Here for the Music? Page
…find moments to take some beautiful photography of our surroundings. Head here to see some images of our time on the field, the people we meet and the stunning scenery. YouTube You can find the full collection of our video recordings on our Youtube channel. With over 500+ videos for you to choose from, delve into the world of East African music and dance with us. “We set out on this mission not to become ‘fossil collectors’… We work with musicia…
Singing Wells Stories Page
…mmunity. We were pleased to see a young group of musicians passionately performing their music for us. To visit the group page for Ker Kal Kwaro, click here: Ker Kal Kwaro. To listen to the album of music from our Northern Uganda trip, click here: The Music of the tribes of Northern Uganda Otacho Young Stars We recorded the Otacho Young Stars in Rongo, Nyanza, West Kenya as part of our field visit to record the music of the Luo. It had been a bad…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…ild resilience by trying to restructure the operations and business models for these musicians to enable them to develop a better understanding of how to improve their performances. These adjustments were of utmost importance in making it easier for these rural and peri-urban based musicians to migrate their shows and concerts to online platforms in order to reach wider audiences and create new revenue streams. As we headed back to Nairobi on Frid…
Global Influences Project: Loop Library Page
…ch Boys – 127BPM The Rubanga Kingdom Awach Boys are from Awach in Northern Uganda. They formed thirty years ago and their goal is ‘Edu-Tainment’, helping African children learn key life lessons through song. 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 Watmon Cultural Group – 154BPM Watmon Cultural Group are based in Kampala, Uganda. The…
Uganda: Music from the Central and Eastern Region Gallery
…Images from the Singing Wells field recording visit to Uganda 2013. Our journey took us from Entebbe to Kampala, Kidinda, Bukada, Mbale, Jinja and the small village of Idudi near Iganga where we recorded music of the Baganda, Bagisu, Bagwere, Basoga and Banyoli. We were fortunate to receive sponsorship from The Mara Group and Gorilla Tours for this visit and many of our photos feature our thank you message to both organisations. …
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…rs and musicians, b) we have three video cameras operating – one wide shot for full performance, one close up to capture details of instruments and one roving camera to provide a second angle on the performance and c) we interview all group leaders to understand group musical styles and background, instruments and songs. In almost every village, we struggle with spellings of songs and instruments as these can differ by village and by band. We full…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…was Olith Ratego, a musician whose unique dodo style is one of the oldest forms of music performed by the Luo people of Western Kenya. Olith Ratego is a self-taught musician who plays a musical instrument fashioned by himself. It is a replica of the nyatiti (an eight stringed traditional lyre), which he calls okoddo and is modified to the pentatonic scale. Olith Ratego’s recording session went uninterrupted and was completed shortly before 6:00pm…
Day Two: 8 March 2022 (Ilesi) Story
…were on percussions and bass respectively. The Obasie Palnyang band is very popular among the Iteso people and their neighboring communities in western Kenya and the eastern parts of Uganda. The group holds regular shows at Amurai center and can, on occasion, be seen performing in the neighboring towns of Busia and Malaba….
Our Sponsors Page
…ort to 2 music groups during our visit to Central Uganda in November 2013. For more information about Bain Capital click here. Gorilla Tours Type of Sponsorship: Donations in kind Gorilla Tours have been a great support to us since we went to Kisoro in 2011 to record the Batwa people. The Singing Wells team stayed at the Traveller’s Rest Hotel during that visit and since then have also stayed at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe and Fort Murchison…
Elgon Ngoma Troupe Group
…embers of his group, of which 100 are performers. They are roughly divided between the two bands. For income, they do performances and also work four acres of land to feed themselves. Many of the members also do arts and crafts or a skilled trade – Julius’s dream is to open up a hair and beauty studio so they can support the bride with her beauty and music. He hopes the troupe will give them opportunities to travel away from their homes, but also…
FAQ’s Page
…rd? Of course – we believe that musicians should be paid for their time performing for us. We pay a recording gratuity on the day of the recording. This amount varies based on a number of factors such as the number of members in the group and the number of songs we record. In the event of any music we record making money directly (through sales, sync licensing or performance royalties) we will endeavour to channel this money back to the original p…
Uganda: Music of the Northern Tribes Gallery
Images from the Singing Wells trip to Northern Uganda, Kampala and Entebbe where we recorded the music of the Acholi, Alur and Iteso tribes. The journey started in Entebbe where we collected two vehicles to take the team to towns and villages in the north of the country including Gulu, Pakwach, Nebbi and Soroti. After 5 days recording in the north we returned to Kampala to record two more groups based near Naguru which perform in the traditional…
Day Two: February 17, 2020 (Stonetown) Story
…ge 7 up to 40, ten all together today. They sing Islamic and secular songs for weddings and celebrations. Today was mainly an acapello performance with one flute made out of a bamboo stick. The singers included: Ibrahim Ali Hassan (lead singer, flute ), Issa Ali Hassan (lead singer), Mlenge Ali Hassan, Othman Mlenge Ali, Afann Mlenge Ali, Iddi Abdallah Mohd, Abdillah Salum Juma (lead singer), Fesal Sleiman Mwalim, Saidi Simai Mkanga, Vuai Juma Vua…
Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…at some of the venues chosen for the recordings had no main power outlets. Fortunately and for a nominal fee, good neighbors always came to our rescue by allowing us to tap into their main power supply lines with our snake cable. When all the issues were sorted out, the rest of the recording went smoothly with Johnstone Mukabi and the Omutibo Stars coming on stage at 11:00am. Accompanied by Francis Massanga on vocals, they were joined by guest mus…
Global Influences Project: Artist Submissions Page
…ten ignore the paths taken right before them. The two sides always looking for each other but never meeting. For the song I used samples from the Ohangla drum solo and the nyatiti group singing. I wanted to feel like a part of their band, trying to figure out how I would contribute to their style of music and have this conversation spiritually with them.” You can hear more of his music on Soundcloud:soundcloud.com/amzi-odek Want to get involved in…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…h. All of the bark is trimmed off of this wood during the process to allow for a smooth base ready for the next stage: Cow dung! Getting things Dung! Excuse the pun, but there is no way around this fascinating part of the process! To protect the base of the Entongooli, the maker must smear it with cow dung, coat it entirely and then leave it to dry. This process is to protect the wood from cracking, and also to protect it from weevils and insects…