Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 0 – London/Nairobi Story
…aring the vans for the trip. Let’s remind you of our team – we cheated and took photos from the trip that follows: Tabu Osusa STEVE KIVUTIA & PATRICK ONDIEK NICK ABONYO GREGG TWENDA LEWIS KOOME RALPH SIPALLA JONAH KEGAH KENNETH KIPSANG Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team For this trip, we are Jimmy Allen (Video 2) and Andy Paterson (Audio 1). We spent our Saturday travelling from London to Nairobi. On arrival we were greeted warmly by Pris…
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…endent Tanzania. “It was all about love, all about unity, all about coming together and building a new nation”, said Benson Rukantabula, who also works on the project. But as with any state-sponsored propaganda, some messages were politically acceptable, while others were not. Also in the archives are other historical gems, including speeches (there’s one the Aga Khan delivered in 1946, and reportedly another by Che Guevara), as well as the origin…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…about hearing the sounds of African music. Last night, she and Andy played together, with Andy working out a guitar part. So first, we recorded the two of them. Then, we decided that if she was writing about hearing the sounds of African music, she should hear the sounds. So James worked with Jovah on a beautiful line, where she sang about the Batwa people being driven from the parks. Then Passy worked on a separate melody line followed by James….
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…d the factors influencing the spread of HIV and how the community can come together to deal with it. Very tragic song telling the story of deaths with man sobbing at one point. The Lead vocalist is Jane Babirye. Akabira (Worship Song): Means a small forest where spirits tend to run, deep in the trees and high in the mountains. But they are not always well cared for and they then tend to cause havoc with the rest of family members (please note simi…
Kenya’s Amazing Musical Instruments News
…which is essentially two sticks laid on the ground and played by two more sticks. Of course there are so many more amazing instruments that we’ve recorded, and more still to find. To learn more about East Africa’s traditional musical instruments, have a look at our instruments page here….
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…he only festival since 2005. Many people are performing around the country today due to those festivals. The group is very literate in music and we had a clear vision from 1990 of what we wanted to do. We are not doing badly and have a comfortable life from the performances. Some musicians who didn’t even have a bicycle not have houses. We are showing you can have a musical career. We are growing our knowledge and getting better at representing th…
Interview: fusion band Ndoto Afrika News
…door neighbour back at the village. We borrow each other’s salt from time to time. Why is the group called Ndoto Afrika? We represent a dream. A dream every African youth aspires to achieve. We represent the African Dream. Ndoto means ‘dream’ in Swahili, a local African language and Afrika is the Swahili way of spelling Africa. Why are you interested in branching from purely urban music to a traditional/ urban mix? The love for our motherland. Th…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…ty to help amplify instruments. Every time we try, we struggle but we have to get the solution.” Here’s their music: The Bakuseka Majja Matta Group Our final group was also a stand out act, with the legendary performer (yes, as Tabu said we had two legends of Ugandan music visit us today) – Natha Matta Nyende performing for us with his band the Bakuseka Majja Matta Group. Nathan is 76 years old and has been blind since 1956. He formed his group in…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…. Musisi is now working with James at Kyambogo to implement our entenga restoration scheme to preserve and promote this traditional instrument for future generations. Students practice entenga drum-chime at Kyambogo in 1968 (Musisi is furthest from the camera) Peter’s research into African music is extensive. “It all began in 1964, a few weeks before travelling out to begin teaching in Kampala, Uganda,” says Peter. “On the stage of the Prince’s Th…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…s with the main hotel (Vicki, Nick, Andy). We took showers, met for dinner and as we normally do at this point in our trip, we brainstormed a way to get the performers to join us at the hotel tomorrow. We’ll see!…
Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…ray – lots of partying, lots of late nights. The singers are deploring him to get a job, settle down, find a woman and return to the quiet, moral life of the village. Magic Moment: We concluded with a magic moment with the Omulere (flute) player and the Endingidi ( ‘tube fiddlers’) The flute player was George Wandela. The two Tube Fiddle players were Wilber Mutanse and Geoffrey Wamagaga. Here’s their music: While the dancing and percussion were fu…
Happy new year from Singing Wells News
…to preserve this fantastic traditional instrument, so in 2015 we went back to Uganda to check on the progress of the project. 4. We learned about the art of drum making During our 2015 trip to Uganda, we had the privilege of being able to watch and record the making of the Entenga drums. It’s an incredibly skilled job, requiring the maker to cut up a tree and shape the wood, soak and cut cow hide to size and string the drum – ensuring it’s in tune…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…and they are from Masaka Nyendo. They have performed for roughly six years together and their musical style is Nganda from Buganda. They are called the ‘Boys’ band, but there are girls in the group too. They sang three songs: Mbidde (Medley): The Mbidde is the banana plant that makes the local brew and the song talks through each step to make the brew that locals consume (we will hear this song again from the Bukaala Twesitule Troupe): Butuuse: Th…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…one final evening free of our London friends. Patrick, however, woke up in time to be a ‘greeting party’ to the London arrivals. Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team Representing the AMF are Jimmy Allen (Founder), sound engineer Andy Patterson and Vicki Denison, charity administrator and fundraiser. Our BA flight from London arrived on time at Entebbe at 22.30. We didn’t have the same delays at customs as the Ketebul team and we were at the…
Who’s looking at you? Story
…This little fan joined us along Lake Victoria to record some of the best Nyatiti players in Kenya in November 2011….
Discussions on music and culture with a young Kenyan News
…believe in, that might just work. I reckon film or TV would be a great way to get the message out, and I’d really drive home your work with modern artists mixing in traditional beats, I think people would like that. I’ve heard a few club bangers in my time with a traditional music mix – they were popular! So not all hope is lost for young Kenyans? Look, we aspire to a western life and we enjoy western music, but we have our own way of speaking in…