Otacho Young Stars Group
…larly impressive, with ongeng’o rings used both by themselves, and also together with the Nyangile, a wooden box topped with two of the rings, one of which is held with the feet, and beaten with a stick….
Day Five: January 22, 2019 Mwanza Continued Story
…(grasses). We recorded four performances: Wachumba Walya: A song about someone who is too mean-spirited to support his community even though he has lots of money, it is about a man “who eats along, without his brother’ Ntelela Engoma: A song about living with respect to traditional ways Basigazi Fura Emyende: A song about overcoming all of life’s challenges by working together Mwije Tuzane: We filmed this freestyle, where the group encourages the…
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…
Makunga Group
…mmunity, which they argued is the main indigenous community of Tanzania (always from the land, never migrated into Tanzania. The group was formed in 2018, but was built on a much older group. They perform in the Wuyina style. Their instruments/costumes include the: Ndulele (Horn), the Nindo (Shakers), the Mbega: (Animal Skins), the Muheme (Drums), the Kabati (Shakers), the Kalimba (Thumb Piano), the Zeze (Orutu), the Izeze (5 string large instrume…
Day Four: February 19, 2020 (Maruhabi Palace) Story
…n song renamed. Similar to Akuna Matata. Kijiti These performers were all from the area and were an authentic representation of local traditional kidumbak music. Kirundo – this group performs in a fusion of traditional African rhythms from mainland Tanzania and Pemba, and contemporary African sounds. The three young men are all students at the DMCA performing with a well known drummer and teacher of music. This band has been together for 2 years…
The Batwa of Kisoro Album
…luded is an influences session where Winyo collaborated with the Mperwa Dancers; a collaboration between Jesse Bukindu and Francis from the Birara Dancers, recorded at the Travellers rest, and three tracks recorded in the Ketebul studios in Nairobi. Tiny Moses, from the Micyngo Community joined us in Nairobi to record his songs. Jovah from Mperwa also joined us for a recording. The album is rounded off by a version of a song that almost all of the…
FAQ’s Page
…ch and let us know how you would like to help. Will you come and record my band? We have a schedule and a plan for the next 3 or 4 field visits to East Africa, so any groups we record would have to be within designated areas where we plan to travel. We’d love to hear from anyone with new suggestions for field visits. Can I join you on your next recording trip? Please get in touch if you would like more information about where are travelling with S…
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…
Day Four: January 21 2019 Mwanza Story
…RfFn7ZgUrU Group 2: Camera: 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. We recorded five performances: Changamoto: This is about life’s challenges Mawazo Gakwira: About deep worries Nkewan…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…ts with another fascinating and popular instrument, the Embaire or the Xylophone. The scolars are taught the tunes they need to know on this instrument before transferring these melodies over to the Entongooli. What’s incredible about this entire process is how the children are also taught about building the Embaire as well, creating instruments for themselves to learn on. In this first part, we look at how selecting the correct tree’s are integra…
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
…dler style, a sanduku (or the bass) and the cherewa, a kind of shaker made from coconut shells…” We will meet this style on our second day, group one: Mohamed Othman Kidumbak Group Unyago: This is music by women by women and was used during rites of passage as the women prepared the bridge. Originally, these were ‘secret songs’ and filled with metaphors that would explain about sex and love and all the wonderful and difficult parts of marri…
Global Influences Project: Loop Library Page
…da. They play music in the Kidinda style using the Amadinda, a 22 slab xylophone which was historically an instrument which could only be played in front of the King. You can find out more about the band here. You can watch the full visual performance of this song on our Youtube channel by clicking here. Download the loop Joginda Boys – 116BPM Joginda boys are from Aluny Village, East Alego, Kenya. This play wonderful Nyatiti music, with Organda J…
Albums Introduction Page
…ells project is to record and share the music we record in East Africa and one of the ways in which we can share this music is through our albums series. For each project we undertake, we curate an album of the resulting recordings. In most cases, this will include at least one recording from each group recorded. Where it works artistically, we’ll arrange the tracks on the album in chronological order of the recording date – so you can experience…
Day Two: February 17, 2020 (Stonetown) Story
…for Diana”) who had helped them develop their look and movements. They had one lead singer and two men on drums. One planning a small drum and the other playing three large drums on the floor while he stood and leaned over. Overall they were very impressive and unique. Truly beautiful. 3. Zam Zam Group – From the hotel we moved on to the Dhow Countries Musical Academy, which is located in the old custom house. Here, we recorded the Zam Zam grou…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…usuf (solo Adungu), Wamumdu Albashir (bass Adungu), Kyasowbayo Joseph (xylophone) and Dkining David (tube fiddle). The songs played were: “Isongja”: a pre-circumcision song and dance where boys are challenged to get ready for the ritual. “Kadodi Imbalu Dance”: this is about the circumcision ritual itself and involves the boy being reluctant and getting help from others to be brave. The song closes with a section about the boy having and surviving…