Musisi’s Story, Part 1: The Fall of the Buganda Kingdom Story
…ingdom and had attacked the Parliament first, which was about a kilometer away from the palace. I realized it was very real when bullets started hitting the palace and the hut where we kept our drums caught fire. People started running around all over and I was getting scared, but I still carried my toothbrush. I was only 15 or 16 at the time and alone. In all the chaos the King arrived in my room and was carrying what I can only say was a magic e…
The Return of Bigwala News
…rk being done on the ground to achieve this. Bigwala is the name of a monotone trumpet, carved very simply from a long natural gourd that is a perfect shape and length for the sound to resonate. The gourds are marked and sawed at the point where the hollow fruit expands to a bulb, which creates a ‘bell’ shape that helps the sound to carry. Often multiple gourds can be bound together to create the right shape. It is also the name of the dance that…
The Entenga Drums: Part 1 Story
…memories and they gradually figured out how to tune them. Much like a xylophone. Learn to replay them: Musisi knew a lot of the songs, but they needed to learn each complex part for each of the six drummers. Perform live to understand how to ‘mix’: the final step is to play live and learn the right mix of instruments – the volume of each drummer, when to come in, when to be silent. In many ways, this was what we did during our field visit in Nove…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11:An Interview with Gregg Story
…o work on authentic things. You guys can get better and better at producing videos, but until we make this bigger and more sustainable, the project is always one heart attack a way from stopping. But let me end simply – this is amazing and keep it going. But let’s all start figuring out how to scale it….
The History Of Benga Music: A Report by Ketebul Music Story
…963, the Ogara trio recorded the song “Selestina Juma” at the African Gramophone Stores, famously known as AGS, in Nairobi. Curiously, the song bears a distinct beat of ska, the precursor of today’s reggae. The trio’s guitar work was evidently inspired by influences from way beyond Luoland and was pretty much ahead of its time. It is possible that its ingenuity came from itinerant guitarists from the Congo, Uganda and Zambia who were already visit…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Days 5-11: Ketebul Studios, Nairobi Story
…cause – they aren’t rooted. I was a session musician at AGS (African Gramophone Studio) and CMS (Capital Music Studio) studios, both on River Road. I formed Sega Sega and we had a drummer called Katoi and Juma Otheth. We did a huge amount of studio work and as Benga became popular, the three of us played on a lot of others’ songs. This meant that our Luo sound was getting on a lot of records. The early sixties was mostly about studio work but by…
Naizungwe Drums News
…ope 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. We will be documenting the progress of these drums with pictures and videos here, and more details about the project and the instruments themselves are to follow soon so you can stay updated….
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…nts and vocals that will be used and make sure these have appropriate microphones and will be seen by the video team. The purpose of Video 2 is to zoom in on these performances so we want our ‘leads’ stationed close to Video 2 if possible. Song Length Our first job is to record the song as written no matter the length. But it is very common for the groups to honour the Singing Wells team by extended their songs – this is a huge complement to the a…
Entenga: Performing twice for the king of Buganda News
…ntary for more information of this project). The Entenga players were mentioned in the king’s speech, which James translated for us as: “ … I would like to thank especially those who played instruments of the palace, and in particular – Abatenga (Entenga players). I remember when I was young abatenga were there. They (referring to us) have played exactly like those who used to play at that time…” The players were then invited to shake hands with t…
A Tanzanian Effort to Salvage the Music of the Past News
…t of their chairs. When you hear this music in concert, says Rebecca, everyone will be dancing. But the music itself wasn’t always meant to be pure entertainment. True to his socialist roots, Nyerere wanted his songs to carry messages as well. Most of these bands were set up by the government, who employed the musicians and paid for all their instruments. Some of their songs are actually public service announcements set to a catchy tune, conveying…
Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…a lovely garden and we set up in one corner so we could run the recordings from one of our rooms. The setting is generally quiet, but it is in the name really – we are near the airport. Every day for an hour or two, the local military facility likes to start up all their helicopters. This is noisy. We had to shift recording at that point to inside one of the rooms. Hot but quiet. We are also joined by bird noises (loud, but surprisingly they often…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…on social awareness and theatre. Their instruments include: Amadinda: Xylophone Endingidi: Tube Fiddle Emlwanzi: Pan Flute Adungu: Harp Entongoli: Bow Lyre Drums: Engalabi (Long drum, longest) Empuny (Main Drum) Entujza, 2 medium drums Namunjoloba, 2 small drums, one pitched very high and one lower Their members include: Ronald Muwonge (drums and dances) Denis Kasasira (long drums) Samson Basoga (Tube Fiddle) Isabirye Basoga (15 slab xylophone) J…
Interview: fusion band Ndoto Afrika News
…and listen to stories. So we will have to transmit these stories to their iPhones and iPads in the form of music, the universal language. Where are you from? From Kenya, in the East of Africa. To be more specific, we hail from a small village in Siaya County where most of the renowned Luo musicians come from. Ever heard of Otieno Aloka (the famous Ohangla artist)? He is our next door neighbour back at the village. We borrow each other’s salt from…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…the Kampala Imperial Hotel and some of us were delighted to find a English football match on the TV (Arsenal vs. Southampton). And we were greeted by Air Conditioning which is most welcome by those of us from the North but feared and mistrusted by those of us from Nairobi. We look forward to recording tomorrow in Kampala. Apparently there is a marathon. We shall provide the soundtrack….
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…(Waiswa)and the song is about a proverbial Waiswa of old who used to shy away from women. It is a common folk song. Omuntu Kyakola: When someone is jealous about what someone else is doing. When someone works hard, others want to bring you down. Yoyenda: The one you love invites everyone to show the person they love to the rest of the community. Performed at introduction ceremonies (a traditional party where girl introduces man to parents) but al…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…e. After these two songs, Julian took over the lead with his drums and xylophone to play Chiina Chedya Mayi, a beautifully chilled song about the loss of a mother.. Here is their music: The Elgon Hero Brass Band Following this very traditional tribal music, the contrast couldn’t be greater – on marched the Elgon Hero Brass Band. Here’s the band with our Influences artist, Jacinta. They performed the following: Malaika (Influences): They started wi…