SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…ing which will focus on the music of the Baganda and also the recording of new newly arranged songs for our Influences series. First, our Baganda musicians. We will be recording Albert Bissaso Ssempeke, who plays a variety of Baganda instruments including the Ennanga (bow harp), Entongoli (bowl lyre), Amadinda (xylophone), Endere (flute) and Engoma (drums). We have also arranged to record a performance from the Kadinda Players, a Baganda group led…
The Birara Batwa Community Story
…music relevant to today’s artists and audiences. We want to celebrate and promote the music heritage of East Africa in a contemporary context. We are doing this with ‘Influences’. We were staying at The Traveller’s Rest Hotel in Kisoro and the staff kindly allowed us to set up the studio under the verandah and it was there that we recorded our first ‘Influences’ session – a fusion of Batwa music from the Birara singers and contemporary music from…
Group of the Month – Otacho Young Stars News
…one of which was ‘Charles Manager’ sung in English -about the arrival of a new manager to a sugar plantation. The irony being that they are thanking him, just for doing his job properly. This was one of the songs the group re-recorded at Ketebul studios – re-named Mr Manager and available on YouTube here: You can find links to the field reports below – along with a link to the group page for the Otacho Young Stars. We’ll be posting clips and recor…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…we plan for our next trip to Kampala this Autumn, we can’t wait to publish new songs, new dances and new stories from East African music. But, we always recognized that there was a hierarchy of needs in East Africa. No matter how threatened the culture of music was, we understood that East Africa was facing ‘bigger problems’ – be it famine, disease, tribal conflicts, etc… Music was important, but the threat to music stood at the end of a long list…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…adding to our equipment lists all the time as we refine our methods, learn new techniques and face new challenges. For our next field recording trip to Uganda (November 2013), this is the list of everything we will be taking with us: 2 Apple 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…
What people say about Singing Wells News
…music. The recordings are a valuable treasure, since a lot of traditional African music often goes un-notated. Singing Wells is the much needed portal for ethnomusicology research in East Africa.” Matthew Morin, PhD in Musicology, Florida State University: “Singing Wells does more than preserve traditions for future generations. By involving a younger demographic of East African musicians, producers and videographers like Winyo, Jesse Bukindu, Pa…
The New Singing Wells website News
…sy to read more about it. Instruments Library We have been collecting East African instruments since our first trip to the Kenya coast in 2011. Click here to read about the traditional East African instruments we have recorded being played. Responsiveness We recognise that a lot of our visitors may be viewing the device on iPads, iPhones, tablets, netbooks, Samsung phones etc, so a lot of work has gone into making our site accessible on these devi…
Group of the Month – Watmon Cultural Group News
…s://www.facebook.com/singingwells and on Twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/singingwells – if you do tweet any links, please use the hashtags – #gotm and #singingwells We’ll update this page with any new items we add to the site over the course of the month. Check out the featured content links below to find the Watmon Cultural Group page from our Musical Map of East Africa….
Kampala traffic jam Story
…The infamous Kampala traffic jam…
The Singing Wells supports Ketebul Music’s ‘Kenya at 50’ project News
…he guitarist Fundi Konde – said to be the first electric guitarist in East Africa. He also set up Hi Fidelity Productions and studio in Nairobi – a promotion and public relations company, which produced advertisements for big brands in Kenya at the time – Coca Cola (featuring the Congolese musician Eduoard Masengo), Ever Ready and Aspro. Through this union, he created the All African Variety shows, which were broadcast live on radio, and later tel…
The Beat of Kenya News
…from the post-World War II period to the present. In particular, her interests are focused on the relationship that forms between immigrants and their receiving society, and how newcomers adapt and negotiate their way, as individuals and as a group, through the changes they encounter in their new lives. …
A quick summary of the Singing Wells Project News
…thanked us because they noted that this great player, a legend across East Africa, had never been properly recorded. He died two weeks later. Here was the last song we recorded… 4. Singing Wells is about bringing the tribal music of East Africa to the latest generation of singer-songwriters, like Winyo: However important it is to capture music before it is gone, this is necessary, but not sufficient. We are not fossile collectors. The second part…
73,603 views on YouTube News
…oying what we are all about – bringing the more traditional sounds of East Africa to an enthusiastic audience. Thanks for watching! Our top 3 video hits In third place, this is the Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club from Sita Village, Gede in Kenya’s Malindi District. It was the very first video we uploaded to YouTube following our field visit to the Coast Region to record the music of the Mijikenda tribes. Is second place is a video from our field…
Health and Safety? Story
…drive and we were desperate to get in before dark (previous experience of Africa Night Driving had taught the team to avoid it at all costs), but after the accident we had to drive back to Soroti to get it fixed. It was there we were able to find an engineer purely through word of mouth, and had a guy weld our wheel back together on the street while we waited in the car. He was standing right next to the car’s engine, wearing flip flops and no ma…
A new type of city Story
…The contrasts of Kampala…….
The Influences Series from Singing Wells News
…ll refresh the origins of East African music and make it discoverable to a new generation of music fans. Newly released Influences song – Missing March 2013 saw the release of an original track from Abubilla Music, re-mixed for the Influences series. The song is called (The only thing that’s) Missing and it was first recorded for the Abubilla Music album Misery Marmalade and other Spanish Jams. Here is the video of the new ‘Influences’ version, fe…