Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…ange, and we’ve become quite obsessed by this for some reason, is the hats placed on the white charcoal bags. (Others would like to add that it’s just Jimmy who’s obsessed with the charcoal bags). For most of the places, folks just want to keep the charcoal dry. A good handful of grass is enough and you get the nun look with the green crown. But around Soroti, they take this hat stuff seriously and the charcoal is covered with a beautiful crown of…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…rict which is one of UOBDU operation areas. This cultural performance took place during the launch of water project by Bwindi Mgahinga Conservation Trust where the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda was the Chief Guest of Honour. In addition, this group has managed to set aside Saturdays of every week to meet and make practices on their cultural music and dance in order to meet its target “staging music shows” as the future plans of the grou…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
A day of two halves, with one of our best village visits combined with a long, nightmare journey to Kampala. The Macedonia Band We met the leader of the Macedonia Band at the Soroti Hotel and he led us to his village, Obuell-Lira, a 30 minute drive down rich clay roads. On the way, Joshua told us about the history of the group, which was founded in 1982. The group and its song Uganda Land of Freedom is legendary in the Teso region (the name for t…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…with his father’s group and then he founded this group in 2007. They use a number of styles, most notably Sengenya, which we covered fully in our March 2011 field recordings in Malindi. We interviewed Swalhe Mwatela Massai and his grandson, Ali Tungwa : Q to the grandfather: In contrast to Uganda, we have seen many villages in Kenya where the traditional music is only played by the older generation. And yet your group is so young and vibrant. Ho…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…ng adults and extremely cool. The group included two dancers that were the best we ‘ve seen and the rhythms of the Gwara (galabash) was over-whelming. They performed: Dongo Lobo Auma Woto Mobile Aparo Wota. Most of these were courtship dances with wonderful drama between the boy and girl dancers. https://youtu.be/bpmEEIUwm68 https://youtu.be/y6Z3BC9VCOk https://youtu.be/YRpkiI_hGXY Akello, our Ugandan Influences artist than performed her song Yang…
ATTA is following Singing Wells News
…guest at the World Travel Market at Excel and I met representatives from a number of organisations and companies in the travel and tourism industry operating in the East African counties we are visiting during our field recording trips. I met Nigel Vere Nicoll, Chief Executive of the African Travel & Tourism Association and explained a little about Singing Wells and our aims to record and celebrate the cultural music heritage of East Africa. It se…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…ately we all made it to super-market where we loaded up with money, mobile phone cards and other sundries and headed out. The William car stopped to pick up Akello, a lovely Ugandan singer/songwriter, who is joining the group as our Influences artist. The Emmanuel car headed into Kampala to pick up our press badges. We then headed off to Gulu at around 2PM (yes, we tend to spend a lot of time getting mobile phone cards!) and headed out on a 360 km…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…. This gave them confidence and changed their behaviour. Today the non-Batwa believe and agree that Batwa can look smart if they are given the chance to compete with others in many different fields. All the best, Henry. For a full report of the Singing Wells Batwa music recordings please click here: SWP report from Kisoro, Uganda Mperwa Dancers perform for the Singing Wells project …
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…with us: 2 Apple 17″ MacBook Pro 2 MOTU Traveler MK3 Audio Interface 4 Headphone amps 8 Sony MDR-V600 headphones 2 Shure mics & stands 2 Rode Lavalier omni-directional mics 2 Rode NTG-1 condenser Shotgun mics 1 Matched Pair of AKG C414 XL Microphones 1 Matched Pair of Rode NT5 Microphones2 Rode professional boom pole 1 K&M telescopic mic stand/boom 1 Canon EOS 7D 1 Canon EOS 60D 1 Canon EOS 5D 1 LED video camera lights 1 Flip HD video camera Think…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…frica, meaning that within the huge range of instruments there were also a number of different names for them. This became very interesting to discover however, and over time that information could gather on the map, making it more comprehensive. What did you find most interesting about the data you collected? What stood out for me was the huge range of instruments used, and the huge range of percussion instruments available, which you don’t reall…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…ing with us was a funeral song that our team at Ketebul Music felt was the best performance they’d ever heard of it: The Singing Wells team were also lucky enough to enjoy the sound of one of the best nyatiti players in the world, Ayub Ogada during their field visit in March, where Tabu organised a ‘Hall of fame concert’. He opened the concert with the famous “Kothbiro”, which featured in the film ‘The Constant Gardiner’. Here it is: There’s a won…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…gu and Agwara but also the Ndara, one of the traditional giant Ugandan xylophones, however this type are unique as they’re mounted over a large pit dug out in the ground: 1. Alur Kingdom Troupe – these are our first musical performers, who have traveled and performed in various East Africa Cities, are state champions and take part in a variety of state functions. Here they are playing the Agwara and performing the Agwara dance which is for a Kings…
Day 6: Recording the Tugen & back to Nairobi Story
…ry This was our last day of recording and we all thought it was one of the best. The drive down the Rift Valley and along its floor was beautiful. Long windy roads, going straight down the hills, with hills looming tall above us from behind and the valley sinking low in front of us, through a series of canyon steps. We arrived at the bottom of our step, with a canyon still to the right going down another 700 meters or so. Having arrived at the low…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…he magic might rub off on them.” Because the Olympics were approaching the place was filled with runners and documentary makers, all telling the story of this beautiful place. In fact, we were confused for a CNN crew! You can read more about Iten and its famous athletes here: Running with the Kenyans From Iten there is a beautiful tarmac road that leads to Nokuru travelling down the Rift Valley. We will take this ride tomorrow. For today, however,…
Day 4: the Pokot Tribes Story
…n nomadic tribes is about the dance/vocals not the instruments, because at best you could carry a horn during your endless movement. Sila Dancers Lomut Traditional Dancers This groups walked 120 kms from their town in Lamut. They were a younger group, tall and thin, divided between male and female dancers. They performed explosive short dances, each with a clear story dramatically acted out. They were dressed in striking blue costumes. We recorded…
Alur Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…Otira is said to have in turn been succeeded by Opobo. Opobo ruled from a place called Nyraka in Lango County. When Opobo died, he left three sons Tiful, Nyapiri and Labongo. One day, Nyapir borrowed Labongo’s spear intending to spear an Elephant, but he instead failed and lost the spear. Labongo, he was very annoyed and he insisted on having back his own spear in spite of Nyapiri’s pledges to offer him a substitute. Therefore, Nyapiri decided to…