2. Naizungwe Drums – progress report 1 Story
…was taught how to make drums by two of his uncles who shared their wisdom and experience with him, and tells us that ever since he was young, his relatives and neighbours have all been drum makers. This begins to make sense when he says that one drum offers 54 different jobs: cutting the tree, shaping the trunks, putting cow dung on frames, drying skins, making strings etc. For the 24 individual drums that we are making, the amount of work quickl…
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…our revival of the entenga royal drums of the Buganda kingdom starting in 2015 and contacted Singing Wells with the hope that we would support him with funding for his new project. We are excited to announce that we have agreed to support James in his endeavours and will be posting about the project’s development, which has been under way for a month now. James gives some background about his inspiration for starting this project: “I led the reviv…
Day 5: Wednesday, February 22nd, 2017 Story
…ord the group Liwambwe. The Group Leader is: Atanas Teleni. It is a fairly new group, having played off and on for three years. 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…
Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…, a bit of background on all the players here: Henry: Henry was born in 1950 and has played in multiple bands throughout his life. He plays guitar and vocals. Earlier, when he was a soldier, he played in the JKI Kimbuga Military Band, while stationed at the National Service Headquarters. His most famous band is the DDC Mlimani Park Orchestra, which was essentially a factory band. The DDC stands for the Dar es Salaam Development Corporation. They…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…n the villages. In Mission 2, we are ‘fusionists’, trying any old blend of new and old that fancies us at the time, that inspires our artists to go in new directions. So, there will be chaos. We simply want to enjoy music and the cultural collisions we create are part of the fun. We also try to tell a single story on these visits. For this trip we are retracing the drums of Mzee Morris. We will tell his story as we go. So, we’ll tell you about the…
A Report by Professor James Isabirye – Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion News
…s and Social Sciences, Kyambogo University, Uganda. His research interests include: social constructivist learning and teaching, decolonization of music and general education, and the roles of indigenous practices in those processes….
Fundraiser for Matthew Watmon News
…ndMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-mathew-watmon The donors of Abubilla Music Foundation, who support the Singing Wells project, will match these contributions up to £1000 so we greatly appreciate your support at this time. We are sending our prayers to Matthew and his family in this difficult time….
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
…, 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 Ketebul Music Studios or place your order by…
Singing Wells Approaches 5 Million Views News
…wing 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
…identified a whole set of extraordinary musicians from our 2013 visit to Uganda and have invited them back to do studio recordings. But today, we focused on two things: 1) Discussing in detail some of our observations from our time exploring the royal instruments of the kingdoms of Uganda 2) Recording again Albert Ssempeke’s Buganda Music Ensemble. Given that we first decided to rediscover the Royal Drums after recording Albert’s group in 2013, we…
The Revival of Ohangla Music! News
…Traditionally played at weddings and funerals, the music is having new life put into it by young artists like Otieno who use electronic production, combined with incredible musicianship, to create a whole new genre. Otieno’s song Kanungo Eteko is massive on Youtube, and we were lucky enough to record him in one of our sessions in Nyanza here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPaBQwODTtU…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…s at the palace for generations. I started to play at the palace in the 1940’s and believe I was born around 1929. Sadly, at the time of Hugh Tracy I also wasn’t good enough to be on those recordings. We lived in the palace and when we were needed to play we played for the king. I loved it. During the attack in 1966 my friend and I were at home. After the attack we didn’t go back. But in 1967 they brought us back to pay some wages and thank us for…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…ing out the stitch of nylon string, cutting off the former holes, creating new holes and re-lacing the drum skins together with leather strings. Very fast. 9. Tuning The final stage is tuning. He showed us in detail how he uses the four instruments to tune, using a new bigger drum that is already stringed with animal skin strings. “I fix the wood, hammer them in to stretch the strings and then use the awl to pull the string up and then move to the…
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…