Akello sings ‘Influences’ songs for Singing Wells News
…nd urban music performer who sings in most popular languages like Acholi, Luganda, Swahili and English..After years of working with a few of Uganda’s leading contemporary and world music greats such as Kaweesa, Susan Kerunen, Myko Ouma, Tshila and Kinobe Herbert..she is indeed a rare talent with a rich textured organic voice. Akello begins a new journey of performing her own music compositions that she chooses to call “Hybrid” a simple cross betwe…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…nk 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 going into supporting music. Uganda music is known for its elaborate costumes and yet in every village, hide-covered shields aren’t even wood, they are made of plastic. Beautiful ostrich feathers have been replaced by chicken feathers. Traditional axesa are now cheap wooden replicas. This is not the…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…they are from the North). Whilst talking to him I asked him about popular Ugandan music, as we’d heard alot during the week (usually being pumped out of local stores on big speakers). We listened to a few different tracks on his phone, and I narrowed my favourite Ugandan pop tracks down to ‘Apple’ by Bigtym and ‘Guns & Bomb’ by Bebecool.. Odika Constantine, son of Watmon, is in his 30s. He was abducted by the LRA from his home in Kitgum District…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…oro, Uganda in December 2011. United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU) Narrative Report on the Promotion of Batwa Cultural Music Since April 2012, UOBDU started implementing a project responsible for promotion of Batwa cultural heritage, supporting the performance of music and drama to local audience and to allow UOBDU to monitor and update the performance of the groups visited by The Abubilla Music Foundation. During the visit…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…’s highest level so that we can get some sponsorship from NGOs or from the Ugandan Government. I have opened up a bank account for us to make this easier and my prayer is that we will be able to become professional performers and be able to buy proper costumes, more instruments and better equipment to keep authenticity. Why do you like to perform? I am a woman’s leader for a local parish and my work has now spread to four different parishes, this…
Day 7 (am) – back to Kampala: Naguru to Entebbe Story
…ader of his group, which he started in 1991. The members are from all over Uganda, but 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…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…ything to child birth. But we read, people. We do read.) While much of our Ugandan driving has been fascinating, there haven’t been that many changes along an ‘average roadside.’ The biggest change, and we’ve become quite obsessed by this for some reason, is the hats placed on the white charcoal bags. (Others would like to add that it’s just Jimmy who’s obsessed with the charcoal bags). For most of the places, folks just want to keep the charcoal…
An Evening with Mserego Mwatela Group News
On our last night in Nairobi following the recording trip to Northern Uganda we met with Swalhe Mwatela Massai, the founder of Msergo Mwatela Group, from the Coastal regions of Kenya. He originally performed with his father’s group and then he founded this group in 2007. They use a number of styles, most notably Sengenya, which we covered fully in our March 2011 field recordings in Malindi. We interviewed Swalhe Mwatela Massai and his grandson, A…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…is another gospel song. https://youtu.be/h3PLpGb59A0 Their final song was Uganda, Land of Freedom, which was the song that saved the village multiple times. https://youtu.be/VRBYf6d8dp4 We loved the song so much we had them perform a ‘Magic Moment’ around the phrase ‘Uganda will be alright’. Lovely. And then we played footie… The second half of the day was, well, not so good. We needed to leave at 13:00 to get to Kampala before nightfall. No nigh…
How music archives can help communities News
…udent who was working for the United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU). Chris took the recordings back to Uganda and re-introduced them to the Batwa people who had since become a poor, landless and disempowered community following their eviction from the forests due to the gorilla conservation project in the mountainous south west region of the country. In particular, Chris played a recording to Jeremiah Bunjagare whose father’s…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…a ride to supplement the drivers income. Then there are the ‘taxi’s’ – in Uganda, these are the white vans with English names, ferrying folks up and down the highway. They are fun because each is covered with decidedly random words, like Gorgeous, Amen, Big Mama, Jesus Love, Go! Go!, etc… Motorbikes are everywhere, mostly on the side of the road with someone lying beneath them repairing something. In Uganda,, on most of the roads we travelled, th…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…A wonderful night session of recording as we are joined at our lodge by Cieng Dwong and their ‘Thwumping’…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
…ery instrument 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 un…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…themes. Our aim is to provide a lasting benefit for the Batwa community in Uganda and we are doing this through our continuing relationship with UOBDU. We were delighted to receive this message from Henry Neza, UOBDU Capacity Building Officer and our liaison contact with the Batwa communities while we were in Kisoro. Dear Victoria, The Batwa of Kisoro as a result of your visit felt an international belonging and recognition. Through the generation…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…es session with Akello. She sang her song Wan Wilobo, a song for and about Ugandan women and their stories during and after the war, as they keep their families together through work dawn to dusk. Ker Kal Kwaro In complete contrast to our first band, the second and fourth band were all dance and percussion. First, Ker Kal Kwaro was a full dance band with amazing percussion, similar to some of the groups we met yesterday. The great thing about this…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…o us when we recorded to the Batwa at the Travellers Rest 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…