Recording Resources Page
…gside some amazing musical technicians, videographers and ethnomusicologists. However, it has taken us time to really work out the best processes for working effectively out in the field. With that in mind, we have created some resources for other groups to use for working in the field. Please feel free to use the below resources for your field trips in whatever region you are based, and please do reach out to us. We love to meet others who are pa…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…k almost an hour for the two to figure out Akwabi’s unorthodox, expressive free style for most of his songs before the actual recording began at 2:00pm. After a few false starts we finished the recordings of Peter Akwabi at 4:00 PM with his latest song which is a tribute to D.O. Misiani, the maestro of benga music who died in the lakeside city in May 2006. Next on stage was Olith Ratego, a musician whose unique dodo style is one of the oldest form…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…these youngsters have managed to gain music scholarships so they can get a free education at their local schools. This project is not only providing a future for this instrument, but for the young people involved. Aside from this, Mr Mukadisi has a personal connection to this cross-generational project. His father was a builder of the Entongooli, and didn’t teach all the skills he needed to learn to play. In fact, none of the great players passed…
Group 6: Sudi Mavenge Story
…Rwandan board game) – this is about a Rwandan board game that people would bet their Inyambo cows for. If you won, you’d win two Inyambo cows. But if you lost, you’d donate your son to the King’s Palace to join the army. As the song says, if you’re going to play, be sure you’re ready. Simbi – this is a love song for Sudi’s wife, Simbi. It’s about how back when he was 27, many boys were running after her but they had no plans for marriage – but he…
Ayub Ogada Group
…he clan”. The most interesting points Ayub had made were on the difference between playing at home, in an informal or traditional setting and playing in a foreign setting (notably in Europe). He said: “When I’m home, I’m free, I don’t care about my tuning…When I’m playing in Europe, now the violin wants to come in, the guitar wants to come in, so now I need tuning.” In any case, both his tunings and his finger plucking techniques are very much dif…
Day 5 – Wednesday 5th July 2017 Story
…he clan”. The most interesting points Ayub had made were on the difference between playing at home, in an informal or traditional setting and playing in a foreign setting (notably in Europe). He said: “When I’m home, I’m free, I don’t care about my tuning…When I’m playing in Europe, now the violin wants to come in, the guitar wants to come in, so now I need tuning.” In any case, both his tunings and his finger plucking techniques are very much dif…
Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…when the group is constrained. So, we often do another take which we call ‘free style’ where we take our cameras off tripods, and our video team simply follows the group around as they dance and sing. This provides a much more free feel, although it does mean we can miss part of the performance, so we always try to do two versions of the song. Magic Moment: For many songs, we find there is a moment of amazing percussion, or dance, or other instrum…
FAQ’s Page
…the material on the Singing Wells website and other digital media which is free to access. Any money received from the sale or commercial use of Singing Wells recorded material will be donated back to the project via The Abubilla Music Foundation and wherever possible royalties will be paid to the original performers. New Influences material is jointly owned by Ketebul Music and Abubilla Music. Profits arising from the sale of Influences material…
Support Singing Wells Page
…s keen to hear from people who are happy to offer their time to help the project and from companies which may be able to support us with products or services free of charge. If you can help out in this respect please contact: info@singingwells.org…
Martin Fredrick Muyeshi Staff Profile
…ry, specifically the episode “Death in Ten Minutes” as a cameraman. In his free time he was freelancing as a music photojournalist/cameraman to gain more experience. He also joined Royal Media Services’ Citizen TV where he worked on the TV programmes Tabasamu, Nairobi Law andMashtakaas a Director of Photography and a Lighting technician. He later joined Ketebul Studio, where he went on to work on several studio projects, among them the studio’…
Page
…Recording the Mperwa Dancers Recording the Batwa The Batwa of Kisoro Album Promotion of Batwa Culture – UOBDU Report #2 – Finding the Lost Voices of East Africa Letting Voices Be Heard Our mission at Singing Wells has always been to preserve the rich musical heritage of East Africa, whilst also promoting the importance of introducing this music to a wider audience so that this heritage doesn’t get lost. So many of our favourite moments, as you hav…
Our Sponsors Page
…heir continued support in the Singing Wells project. You can sign up for a free Soundcloud account which will give you the ability to comment on our recordings. To find out more about Soundcloud, go to: http://www.soundcloud.com Nebulo Strata Type of sponsorship: discounted services Nebulo Strata have been on board from the start of The Singing Wells project, helping to design and put into practice our ideas for our website. Our website is the m…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…ed on training potential musicians for the palaces. This patronage was not free, however, and the resources to fund the palaces and their music ultimately came from the same villages, through taxation and food contributions. Moreover, these musicians were not empowered to create, to lead rich musical lives, to become artists, to use the palace as a stepping stone to develop their art further. They were brought into these palaces as young boys, and…
Central and Eastern Kenya: Day 3 – Nkubu to Mariene to Murungurune to Nkubu Story
…Video 1’s location. This is a balance. We want to give the groups complete freedom to perform as they would normally do, without our intervention. But we also need a good recording – and too often the groups will stray far off camera and far away from the mics. Or, as often can happen, the leader will plant him or herself directly in front of Video 1, meaning we don’t get a take of the groups. Finally, we use lapel mics on the lead singers so ther…
Central Uganda: Day 0 – Nairobi/London to Entebbe Story
…great to see our old friends at the hotel. We had a quick dinner and a few free drinks (we had charmed some flight attendants on the plane to contribute to Singing Wells with a few whiskeys). Most of us then went to bed for the night, deciding to have one final evening free of our London friends. Patrick, however, woke up in time to be a ‘greeting party’ to the London arrivals. Message from Abubilla Music Foundation Team Representing the AMF are J…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…uced rate, but is unable to distribute to those tribes and communities for free, due to their levels of funding. There is currently a campus wide initiative at Indiana University to digitise their archive, which includes the ATM though the archive digitises recordings on a daily basis. There are several folk music recordings from Uganda and Kenya that are housed at the Archive. It is located on the Bloomington Campus of Indiana University and is o…