Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…n: Dunga Hill Camp – Kisumu. Field Notes: We left Khayega for Kisumu at 10:00am and made a quick stop at Kiboswa ‘city’ on our way to the Lakeside city. This historic center, inhabited by the Luo, Luhya and the Kalenjin tribes of Kenya, is home to Paul Kelemba (or Maddo, as the cartoonist is popularly known). After taking a few photos to prove to the award-winning cartoonist that we actually visited his ancestral home, we continued with our journe…
2. Naizungwe Drums – progress report 1 Story
…aking comprises 24 drums of big, small, medium and small sizes. We decided to make many because we would like to have enough drums for training a new generation of players. However, the basic number includes: 1 large Uganda drum (played with short heavy beaters) 3 smaller drums (played with long curved sticks) 1 medium drum (played with sticks) 1 long drum (ngalabi – hand-beaten) All together, 6 drums. Therefore, we are making four sets of naizung…
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…ms that James talks about: http://www.singingwells.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Peter-Cooke-naizungwe-recording-1.mp3 http://www.singingwells.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Peter-Cooke-naizungwe-recording-2.mp3 What makes this project particularly exciting, is the difference of approach required compared to the entenga drums. With the entenga we found a surviving old master player (Musisi) who was able to teach a younger generation of musicians…
Day 5: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017 Story
…ars. They had unique drums, including small drums with wooden spikes on bottom to be embedded in sand, called the Siganga. They also had a pair of drums called the Likuti and a long drum called the Msondo, and a very long thin drum called a Neya. Here’s the set: In the dance they had a character in a mask called a Lipiko, who wore a vest called a Mjuga. They played five songs: Malala Kujunga: Essentially means ‘be calm and quite, we are about to p…
Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…yles and instruments die. But another mission is to bring these traditions to new audiences, allowing new artists to work with traditional artists to bring new life to these sounds and movements. So, we want the grandson of Mzee Morris to work with current artists like Leo, Sophie and Elliot. We want Leo, Sophie and Elliot to be inspired by Rajab and Henry’s music and hopefully they will bring these styles to new audiences. This theme is critical…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…songs and do an “Influences” session. This gave the village children time to get to know us and understand our mission. By the end they were singing along to all the songs. In addition to being a professional musician, Leo also teaches music to school children so he is a natural with kids. On all the songs that he did, he had the whole village singing and laughing. We learned about the Bi Kidude and Unyago style. Throughout this trip we will enco…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…background in our recordings. We are also here to try to bring this music to new artists and audiences, to show how it can inspire and inform more contemporary artists. This is why we always bring ‘Influences Artists’ with us on each trip and this is why our nights are filled with ‘hotel’ recordings where our ‘Influences Artists’ are reworking songs with the more traditional artists we discover in the villages. In Mission 2, we are ‘fusionists’,…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…are? This matter has concerned a circle of my friends deeply since around 2003 and we’ve all tried to deal with it. I have a circle I talk to all the time about this, including Julius Kyakuwa, Centurio Balikoowa, Haruna Walusimbi, Sarah Mukyala and Cornelius Mwima. We all understand that without intervention, somehow, all this music – all this culture will die. But we also know that the issue will always be resources: how do we bring new resources…
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…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 can get advance copies from K…
Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
…traditional music of East Africa to a wider audience. It amazing to see the Youtube algorithm agreeing that this is a project worth showing people! We can’t wait to bring more songs and stories to the world. Keep an eye out on the Singing Wells Youtube channel for the footage and recordings from our field trip to Zanzibar and Pemba….
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…ad rich musical lives, to become artists, to use the palace as a stepping stone to develop their art further. They were brought into these palaces as young boys, and all they did was play music. In most cases they received no other education and in most cases they played until they could play no more and their ‘retirement pension’ was the salaries of the sons or grandsons they were able to train and bring into the palaces. Their musical lives were…
The Revival of Ohangla Music! News
…TtU…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…e proven wrong. Musisi is looking for more drummers and the ones we talked to today are desperate to find others that played with them. Richard Ssewannyana We first travelled about an hour from Mukono to the village of Bamusuta B Kizimula to meet with Richard Ssewannyana. As we believe Musisi is the ‘last surviving’ royal drummer, we believe Richard is the last surviving royal flutist. Please, let’s be wrong here. We first interviewed Richard: “I…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…buy a drum that has been tuned in the sun, or when the drum is too dry or too hot from the sun. This drum will always be too low – because as the skin cools it will lower in pitch. I only tune very cool drums inside and my drums will never go out of tune in the sun. As the sun dries them and the pitch rises, you simply wet them down to keep them in tune.” Here, we learn that drums must leave the drum maker with a tendency to pitch higher – that i…
Support for the Elgon Ngoma Troupe News
…gon Ngoma troupe is, and their mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Wk0YnbByk&fbclid=IwAR27BBeDBEx-5jMqkKxFTL9vtS5NxBwun0psDF9hCNmfQe0PQodki2Cns3U…
Central and Eastern Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Jinja Story
…dying on the proverbial vine. James Isabirye found James Lugolole around 2005 and set out to restore the tradition. They formed a new group, which we recorded in 2013, and they re-discovered the gourd seeds and started coordinating farmers to grow the next generation of trumpets. There are now four trumpet groups and about 20 trumpets, with many more growing in the fields in different parts of Busoga. Everything about the Bigwala model has become…