Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…r told him before he died. Ebibira: This song talks about the dangers of deforestation. The forest is where the spirits of the fore fathers can rest. If you destroy the forests, you destroy their homes so they will be loitering around and the living won’t have any peace. Omukazi Ow’omwano Tanoba: Tamenha Ibuga Nalufuka: This was an incredible dance number that ended with all the Singing Wells crew, and many of the hotel staff, jumping up and danci…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…eceived my first lesson in playing the Kiganda amadinda xylophone from the South African musicians Andrew and Paul Tracey before their evening show Wait a Minim.” “My work in Uganda led me to begin exploring that country’s traditional music initially with the aim of collecting useful materials for teaching purposes. That exploration has continued since then, apart from during the chaos of the periods of the rule of Amin and the Second Obote regime…
Before They Pass Away News
…mburu people in Northern Kenya as they travelled across the land searching for new plains for their cattle, and the Maasai in Tanzania. Singing Wells too has travelled extensively across Kenya, meeting remote tribes like the Pokot Tribe, the Marakwet Tribe and the Ameru Ethnic Community. In a Ted Talk, he shared some of the fascinating rituals that he came across on his travels. Nelson’s objective, he says, was to reveal ‘beauty’. “I believe that…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…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. We are here on site to listen to three different groups. The Elgon Ngoma Troupe Julius wanted to make sure we open…
Singing Wells surpasses 500,000 YouTube hits! News
…ed magic moments – where we’ve found an extra-special artist on our journeys and recorded their work. To celebrate our 500,000th YouTube hit, we’ve put together a selection of our most popular videos. We hope you enjoy, and please keep visiting our channel and sharing the traditional music of East Africa with the world. Recording Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club perform in Gede, Kilifi, Kenya on our Singing Wells Pilot trip in 2011. A brief collage of…
Sponsor a Singing Wells recording session News
…Nairobi for recording sessions at our partner Ketebul’s studios, and travelling into eastern Uganda to record several tribal groups in the region. Check out our previous work in Uganda. Now we’re looking for sponsors to help fund our important work discovering, preserving and promoting this traditional music. Find out more about donating to Singing Wells and sponsor our next trip here….
Rediscovering Afropop and its influences News
…uences (see more on our influences work here) and have helped newer genres form. The same works in the opposite direction of course, and African popular music has emerged as a combination of traditional African music and an adoption of certain elements – particularly some musical instruments and recording techniques – from Western music. Last week I was in a taxi driving through Nairobi’s Westlands and talking to a girl about Sauti Sol – one of Ke…
Discussions on music and culture with a young Kenyan News
…e do to excite people? One of the challenges with building any kind of platform or promoting an initiative to young people is that it has to connect really closely with what they stand for and believe in, otherwise it won’t work. If you could find a way of making Singing Wells relate to what young people 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 moder…
Our top 5 Singing Wells songs for March News
…Had we not recorded and documented these songs, they might have been lost forever. 3. Mariene Traditional Dancers – Mpandi mautini This group was formed in 2003. They are from the Ameru Ethnic Community and their musical style is Kirarire and Authi. The lead singer wears Murungi, an ornament on both sides of the arms which is worn by the initiator/circumciser; it signifies a man of respect and authority. This one made it onto the top five because…
The repatriation of Kenya’s music heritage News
…gh Tracey. The repatriation of these recordings began in August, during a two-week pilot project in Kenya’s Rift Valley led by Prof Diane Thram, Director of the International Library of African Music (ILAM) in South Africa and the team from Ketebul Music, supported and funded by The Abubilla Music Foundation as part of the Singing Wells project. Read Bill Odidi’s article about the August project here….
Singing Wells is on Bozza! News
…ecorded by Singing Wells. Head over to our Bozza page here. About Bozza “Bozza is a plug & play solution for musicians, poets, photographers & film makers to promote and sell their digital products to their fans throughout Africa. The platform is available to emerging and established artists from around the continent and can be easily accessed by visiting www.bozza.mobi from mobile phones and PCs.” Thabiso Mohare, Head of Brand & Marketing…
Hitching a ride Story
…icture on our journey from Kisoro to the Birara community while we were in south west Uganda documenting and recording the music of the Batwa. It’s about 35kms by road, most of which is uphill, following the winding road through the stunning, lush countryside. This guy was lucky enough to have a bike and took advantage of the passing lorry. Most people seemed to be on foot and many of the Batwa make the arduous journey to town three times a week,…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…orests along the base of the Virunga Volcanoes. They were evicted from the forest to make way for the Mgahinga Gorilla National Park near Kisoro Uganda, which was established to protect the Mountain Gorillas that habitate in the park (travelling back and forth across the Uganda-Rwanda border). The Batwa are a marginalised people, living mostly by tenant farming in scattered villages around Kisoro. They live on the poorest land, and in many cases t…
Current Leading Figures News
…e at Singing Wells were lucky enough to meet Julius and have both bands perform for us on our latest trip to Uganda on Day 3; take a look at our field trip report to hear about Julius’ past and both groups. Here the Elgon Ngoma Troupe are performing Isongja, a song about the circumcision ritual for which the Bagisu tribe are well known. Julius appreciates and is an ambassador for what music can achieve in Uganda. As an orphan himself, struggling t…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…as originally founded by Tracey, it was located in the Gauteng province of South Africa but, when Tracey died in 1977, private funding had dried up. His son, Andrew Tracey, took over as Director and Rhodes University, in the East Cape province of South Africa, agreed to host the ILAM. Its aims are ‘to discover, record, analyze, and archive the music of sub-Saharan Africa, with the object of establishing a theory of music making in Africa and asses…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…years old had the foresight of a wise elder. He was surrounded by disdain for African culture from the Christian missionaries, who forbade the playing of the mbira, due to the pagan themes of ancestor worship and the insurrectional ideas gleaned from spirits that featured heavily in the songs. However, Tracey was able to see past the prejudice and ignorance. He was fascinated by the songs, which were sung by the Shona farmers, with whom he and hi…