Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…Professor, gave us access to a collection of music and photos, from music promoter Peter Colmore. We are getting all the genres of Kenyan music. I would like the book to be done by types of music. It needs to involve DJ’s, musicians, writers, etc… We have almost all the material. It is now about making a big impression. My dream is we launch this book during the Smithsonian conference next year in Washington DC. In terms of artists, Winyo is doin…
Preserving Threatened Heritage News
…es so close to our heart, such as Uganda. An article on the website of the Ugandan daily newspaper, New Vision, warns about the need to preserve ‘Bigwala’, the royal music of the Busoga region. Bigwala music is performed at ceremonies such as coronations, funerals and, recently, other social events. It is the music of gourd trumpets and is accompanied by a specific dance. UNESCO cites Bigwala music as playing ‘a significant role in contributing to…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…atch and the group would be one we’d be keen to work with if we venture to Uganda. Find out more about the film here: http://www.sweetdreamsrwanda.com/ New Friends at the festival We met a lot of new friends – as that was the point of our being there. We were spreading the word of the project and its aims and objectives, with listening stations for passers by to listen to the music we had recorded. We had a few instruments from our collection on…
Obuell-Lira and the Macedonia Band Story
…over and over again that the music was neutral and only had allegiance to Uganda, not to one side or the other in the war. There were many scary moments when rebels would try to force them to declare allegiance or die. It was a miracle that the rebel leaders let them live and continue to play their music as ‘neutrals’. In 1992, the Uganda Army re-took control of the area. One of their first acts was to go to each village and accuse them of collab…
Clowns Story
…On our first recording day during the Northern Uganda Field trip 2012 we had the pleasure of working in front hundreds of children who slowly climbed a tree to watch the proceedings. They were delighted by the cameras and we had a lot of fun showing them their smiling faces. This little boy was the biggest show off….
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…etary of a cultural organisation called National Council of Folklorists of Uganda – NACOFU. James turned out to be very resourceful on the music and culture of Uganda and organises an annual tribal music festival. He was very impressed by the Singing Wells project agenda and very pleased to be part of the project and suggested we explore even more collaborations in the future.” After recording these two groups we will head back to Kampala for the…
The Birara Batwa Community Story
…owledge on culture and pass on the knowledge to the young ones in order to promote and preserve the Batwa culture which includes music and dance.” Listen to the music of the Birara Dancers This is a song recorded for the Influences series – Francis singing Inanga Nyamunini accompanied by Jesse Bukinda from Ketebul Music on guitar This is the song ‘Uganda’ performed by the Batwa women and recorded in the Ketebul studios: How you can help the Birara…
The Batwa Community Story
…National Park which was once their home. This short video produced by UOBDU explains about the current situation facing the Batwa people in Uganda And another short video promoting the Batwa Trail…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…us when we recorded to the Batwa at the Traveller’s Rest Hotel in Kisoro, Uganda!) We can also combine the two recording units into one to increase the number of inputs, while still working off battery power. The laptops use Avid ProTools recording software – an industry standard for recording and music production. The microphones we have chosen are industry standard models used in studios the world over but, most likely, not seen in the villages…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…some of the most beautiful music we’ve recorded – from the Batwa of Kisoro Uganda and to the Kel Kar Kwaro of Northern Uganda – was from extremely poor and disadvantage villages. But in both cases, the village structure was strong, the village elders were respected and the teenagers were actively involved in village life. Great music is a proxy for strong social cohesion, not necessarily affluence. One need not go farther than Kilifi Kenya, where…
What people say about Singing Wells News
…is wonderful collection with our visitors.” Babra Bwisho, Singer, Kampala, Uganda: “Hello there guys, you are so amazing, I was here watching the recordings you did on your visit trip to the Batwa land in SW Uganda, even the bling (sic) could tell that you brought joy in their spirits and smiles on their faces, here in Ug, this group is mostly undermined, it was so humbling to my spirit that you got this far with them and their recording trips to…
The biggest smile Story
…ges from our visit to Acet, a village about 80 km outside Gulu in Northern Uganda….the wonderful smile on the face of one of the members of Omee Odokomit, an all women dance troupe led by Evelyn Ojok. The t-shirt she is wearing reads Kikopo Pa Mon, an annual drama competition hosted by Women’s Global Empowerment Fund to address issues facing women in northern Uganda such as inequality, HIV/AIDS, gender based violence and food security. In December…
Group of the Month – Watmon Cultural Group News
…t group of the month is the Watmon Cultural Group. We have videos from our Uganda 2012 trip, as well as recordings made in both Naguru and at the Entebbe Airport Guesthouse, where due to the generosity and patience of the manager Jan Willem and the other guests, we set up a recording studio in the garden. You can join us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/singingwells and on Twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/singingwells – if you do twe…
Fiona’s story Story
…kunga Batwa community who we met when we took the Singing Wells project to Uganda in 2011. Fiona has been able to attend junior school through the sponsorship of the United Organization for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU), an NGO based in Kisoro. She is a wonderful role model for the Batwa community and is proving that, with the right opportunity, Batwa children can achieve the same educational goals as any other child in the district. Everyon…
Alice’s story Story
Alice Nyamihanda We met Alice on our first day in Kisoro, Uganda where we went to record the music and dance of the Batwa. Alice spent three days with us, helping with interviews and translations and recording the meanings of the songs. We were delighted to be able to record the music of her own community, Gatera. Alice is unique within the Batwa community in Uganda as she is the first (and, to date, only) Batwa who has been to university. Her e…
A quick summary of the Singing Wells Project News
…er tribal music and wonderfully talented young performers like Akello from Uganda… We brought Akello to Northern Uganda. She joined almost every band. Here she is with the Watmon Cultural Group singing Amari… Or with the Adungu Cultural Group singing Awinyo… 6. Singing Wells is about capturing how cool, how relevant this music is through Magic Moments: Listen to the Nyatiti for the first time with your eyes closed. It is a kick drum. It is a snare…