Tarajazz Group
…rom Zanzibar) with Singeli (a new tribal rhythm). Taarab came from early 1800’s as Egyptian music. In Zanzibar the Mother of Taarab, Siti Binti Saad, made Taarab more popular in the 1920’s to 1950’s. We spoke to Hassan Mahenge, the assistant director of this band. He is a teacher at the DCMA. He teaches the Oud and plays the saxophone. All the students at the DCMA study traditional music such as Taarab as well as Western music. Members of the grou…
Kizazi Kipya Kidumbak Group
…A. He met us at with the first group and brought us to this one. They sing and perform mainly for weddings and celebrations. Performers: (all male): Juma Fadhul Juma (leader and secretary but did not participate), Fadhili Faki (director and plays violin), Mohamed Khamisi (violin), Khamisi Vuai (bongos), Khamisi Bato (bongos), Ameri Sefu ( Sanduku – sinle string base), Ahmed Juma (sticks and table), Sheha Makame (shaker= cherewa) Dancers and chorus…
Super Phoenix Band Group
…about a girl that left her husband because he was too poor. She went away and earned lots of money and returned to him. He realized that she did love him but needed them to have more money so he was grateful on her return. Imbalekha: This is about very bad men who chase all the married young women from their village. They make life very difficult for the women and gossip all the time. Achitsa: About a father who was very proud of his daughter and…
Unyago Group
…vocalist and was considered queen of Taarab and Unyago music and died at 103 in 2013. Amina Abdalla still performs in her house, which is called Raha Leo. Folks go to see her there from all over. The other members included: Fatima Juma (dancer and singer), Raya Abdalla (drums), Fatima Hamza (drums) and Tatu Hamisi Amur (please note she was in all three groups). The drums include: the small squat drum (Fumi), a very tall drum (msondo) and medium d…
Richard Sewanyana Group
…song of any of the ones they had been playing since he joined the palace. And he couldn’t. And they were very mad because he had taken a salary as a player and they felt he was a robber. So when my father realised he had been found out and that he wouldn’t replace his father there was a panic and a desire that I go to the palace to replace my grandfather. So I played in the place of my grandfather for about two months, but then there was suddenly…
Day Four: January 21 2019 Mwanza Story
…chele Sanaa Group: This group, from the Sukuma community, was formed in 2010 and performs with a number of styles: Bukomia Lume, Buchheye, Wigashe. Their instruments are: Ng’oma (Drums), Pembe (animal horns, large impala), Firimbi (flute), and Njuga (shakers). We recorded five performances: Ntale Atabihyala: ‘The boss, who is always wrong, wants to be always right. Just accept it’ Ba Tanzania (Malima): Praising country, encouraging farmers and h…
Mumias United Group
…Mumias United was founded in 1997 by Francesca Odour. They have 38 members and 22 showed up for our performance. They perform in the Imbira style. They are part of the Wanga tribe, which is a sub-group of the Lua, known for their Kings (Nabongo). We performed next to the mausoleum where four kings were buried, dating back to 1700s….
Ayub Ogada Group
…Bomas of Kenya in the 1980s. He remembers he had gone for 6 lessons (at a 100 shillings) only and then continued practicing and experimenting by himself. It was equally interesting to hear his theory of the name nyatiti, which he translated from the Luo word nyar as queen and titi, making it “the queen of the clan”. The most interesting points Ayub had made were on the difference between playing at home, in an informal or traditional setting and p…
Aynu Traditional Group Group
…ums) and a tin sheet for percussion. The Lugbara Tribe Population: Around 900,000 History: They were known in the 19th century as ‘The Naked People’, due to the lacking importance of clothes in their culture. In the early days, the Lugbara were a mainly chiefdom-based community. They did not have kingdoms and kings presiding over them as like other ethnic groups in Uganda. They mainly had chiefs who were their leaders. They formed friendly allianc…
A Report by Professor James Isabirye – Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion News
…s and Social Sciences, Kyambogo University, Uganda. His research interests include: social constructivist learning and teaching, decolonization of music and general education, and the roles of indigenous practices in those processes….
Fundraiser for Matthew Watmon News
…ndMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mathew-watmon The donors of Abubilla Music Foundation, who support the Singing Wells project, will match these contributions up to £1000 so we greatly appreciate your support at this time. We are sending our prayers to Matthew and his family in this difficult time….
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…de their book ‘Shades of Benga: The Story of Popular Music in Kenya 1946 -2016’. You can watch the latest episode below, and also find out more at their website here. Shades of Benga: The Story of Popular Music in Kenya delves into the foundations of modern Kenyan music, examining external influences from the English waltz to Afro Cuban Rumba and how they helped mould new music styles across Africa. Rumba was brought to Eastern Africa via the it…
Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
…wing people! We can’t wait to bring more songs and stories to the world. Keep an eye out on the Singing Wells Youtube channel for the footage and recordings from our field trip to Zanzibar and Pemba….
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…identified a whole set of extraordinary musicians from our 2013 visit to Uganda and have invited them back to do studio recordings. But today, we focused on two things: 1) Discussing in detail some of our observations from our time exploring the royal instruments of the kingdoms of Uganda 2) Recording again Albert Ssempeke’s Buganda Music Ensemble. Given that we first decided to rediscover the Royal Drums after recording Albert’s group in 2013, we…
Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…was getting shot. And I saw a lady across the palace who was raising her hands. And she wasn’t getting shot, so I raised my hands. And then they grabbed me and caned me. Man, I remember that. I got caned and caned. And they kept asking people where the King was. I didn’t want to get beaten to death so I said I knew where the King was. I was the keeper of the Throne Room Key at that point, so had a key to one of the Throne Rooms. So I said I had t…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…t African countries—Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania—covering an area of over 68,000 square kilometers. The Luo who live around its shores in Kenya speak a western Nilotic tongue distinctly different from their Bantu neighbours to the north and south, and their Kalenjin distant cousins to the east. The Luo comprise close to 3 million people. Their forefathers migrated south from the Bahr al Ghazal region in what is today know as Southern Sudan in a stea…