Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…ment? The worst was the day when Jimmy poured water on Andy. He was trying to get something from the tent and somehow, I’m not sure how it happened, he ended up soaking Andy. Actually, thinking about it now it wasn’t the worst, it was pretty funny! The worst was driving from Mombasa to Malindi at night, it was dangerous. The road was narrow, unmarked and I didn’t like it. We said after this we wouldn’t do it again. Now we hardly drive at night. As…
From African Twist to Benga News
In March 2014, Ketebul Music and The Abubilla Music Foundation came together to record a very special album for Singing Wells. Our goal was to record some of the most important ‘bridge’ artists in Kenya – a group of musicians who have built a connection between the music of their villages and modern music. They were the founders of Benga, the African Twist, Luhyia ‘Omutibo’ and the ‘Yoddeling’ sound adapted by the Kikuyu musicians of the ’60s. We…
The lovely painted faces of the Marakwet tribes in the Rift Valley Story
…This is one of the beautiful singers from the Sagat Traditional Dancers; we recorded them on March 7, 2012 during our trip through the Rift Valley, Kenya. Her white dots represent the soil and the harvest; their beads are traditionally given to them after female circumcision. These dancers had walked over 50 kms the night before to make sure they arrived in time for the recording….
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…e session): The Royal Instruments of Uganda As mentioned, James is working to restore the royal instruments of Uganda. He supports the Bugando Musican Ensemble, which we recorded (click here) and he is trying to restore the The Bigwala (trumpet). There are few surviving musicians and we recorded some of the few players surviving. But what we loved about Uganda is all the great the instrument bands, from the Xylophone, to the Likembe, to the Adungu…
Current Leading Figures News
…s the project coordinator of the Retracing Series, documentaries which aim to to research, archive and document the musical culture of Kenya, the latest of which ‘Retracing Kenya’s Songs of Protest — Music as a Force for change in Kenya 1963-2013’, was released recently. His extensive background of involvement in the East African music industry can be found on his About Page at Ketebul Music and his thoughts on some of the central issues surroundi…
Amone Watmon Matthew Story
…e. His aim is to teach his children (even those that are not his own) the music of his heritage. We are proud to have worked with the Watmon Cultural Troupe and the resulting recordings and videos are a treat. Click here to go to the Singing Wells group page. You can view more videos from the group on YouTube (click here) where you can also make a donation to support the group through our charity, The Abubilla Music Foundation. …
Archiving Guidelines News
…second is FEDORA. However, it is clear that to set up an online data repository, to be used as an archive, substantial technological knowledge is needed – but this guide is most definitely a great help for gaining understanding of all the issues needed be considered when setting up an online music archive. Storage of Audio Materials Guidance for the care, handling and storage of audio visual materials can be found on the Library of Congress websit…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…to persuade their government to fund them properly. They also need to pull together.’ Nearly all of Cooke’s material is available online at the Peter Cooke Uganda Collection, British Library There is an archive of his work at the Makerere University in Uganda, which must be listened to onsite. The availability of this archive to the general public is unknown to Cooke (though his concern is that it should be available to everyone) His personal webs…
Tracey Instrument Collection News
…rom wood with animal skin stretched over the top and bottom and then laced together. See similar drums in action with a Magic Moment from the Namaddu Troupe… Amadinda loose-note xylophone The first xylophone pictured has 17 keys and the second has 12, and were both made by Andrew Tracey to replace the endara log xylophone (above) which stood outside the ILAM building as it was wearing from student use. The xylophones are played on the ends by th…
Singing Wells in Numbers…. News
…Andy did a litte homework for this one: Number of recordings of groups: 374 (this does not include other recordings like Magic Moments, Influences, etc…) Number of groups recorded: 83 Number of hours of music: 27 hours and 30 minutes. …
James Isabirye and Tabu Osusa Discuss East African Music News
…erstand what makes us unique. When we hold festivals, we ask the musicians to talk to the audience, tell them their stories and who they are. For almost every festival, I am told by some government official that they want to open the show and talk about culture. I say no. I tell them that the people don’t need to hear from some politician about their culture. To learn about culture, you need to hear from people that live the culture. So I ask the…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…their music.’ We then recorded a CD, working with Hivos, and brought them to Nairobi to record the CD. These musicians had never been to Nairobi. In Northern Kenya they are so marginalized that they don’t see themselves as being part of Kenya. It took three days of driving across a desert to find them. When they talk about Nairobi, they talk about Kenya and think of it as another country, separate from their own. Songs of Protest: Another project…
Obuell-Lira and the Macedonia Band Story
…, the Uganda Army re-took control of the area. One of their first acts was to go to each village and accuse them of collaborating, typically killing the men under the assumption that they must have fought with the rebels. For Joshua, this was a terrifying moment because the band was known to have played to the rebels. Again, a group of soldiers came into their village and again their mission was to kill the men and boys of the village. And again,…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…their work, and it looks great. Hopefully we can help the project and work together in some way in the future. Showcases Visited Mike and I were present at the opening concert – curated by Cerys Matthews at the fantastic Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. The show was a showcase of traditional Welsh music including performances from Matthews herself, The Welsh Ballet and The Treorchy Male voice choir. I heard a bit of a day showcase from th…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
…music as well as being a brass band. Julius informed us that his vision is to get to a point where they will play traditional Bagisu music in the brass band format. They are well known for their circumcision dance ‘Kadodi’, the pre-circumcision dance ‘Isonja’ and the harvest dance ‘Luwengere’. Before we left, Tabu gave a short speech to the Troupe, encouraging them to stay on the path they were on. We asked Julius to find some of the older generat…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…st Hotel in Kisoro, Uganda!) We can also combine the two recording units into one to increase the number of inputs, while still working off battery power. The laptops use Avid ProTools recording software – an industry standard for recording and music production. The microphones we have chosen are industry standard models used in studios the world over but, most likely, not seen in the villages of East Africa. The equipment has been carefully selec…