Day Three: February 18, 2020 (Stonetown, Mpendae, Maungani) Story
…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 group: Suleiman Makame (keyboard, director), Hassan Mahenge (Saxaphone, assistant director), Mahsin Basalama (contra base), Christopher Weston (Cajon and high hat), Regina Juma (singer). There was supposed to be a violin player but unfortunately he couldn’t…
Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…to their Boda Bodas (motorbike taxis) and disappeared into the dark night, one by one. We drove back to Josephine Garden at Ilesi where we spent our second night. Profile: Super Phoenix Band Julius Khamoyi Shivaji was born on June 5th 1966 in Shisalachi, Ikholomani sub-location in Kakamega County. He started his musical journey in 1990 as a member of the choir at his local church. He took up the stage name Itenya in 1999 when he joined the Phoenix…
FAQ’s Page
…ject are either volunteers or are personally funded. No third party donor money is used to support their expenses). Who owns the Singing Wells recordings? The ownership of the original songs remains with the performers who receive a performance gratuity from Singing Wells. They give consent for us to publish the material on the Singing Wells website and other digital media which is free to access. Any money received from the sale or commercial use…
Day Two: February 17, 2020 (Stonetown) Story
…for Diana”) who had helped them develop their look and movements. They had one lead singer and two men on drums. One planning a small drum and the other playing three large drums on the floor while he stood and leaned over. Overall they were very impressive and unique. Truly beautiful. 3. Zam Zam Group – From the hotel we moved on to the Dhow Countries Musical Academy, which is located in the old custom house. Here, we recorded the Zam Zam grou…
Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…n traditional Tanzanian music and his band features the Marimba (Tanzanian Xylophone) and a modified version Morris drums. He noted, “I want to play in the Morris style, but I can’t use his drums. They require fire for tuning and this isn’t practical as a gigging artist. So I have modified congas and bongos to replicate his drums. I’ve changed the skins to cow skins. When you combine these drums, the Mtoji, with the Kin’gan’ga (the two standalone…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…to behave as a wife, and how to be a mother. The women invited Sophie into one of the huts to watch their dance in private. In Uganda and Kenya we have a lot of recordings of rites of passage, mostly around male and female circumcision rituals – happily the songs survive but not the rituals in the places we visited! But we have far less on the theme of ‘women for women’ songs of instruction, or the rites of passages of women preparing for adulthoo…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…tains a snake). The first part of their act is pure comedy and acrobatics. One dancer knows what is in the box and is teasing the other to open it. There are mock fights, gymnastics, clown faces and general mayhem, until eventually the snake emerges. From then on, the dance is about how close the pair can get to being bitten or strangled by the snake without getting hurt. Occasionally the snake is set upon the audience but one of the dancers pulls…
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…opular 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 itinerant Congolese musicians Edouard Masengo and Jean Bosco Mwenda who’s intricate guitar-picking styles largely shaped the present Kenyan sound, with the Benga playing a dominant role. Currently, you…
Singing Wells Youtube Channel hits 2.5Million views News
…pe, performing a traditional circumcision ritual dance. Please keep following our channel – with new videos going up there’s always something exciting to discover and share. https://youtu.be/mkyDtBXfunI…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…think about rich Kenyans and how they can support the music of their village with our help. We need to think about corporates and get them off the popular big number kick they are on and get them to work on authentic things. You guys can get better and better at producing videos, but until we make this bigger and more sustainable, the project is always one heart attack a way from stopping. But let me end simply – this is amazing and keep it going…
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…me, like the soloist Zachariah, were in such demand he had to shuttle by taxi between sessions in River Road and Polygram Studios in Industrial Area. Because of his dexterity with the guitar and his ability to improvise on the fly, solo guitarist Vincent Bunde was nicknamed ‘Readyman’, which was later corrupted to ‘Redman’ by the Kikuyu musicians who worked with him because of difficulties pronouncing the name. The fact that he could speak kikuyu…
Latest Field Trip – Kenya 2018 News
…We’ve returned from our latest field trip, this time to western Kenya. Field reports coming soon….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…el Kamau Mwai. He was born in 1949 into the Kikuyu ethnic community and is one of the pioneers of Benga music, bringing it from the Luo to the Kikuyu ethnic communities. He started playing professionally in the late sixties and his first big hit came with the song I Love You, in 1970. His second big hit was Kanini and we were lucky to be able to record both with him this week. I Love You Kanini Mukabi This is the son of the great omutibo player Ge…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 4 – Nkubu to Mukuuni to Nairobi Story
…re accidentally constraining them by asking them to go through their songs one by one, when in fact, what they loved to do was race through all the songs at once, in a single act. We finally sorted through all this though. Ultimately we did three ‘takes’: Mucii: This is their introduction. The lead singer was Gitari Thura. This is a procession song and is used to energize the crowd and performers. Muntu agitura: Lead singer was Micheni Ndic. This…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…parate surgeon’s knife for each boy. This takes longer and increases the anxiety. Steve said everyone is shouting at the boys as they go through this and they are almost in trance – the boys are meant to perform well, which means they must stare straight ahead looking slightly up toward the sky and not flinch or acknowledge the pain. For Steve, the real pain was for days after the cutting when he was extremely sore. But he says you also feel eupho…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 2 – Muranga to Kangema to Nkubu Story
…23:30 each night. We counted 478 individual trips to our table she made on one night alone. Working Practices: A Typical Field Recording Session The basic steps we use in a typical session are as follows: Arrival/introductions/set-up The interview team immediately sits with the groups and talks through how the session will work and then collects information on the group, the songs and the instruments and musical styles. While this is being done, t…