The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…ere are a lot of folks trying (see here for some of the issues). But it is better to start at the source. An important proxy for the health of a village is a strong, vibrant and young musical troupe… We have now travelled to over 50 villages throughout Kenya and Uganda recording over 7 hours of songs that have been mixed, mastered and posted for all to hear. And while we have not done any scientific investigation of this, our strong view is that t…
A story of Batwa traditions Story
…met on our first day in Kisoro, Uganda. In this photo, Francis is telling stories of the Batwa people and their culture and heritage in a song called ‘Inanga yabatwa’. During the song, the leader gathers the community together and tells stories of the old Batwa traditions before they had to move from their forest homes – the hunt in the forest and the celebrations and meal following the hunt. In this way the children learn about what it is to be B…
A quick summary of the Singing Wells Project News
…Wells is about capturing the music before it is gone. Our mission is two-fold. First, we hope to capture and distribute the wonderful music of East Africa. There’s an urgency to this that was brought home to us when we recorded Okumu K’Orengo, one of the world’s greatest Nyatit players. His last song for us was a funeral march. His village thanked us because they noted that this great player, a legend across East Africa, had never been properly r…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…needs a little back ground. In the Coastal areas there are huge rivalries between villages and there are always, what the band calls, “haters.” These are folks that hate your village and pray for terrible things to happen. One of the songs by this group is about the Band Leader’s wife – she was going into an operation and the ‘haters’ from another village were praying she would die. With that background, the song is about the band leader in 1991…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…ucted children in the middle line, so there was no way to escape. He also told us of how the rebels tried to train you into a soldier: to make you as angry as possible, alienating you, verbally and physically abusing you, to make you want to kill others. All they talked or thought about was killing. You could never ask questions about where you were going or what you were doing there, or you’d be killed immediately. There were many fights, he said…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…cedonia Band is a Likembe Band (thumb or finger harp) with about 8 Lukumbe players and four percussionists. If you recall the ‘bass’ of the Rubanga Kingom band in Awach was a small Likembe on an overturned steel tub. The Macedonia band’s ‘bass’ was a very large (3 foot) Likembe that act as bass and kick drum. They also had 16 dancers, all 12-15 year old girls from the village dressed in lovely robes. The whole band sang ‘response’ vocals to Johsua…
How music archives can help communities News
…generation to revive some of the instrumental and stylistic 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 P…
Northern Uganda: Day 0 – London to Entebbe Story
…ves in Kampala and married to a Uganda woman with whom he’s had a one year old son. He was passionate about West African music and did a paper on drumming in Ghana. So Vicki switched seats with Jimmy and talked to Andrew about the Singing Wells project for an hour. We then all settled down to watch Ted before landing about 8 hours later in Entebbe. All bags were gratefully recovered and we took a taxi for an 8 minute journey to the Airport Guestho…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…data? When displaying data it’s no secret that people often understand it better when it’s interesting visually; this is why we often use charts and diagrams rather than bodies of text nowadays. Most people’s brains aren’t able to see patterns in data easily, especially when the data set is huge, so representing it in this manner means you can understand it easily. Looking at a map of where an instrument is used makes a lot more sense than lookin…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…ic of the ancient world, was particularly interested in the close likeness between the Ugandan Adungu played today and the Egyptian arched harp, particularly one housed in the British Museum. It’s dated 1534-1296 B.C and was found in the tomb of Thauenany, Western Thebes (right). Some scholars have rejected the theory that African harps and lyres today were originated from the instruments that were created first thousands of years ago, although th…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…horugh 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 traditional music of one’s tribe and ancestors becomes much more important for recovery and a way of holding on to normality. (The Tribal Structure of Uganda) Lira: We will t…
Alur Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…sed a big river, he found himself in a cool beautiful land where he met an old woman. The Old woman took him to Labongo’s spear and then gave him a bead.When he reached home, the bead was handed over for everyone to see and, in the process; Labongo’s son accidentally swallowed it. Nyapiri, in revenge, also demanded that his own bead be given back. He refused all the possible substitutes. Left with no alternative, Labongo handed over the child to N…
Day 3 continued – an interview with Steve Kivutia Story
…list who, he says, showed him that African tribal music didn’t need to be ‘old.’ He feels that Singing Wells is the next part of his musical journey. He talks about it as ‘discovering the source’ and ‘training his ears.’ He pointed out that Francis Sembagare from the Birara Dancers (Music of the Batwa) was closer to Hip Hop than much of today’s music. And he also points out the Joginda Boys (recorded for Singing Wells in Kisumu, Lake Victoria) wer…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…e 2006 he has been their Capacity Building Officer. He tells me about his six children – 3 boys and 3 girls, aged between 14 and 26. The younger three are at school in Kampala and Henry works hard to pay for their education. He’s now a grandfather – his oldest daughter who lives in England has a three year old son who he hasn’t met yet, although his wife is actually in England as we speak, visiting them. The time comes for Alice and Henry to leave…
How to Map 1: Housekeeping News
…en you’re browsing files within ArcMap, a shapefile will appear like one tidy little file with a cute green icon. If you’re looking elsewhere in your computer, e.g. via the C: drive, the shapefile will be revealed in its true form: a group of six files which combine to make a shape or map. These six files will all have the same name but with a different suffix. These are: – .dbf – .prj – .sbn – .sbx – .shp – .shx Now we’ve got that straight, we ca…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…e to focus on the Nyatiti, the core Luo instrument – as played by the best players it is a bass, drum and rhythm guitar combined. And we saw some of the best players. We want to remind you first of what a Nyatiti looks like and also of it’s beautifully haunting sound, played by the most famous Nyatiti players of all time, Ayub Ogado; here he is with Kothbiro: The Music Groups We saw three groups: two Nyatiti groups sandwiching an O…