The Boy with the Headphones Story
…e of the songs through his headphones and this particular boy overcame his shyness to have give it a try. We could see how hard life is for the Batwa, living on small pieces of borrowed land on the fringes of society but the performance of the Mperwa Dancers did not portray this – it was full of pride and happiness. Once again, we witnessed how important the songs and dances are to the whole Batwa community, from the youngest infant to the oldes…
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…neer, Patrick Ondiek, adds, ‘I love producing the final videos and getting phone calls from my friends asking me ‘how did you find these musicians?’ I feel like I’m on the cutting edge of music, bringing these talented musicians to my Nairobi friends.’ In addition to our field visits, we have developed an online Music Map of East Africa that charts the tribes of the region, their music, their instruments and influences. The map also shows where we…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…great examples of the Ndara. But we were also able to recording amazing dancing… this is by far the best dancing we’ve seen. Q: Any observations as you compare this trip to others? A: For musicality, this trip rivals our trip to record the Batwa. In terms of the ‘health’ of traditional music, I think it is mixed, but frankly the traditional music scene feels healthier in Uganda than Kenya. On the negative side, clearly there is not enough money g…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…ull health. His second brother was unfortunately taken by the war. It is since his experience during the war that he has learnt to play music. During the car journey between Neguru (near Kampala) and Entebbe, Odika both told this story but also played the Likembe to us alongside his father. They were joined by Akello, our Influences artist, who sang backing vocals on a few songs: Kiri Ki Jing… …Amone Lareku… …and Lamele. Akello then sang her song…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…ut generally perform music in the style of Acholi, as Watmon is originally from Kitikum, not far from Gulu up in Northern Uganda, and moved down to Kampala during the war. We love the instrument they played, the Nanga (below) so much we asked if they would join us in Entebbe to record more songs with Akello. We asked them to come with us to our next stop: our hotel in Entebbe, purely because we were desperate to have more time with the stunning mu…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
…‘asking back’ – the singer is promising the power of his music to the audience and wondering what he will now get in return. Namlaga Sichimbira (Cheche Style ): This song warns the audience that the singer is taking his songs on the road. They shouldn’t be jealous or worried – he remains part of the village, but others need to hear his music. It is now almost midnight and we’ve recorded some fantastic music. The hotel restaurants are closed again,…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…ze that). Remind everyone in the village it is okay for anyone in the audience to jump up and dance and sing. Too often the groups worry about that. We love it. And hens and goats are welcome to march across every sound stage. They help keep the music fresh. Never do a sound check on a mic until you’ve attached the mic to a cable. Steve had a rather long awkward moment on this one on behalf of the Aud-Balls (Video’s name for the audio crew). The ‘…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…hat you could see by the raised area under the huts that they had swept 6 inches of earth from the common areas. The Macedonia Band is a Likembe Band (thumb or finger harp) with about 8 Lukumbe players and four percussionists. If you recall the ‘bass’ of the Rubanga Kingom band in Awach was a small Likembe on an overturned steel tub. The Macedonia band’s ‘bass’ was a very large (3 foot) Likembe that act as bass and kick drum. They also had 16 danc…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…days before being sold. Every ninth person is selling nuts or grasshoppers from a bucket or woven basket. Every seventh person is selling fruit of some type from a woven basket,. Every fifth person is sitting next to a blanket that is laid out to display their wares. You get a lot of blankets with eggs, but sometimes sunglasses, nails, electic sockets, rusty tools, clay pots, cutting boards or meal grinding tools, etc… Behind the blankets are stac…
ATTA is following Singing Wells News
…their guest at the World Travel Market at Excel and I met representatives from a number of organisations 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…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…eme of the song and the drumming started. The dance troupe than sang and danced around the drums in increased density and at one point there was a massive ‘thwump’ as the whole group jumped up and down at the same time to the beat. The combination of 15 drums and 15 dancers all thwumping was fantastic and the night added to the magic as the jumped in and out of the light. We followed the performances with some magic moments, first on ndara and the…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
…nt imaginable: The Flute (yep, a flute) The Ndara (the amazing Ugandan xylophone) The Rigi-Rigi (similar to the Kenyan orutu) The Agwara (trumpets) The Adungu (the harp we’ve encountered every day now) The group was formed in 1993 and is professional, touring Kampala and other parts of Uganda, sponsored by NGO’s and typically campaigning for things like HIV Awareness, Cultural preservation, etc… Except for the fact they wear clothes under their an…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…function as the simplest form of presentation of the material with audio sync. Once the microphones are set up we ask the musicians to perform a few bars of their first track to check the microphone gains and record levels. The video team check their shots and talk about who will be covering which part of the footage. Then, once we are setup, we begin to record the performances. Takes are logged by the day, so the first take of the day becomes tak…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…ase watch the videos. There are typically 8-10 thumb pianos in any performance, ranging from about 20 inches down to about 6 inches. For this band, the ‘bass’ Likembe is played directly onto an over turned ‘tub’ so it resonates the low bass notes (later, with the Macedonia band, the bass Likembe was huge and stood on its own). The bass player is joined by a percussionist who will also pound the tub for the kick drum and then use a little metal bru…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…stly, with female dancers. All young adults and extremely cool. The group included two dancers that were the best we ‘ve seen and the rhythms of the Gwara (galabash) was over-whelming. They performed: Dongo Lobo Auma Woto Mobile Aparo Wota. Most of these were courtship dances with wonderful drama between the boy and girl dancers. https://youtu.be/bpmEEIUwm68 https://youtu.be/y6Z3BC9VCOk https://youtu.be/YRpkiI_hGXY Akello, our Ugandan Influences a…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…a lovely Ugandan singer/songwriter, who is joining the group as our Influences artist. The Emmanuel car headed into Kampala to pick up our press badges. We then headed off to Gulu at around 2PM (yes, we tend to spend a lot of time getting mobile phone cards!) and headed out on a 360 km drive to the town of Gulu in Northern Uganda. Within minutes we were deeply immersed in the ‘classic’ East African road scene: big tall white bags of coal, with gr…