Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
Another amazing start to the day. Today it was all about music of the Alur tribe. We drove from Pakwach across the Albert Nile Bridge into the Nebbi district to the village of Widyanga. The Music Alur Kingdom Troupe We set up amongst the ‘five layered’ thatched roof huts, settled down around the cows, goats and a really music loving chicken and recorded one single band, The Alur Kingdom Troupe, with every instrument imaginable: The Flute (yep, a…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…so learned a great deal about their history and their lifestyle in Uganda today. The following week, we invited ten of the Batwa performers to the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi to record more songs, and in particular, collaborate with contemporary music artists to generate new material for ‘Influences’ – a series of new songs influenced and inspired by traditional themes. Our aim is to provide a lasting benefit for the Batwa community in Ugand…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…nd. They formed thirty years ago and their goal is ‘Edu-Tainment’, helping African children learn key life lessons through song. They have 35 members, who all have full time jobs doing something other than music, so usually about 15-20 can make any performance. In general, the men all play instruments and the women all dance. They call their music ‘folk’ because it combines traditional musical styles with modern themes of war, disease, etc. Their…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…thern Uganda. Within minutes we were deeply immersed in the ‘classic’ East African road scene: big tall white bags of coal, with grass helmets, bricks in various stages of manufacturer (either drying or firing), pyramids of potatoes, tomatoes on patches of blankets under trees, tiny goats tethered near the road side to pick at a fresh patch of grass, bike rider riding with small loads or walking their bikes with large loads (this trips winner was…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…uments that were surprisingly common that I would not have associated with African music, such as the Sansa, a type of thumb piano: Distribution of the Sansa Pokot Tribe (highlighted) Writing a profile for all of the different tribal groups was also fascinating. There are such a wide variety of different customs and beliefs in one area, and some tribes, such as the Pokot tribe from Kenya, were memorable for some of their cultural theories. Interes…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…enany, Western Thebes (right). Some scholars have rejected the theory that African harps and lyres today were originated from the instruments that were created first thousands of years ago, although there is strong evidence to suggest they were, not only due to their likeness, but because of the way the instruments have migrated with their players, as shown on the map (left). Below is a video made by Levy, one of three, describing his theories lin…
Northern Uganda: Day 0 – London to Entebbe Story
…woman with whom he’s had a one year old son. He was passionate about West African music and did a paper on drumming in Ghana. So Vicki switched seats with Jimmy and talked to Andrew about the Singing Wells project for an hour. We then all settled down to watch Ted before landing about 8 hours later in Entebbe. All bags were gratefully recovered and we took a taxi for an 8 minute journey to the Airport Guesthouse Entebbe, where we were greeted by…
Day 9: Ketebul Studios with Ben Kisinja Story
Today is the final day of the full team working on the Kalenjin Field visit. Of course, all of us will continue in London and Nairobi to produce songs and videos of the trip. In addition to writing blogs, organising strategy through 2014, sorting through about 10,000 receipts of expenses (we run a very tight shop, thanks to Steve’s leadership), we welcome Ben into the studio to record. The Otacho Young Stars stayed the morning as well. We had a f…
Lango Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…of different tribes, including the Lango peoples. Location: Northern central region or the “Lango sub-region” as demonstrated on the map. Population: about 1.5 million people Language: They speak Leb-Lango, a language similar to those of the Acholi and the Alur. They are part of the Luo group or “Western Nilotic Group”, and so all of the languages in this area are fairly similar to understand. Origins: Their original homeland was north of La…
Day 7: In Nairobi – sponsors, blogs and strategy Story
…is to be systematic in our field visits, to represent the breadth of East African styles, to record fairly, and to not judge whether any particular group or style is likely to be relevant to today’s generation of listeners. On the other hand, we are artists, seeking musicians and styles that can be fed directly into the current music scene – we are ‘seed’ collectors looking for music that can be replanted and grown in different soils. Our obligat…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…tion to generation. The younger generation also sing but they did not come today. They mainly have older members in their group. The group have never been recorded before today and they were very excited about others hearing their traditional music. Kathy spoke to them about their dress and its significance. The white paint in lines and crosses on the men’s arms represents the River Nile and where the tribe originated from. They came from Israel t…
Day 4: the Pokot Tribes Story
…Click here to go to Song Translations Everything Else Everything else from today can be divided into three key events. First, we survived the drive. There were a few scary moments, the first being driving to the village for the shoot – straight up a very steep hill. This was not a hill for most humans and certainly wasn’t a hill for cars and certainly not cars filled with Ketebul folks and all our equipment. We got up and down, but we imagine ther…
Day 3 continued – an interview with Steve Kivutia Story
…lls in Kisumu, Lake Victoria) were amazing and more modern than most music today. The Clapperboard Today was the first day we used the ‘clapperboard’. First a little background to this…… Singing Wells has always been about the music so our initial focus was on audio recording. We invested in first class audio equipment and can record using 8 mics directly into Pro Tools. But during the March Pilot programme, we realised that the visual experience…
Singing Wells – Origins News
…ing eroded. He says, ‘For reasons I can’t fully explain, contemporary East African music has lost touch with its tribal roots. Our most popular musicians find far more inspiration in western music than they do with East African music. I worry about this. As a people, we risk losing our deep cultural heritage – the role of traditional music and dance in our lives. And as musicians, we risk becoming undifferentiated. Rather than drawing upon what ma…
Day 3: Kitale to Kapsokwony, Kenya Story
…ang a song called ‘Kiseete’ on the album. (Interestingly, our second group today, Chebonet, played Kiseete, which is clearly a communal song of this community). Ben recorded 8 tracks with us, including a fantastic Influences track with Eddie Grey, a musician who joined Ketebul Music in 2011. https://youtu.be/ot3xNHqm7pU https://youtu.be/MPPFeuH1vF4 Please click here to read the meaning behind Ben’s songs: Song Translations of Ben Kisinja Chebonet…
Day 2: Nairobi to Kitale & an interview with Pato Story
Today we drove from Nairobi to Kitale, passing through Nakuru and Eldoret on the way. Last night, we agreed a late fee of 1,000 bob a minute for anyone arriving at the studio after 9 am. Money talks and the whole crew were there by 09.00. Everyone. That‘s the good news. The bad news was no one brought a key for the studio, forcing Tabu to have to drive home and back. We left an hour later. Drive good, but long (roughly 400 kms) with a few little…