Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 0 – London/Nairobi Story
…e vans for the trip. Let’s remind you of our team – we cheated and took photos from the trip that follows: Tabu Osusa STEVE KIVUTIA & PATRICK ONDIEK NICK ABONYO GREGG TWENDA LEWIS KOOME RALPH SIPALLA JONAH KEGAH KENNETH KIPSANG Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team For this trip, we are Jimmy Allen (Video 2) and Andy Paterson (Audio 1). We spent our Saturday travelling from London to Nairobi. On arrival we were greeted warmly by Priscah Nyam…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…he only festival since 2005. Many people are performing around the country today due to those festivals. The group is very literate in music and we had a clear vision from 1990 of what we wanted to do. We are not doing badly and have a comfortable life from the performances. Some musicians who didn’t even have a bicycle not have houses. We are showing you can have a musical career. We are growing our knowledge and getting better at representing th…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…re, London, I received 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 Seco…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…s also trying to start a gourd revolution so people start using them again to store liquids and stop using plastic) The coordinator and lead female vocalist in the group is Irene Nabirye. The group is made up of 6-7 Bigwala players and drummers, plus dancers and singers. They performed four songs and then we did a magic moment with their instruments; these were: Muwe Bwobona Asaba: When someone asks you kindly assist them Mperekera Omwana Womuremb…
Before They Pass Away News
…global world, it’s easy for traditional ways of living to be left behind. From London to Nairobi, Rio de Janeiro to Cape Town, people flock to the cities and leave behind their cultural traditions. But in some pockets of the world, there are still tribes that have preserved centuries-old traditions. Singing Wells records, archives and shares some of this cultural heritage that is at risk of fading out – East Africa’s music. Not only do we want to…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…the group because they have talent. They are good at it. My parents tried to stop me from music and I refused to listen. They are the same. It is a higher calling.” We agree with James. This group is fantastic, energetic and committed to their music. Again and again in our trips to Uganda we find that the rural youth of Uganda are passionate about tribal music; sadly, this is in direct contrast to Kenya, where we find the interest of the rural yo…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…son and Vicki Denison, charity administrator and fundraiser. Our BA flight from London arrived on time at Entebbe at 22.30. We didn’t have the same delays at customs as the Ketebul team and we were at the airport guesthouse with a Nile Special (and their daily supply of one Pringles can) in hand before midnight. It felt good to be back on Ugandan soil in the familiar environment of the Airport Guesthouse. An early start the next day meant not stay…
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…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…oken word, instruction, and sounds from around the world’ and is committed to ‘to cultural diversity, education, increased understanding, and lively engagement with the world of sound.’ They currently have more than 3,200 albums and 45,000 tracks and, through the dissemination of audio recordings and educational materials, are seeking to expand this legacy. Their vast content is relatively easy to search – though of course it helps to know what yo…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…portance of recording traditional African music, he states ‘It was crucial to me to be able to direct the attention of young Ugandans to their own musical traditions: so often at weekends my wife and I drove off with students from different parts of the country to sample the music of their own local village musicians.’ An impressive example of initiative that lead one man, and his wife, to create essential recordings, in order to inspire his stude…
Tracey Instrument Collection News
…Egyptian harps – with the cowhide that stretches over the top of the resonator used to keep it in place. Written on the side of the skin of this ennanga is ‘SSENDEGGE’ which may be the name of the actual maker of the harp, but the harp was obtained by the Traceys by the renowned ennanga player Evaristo Muyinda. The ennanga was formerly the instrument played by the master of music of the Kabaka (King) of the Bugandan people. He would compose songs…
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
…concern is that our entire system is training us to be like a white person from England or America, not to be Ugandan. The English and Americans don’t want to know me because I am like them – they know I am not. They want to know me because I am Ugandan, because I am different. And yet that is not what we teach. Tabu: Exactly. Rather than embrace our identify we aspire to be something else. In Kenya, all the young musicians want to play Hip Hop an…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…enberg, a Oxford Professor, gave us access to a collection of music and photos, from music promoter Peter Colmore. We are getting all the genres of Kenyan music. I would like the book to be done by types of music. It needs to involve DJ’s, musicians, writers, etc… We have almost all the material. It is now about making a big impression. My dream is we launch this book during the Smithsonian conference next year in Washington DC. In terms of artist…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…splay, and some even got played by some of our fellow Womexians as this photo from Louise shows: I gave an interview for Icelandic radio about the project. And around 150 people entered our competition to win an iPod shuffle – direct from one of our listening station. We’ll be making the draw soon. Cards in the Kalabash We were pleased to host a few meetings for our friend Guy Morley who used our stand as a meeting place. We were delighted also…