. We also had to work to make this music relevant and important to contemporary artists. A key part of a field visit, therefore, is to bring contemporary African musicians with us to perform with the tribal groups and to write new music influenced by these sessions. Winyo, a wonderful singer/songwriter with Ketebul Music, is one of our Influences artists and has been with us on three Sin…
Day 9 (AM): Ketebul Studio – Influences session for Cheri Story
…involves about 9 days in the field recording new groups AND then we return to Nairobi to work in the studio with tribal musicians discovered previously. Yesterday we worked with Mwenzele-Nyerere wa Konde Music Club on five studio songs. Today, we brought them back in to work with Stanley on his song Cheri, featuring Macadem. Here’s how the process worked today: Jaybee first worked with Stanley, Bishop and Johnnie to get the basic song structure do…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…verse 2, they meet years later and our hero has a little money. He’s able to buy the young woman some perfume and she essentially says, ‘I’m yours.’ In the third verse he is singing to the village that the girl is now ready, in love with him, and about to visit the village. He’s won. Agiriama Anging: This song needs a little back ground. In the Coastal areas there are huge rivalries between villages and there are always, what the band calls, “hat…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…with the Singing wells visitors. From their savings the group have managed to buy bed sheets and source pans and have kept or reserved UGX 180.000/= which will be used or spent in future. In addition to the Batwa cultural performance activity, the group members make contracts with other local people to work for them in the fields for a better pay. Gatera group’s plan is to register their group at the sub county and have a group name which will all…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…ened: the rebels arrived to his village and asked him to show them the way to town. In a way this was a blessing, because his family was saved (often, on abduction, the rest of the child’s family would be killed, so they’d feel angry, distant and unable to return home). Once they arrived at the town they wouldn’t let Odika go and it was clear he was a prisoner. He only managed to escape once the rebels believed he was one of them, and stopped watc…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…ayer is that we will be able to become professional performers and be able to buy proper costumes, more instruments and better equipment to keep authenticity. Why do you like to perform? I am a woman’s leader for a local parish and my work has now spread to four different parishes, this gives me strength and hope. Working in this group has influenced women, they now have guidance and work to earn money for themselves. It is not only a musical grou…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…kum, not far from Gulu up in Northern Uganda, and moved down to Kampala during the war. We love the instrument they played, the Nanga (below) so much we asked if they would join us in Entebbe to record more songs with Akello. We asked them to come with us to our next stop: our hotel in Entebbe, purely because we were desperate to have more time with the stunning musicians we met in the city. During the two hour drive to Entebbe we talked with Watm…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…he weaknesses of 1 and 2’s position). We even sorted out after a while how to stop the groups from starting the song while our poor clapper board person (Nick) was still running from the shot. Third, we then had to sort out interviews and research. We’re really good now at doing interviews on songs, villages and groups and supporting that with research. This all sounds like pretty basic things and we agree. But imagine arriving at a village that h…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…have you managed to do this? A: To get the young people involved I decided to go to schools and teach music. I compose new material with my students and come up with something they like. I watch how they dance and whether they feel the rhythms and I try to teach them what I’m doing, but I also adapt to how they feel the music. I let them take the music where they want to take it as long as it is rooted in our traditions. I just watch them dance an…
How music archives can help communities News
…tylistic traditions of old. The Klaus Wachsmann collection is being repatriated to Uganda at the Makerere University in Kampala. The curator of the music archive is Dr. Sylvia Antonia Nannyonga-Tamusuza who we will be meeting while we are in Uganda next week. Click here to link to the Klaus Wachsmann Music Archive. References Ethnomusicology in East Africa: Perspectives from Uganda and Beyond Published in 2012 by Fountain Publishers, Kampala. Ed…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…Uganda Army then re-took control of the area. One of their first acts was to go to each village and accuse them of collaborating, typically killing the men under the assumption that they must have fought with the rebels. For Joshua, this was a terrifying moment because the band was known to have played to the rebels. Again, a group of soldiers came into their village and again their mission was to kill the men and boys of the village. And again,…
Singing Wells – The Story So Far News
…ral music heritage of East Africa. Support the Singing Wells project and buy a copy! You can buy a copy of the Singing Wells book at the Blurb Bookstore – just click this link: Singing Wells – The Story So Far The profits we receive from the sale of each book go directly to our UK charity The Abubilla Music Foundation which supports the Singing Wells project. Your donation will help give much needed financial support to tribal music groups in Ea…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…ve trucks zooming by you, typically with one headlight so they can pretend to be motorcycles and disguise the fact that they are mostly in your lane. Everything that could happen in life is happening on the shoulder in pitch dark only to be revealed at the last second – roadside picnics, car repairs, haggling about goats, egg selling, drunken fighting and weaving… The only light is your own head lamp, which in the darkness can only seek out object…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…scrambling we managed to invite our second group of the day, Cieng Dwong, to travel to us from their village Alebtong. All well and good, but our poor travelers didn’t arrive with us until 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…
ATTA is following Singing Wells News
…their website under the ‘ATTA Likes’ banner! Thank you ATTA – we will keep you posted on our travels in East Africa with news, photos and wonderful music! Victoria…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…things like goats, clothes, seeds, utensils, beddings and tarpaulins/tents to cover their leaking houses. Eating good food among Batwa families was also another priority and change. After the visit of Singing Wells to Kisoro there was an opportunity for some Batwa who had exposure to the outside life when they visited Nairobi and were able to interact with the Ford Foundation. During this trip the Batwa benefitted from some materials such as cloth…