The Singing Wells Project is a partnership between The Abubilla Music Foundation, a UK registered charity (no. 1142173) and Ketebul Music, a non profit music & video studio based in Nairobi.
Our goal
Our goal is to record, archive and share the traditional music of East Africa for two important reasons – to sustain and celebrate the extraordinary cultural music heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences. As a group of sound and video engineers, producers and musicians, we set out on this mission not to become ‘fossil collectors’ and store the recordings in inaccessible archives. We work with musicians to make sure their music traditions continue to be practiced, can be shared amongst the widest audiences and become a source of inspiration for new musicians.
How we do it
To achieve our goals we work in the field, travelling to the villages of East Africa with our dedicated mobile recording studio. We have invested in professional quality equipment to capture the highest quality audio and visual material. Click here to read about our field recording visits. We also invite musicians to the Ketebul Music studios to record their music and collaborate with contemporary artists for our Influences Series – new music inspired and influenced by traditional themes and instruments.
Discover the Music
You can discover the music of East Africa on our digital music map which we hope will be shared by the widest possible audience of musicians, ethnomusicologists and enthusiastic listeners. You can discover the music here: Music Map of East Africa
Ready to find out more?
Here we review our achievements and outline our plans for the future: Singing Wells Project Strategy 2013/14
