The Influences Series from Singing Wells News
…a new generation of musicians and fans who might not consider it relevant today. So, we have developed the Influences series – a fusion of traditional and contemporary styles. Each time the Singing Wells team embarks on a field recording visit we are joined by a talented musician who works with us on ‘Influences’ songs. They work with us in the field and also in the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi to produce this new material. We believe our Inf…
Music of the Batwa: video playlist News
…ational Education….
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…ing eroded. He says, ‘For reasons I can’t fully explain, contemporary East African music has lost touch with its tribal roots. Our most popular musicians find far more inspiration in western music than they do with East African music. I worry about this. As a people, we risk losing our deep cultural heritage – the role of traditional music and dance in our lives. And as musicians, we risk becoming undifferentiated. Rather than drawing upon what ma…
Returning to Uganda in Autumn 2013 Story
…Acholi, Iteso, Langi and Lugbara). For this upcoming trip we will focus on Central and Eastern Uganda which is home of the Bantu tribes (the Baganda, the Basoga, the Bagisu and the Banyoro to mention a few). Here’s an example of Basoga music – as always with Uganda music, amazing energy, exotic instruments and wonderful dance: Our Love of Ugandan Music and The Pearl of Africa While our mission is to record the music of all of East Africa, we are c…
Meet our ‘Influences’ artists News
…roductions, which has produced several local TV shows. His goal is to take African music all over the world and enliven people to dance and sing to the sweet and melodic sounds of African songs and music. Winyo’s debut album ‘Benga Blues’ has recently been released. Click here to view on YouTube. Winyo with Mperwa Dancers from Kisoro, Uganda Winyo has joined the Singing Wells team of three recording field trips – Kenya (Coastal Region); SW Uganda…
Day 9 (AM): Ketebul Studio – Influences session for Cheri Story
…we worked with Mwenzele-Nyerere wa Konde Music Club on five studio songs. Today, we brought them back in to work with Stanley on his song Cheri, featuring Macadem. Here’s how the process worked today: Jaybee first worked with Stanley, Bishop and Johnnie to get the basic song structure down and put on a vocal ‘Chorus.’ Stanley wants the song to be a classic love song and the his vocals are really beautiful and sincere. We then asked Nyerere Wa Kon…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…the offending husband would kill the adulterer. Whenever the song is sung today in the villages, some audience believes the song is pointing at them, accusing them… Kirori: This is the band leader’s song and is a song in three verses about a girl he met in early days. In verse one, he tries to flatter her but she dismisses him as a little man of no consequence. In verse 2, they meet years later and our hero has a little money. He’s able to buy th…
Akello sings ‘Influences’ songs for Singing Wells News
…erformed with the Watmon Cultural Troupe Akello Biography Akello is an African contemporary and urban music performer who sings in most popular languages like Acholi, Luganda, Swahili and English..After years of working with a few of Uganda’s leading contemporary and world music greats such as Kaweesa, Susan Kerunen, Myko Ouma, Tshila and Kinobe Herbert..she is indeed a rare talent with a rich textured organic voice. Akello begins a new journe…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…to extend the project even to other communities who shows interest. These promoted groups lack dancing costumes (uniform) and equipment which would make it more unique and attractive. Due to this challenge, UOBDU had to purchase a few musical instruments (Drum and dancing bells) for Kanyabukungu group who danced for the Prime Minister of Uganda. Dancing costumes and traditional instruments remains a challenge among the groups in order to market t…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…(our style of ‘Apiri’ in Acholi is typically only performed by the women). Today the reason there was a man playing the drums is because one of our women is sick, normally there are no men in the performance. In Gulu when I want to meet with the other women I play drums and they all come, usually in the evening. I want to push the music to it’s highest level so that we can get some sponsorship from NGOs or from the Ugandan Government. I have opene…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…The African Night Road Spirits are kind and offered up a wonderful last night of recording….
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…ut on our iPods and drift off to a faraway place, usually not involving an African road at night. But we are also fully-fledged members of the always on everywhere generation. So Steve is generally reviewing logistics for the next day. Things always go wrong and he is always in recovery mode – something he does exceptionally well. The rest of us are always in full time ‘back up’ mode, shifting camera cards to hard drives and backing up hard drives…
How music archives can help communities News
…nda and Beyond Published in 2012 by Fountain Publishers, Kampala. Editors: Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza and Thomas Solmon Available in print from African Books Collective: click here …
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
Today was a travelling day to Soroti, Uganda. It gives us a chance to talk about the road scenes of Northern Uganda … On the road The road connects villages to their local markets and therefore is covered on either side by economic activity. There are the ‘thatch’ cutters, teams of women armed with knives and machetes cutting down the tall grasses on either side of the road. The long grasses are then laid down to dry, looking like long carpets. T…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…o play the song just with their part find it all a bit strange. So too for African village groups. They don’t go into studios and ‘lay down their track’ in some great over-dubbing session. They perform with a troupe, and they feed off of and help drive the dancing and the other instruments. The song Apako Oranga had an amazing Ndara riff and we wanted to capture it on its own. But the subsequent magic moment session lacked something – our friend w…
ATTA is following Singing Wells News
…ons 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 seems Nigel liked what I told him! Operations Manager Lina Vaiksnoriene has been in touch and ATT…