Day One: January 18, 2019. Assemble in Tanzania Story
…tyles and background, instruments and songs. In almost every village, we struggle with spellings of songs and instruments as these can differ by village and by band. We fully recognize that there are multiple spellings out there, but we defer to the band leader in almost all cases. During a recording session, we will also capture alternative takes; these are called: ‘Freestyle’: We work hard to give our groups the space and freedom to sing and dan…
Baseki Group
…Bulabuka style. The play drums, which they call Ng’oma ya bula buka. The drums are made from the Mahama tree. We recorded eight songs with them: Balogi Wa Ngamboshi: This is about the Wizards of Balogi, where wizardry is perceived as a negative thing, evoking witch doctors and snake oil salesmen. Simiyu: A song for praise for the region. Bahuni ba ng’wanza: A song referring to local women of questionable virtues Balimi: A song about farming whe…
Privacy Policy Page
…of the screen. The Cookies that we use are very much standard and in the true spirit of Abubilla Music and the foundation, we like to be open with you about our methods and how and why we do things. We want to make you aware of this without being too intrusive, so we feel this is the best way to do it. You’ll also notice that all sites are starting to do it. The directive says that functions that are essential to the site are exempt, so sites wit…
What We Do Page
…, this material is post produced to provide an archive of audio tracks and videos. We are in contact with The British Library about adding the Singing Wells collection to their archive of World and Traditional Music but we also endeavour to make our recordings accessible to the widest possible audience of musicians, music lovers and ethnomusicologists. You can find all our recordings on Soundcloud and YouTube or discover music groups by location o…
All field reports have now been published and provide links to youtube videos! Story
…You can now see all Field Reports for February 2018 trip to Kenya. If you want to link directly to youtube videos you can do in field reports or go direct here. A detailed account of the trip written by Kahithe Kiiru is available here….
Stories Page
…of the incredible people we have met. Music Read some of our articles and stories behind the Music of East Africa. Dive into musical genres, different instruments and the musicians keeping these traditions alive. Picture We manage to take some beautiful photos on our trip. Find out the stories behind some of our favourite pictures we have taken on the field. Community Get to know some of the inspiring communities we have met on our trips, as well…
Support Singing Wells Page
…help them continue practicing and performing in the future. The songs and videos we record from your donation will be archived and published, giving the group further opportunities to gain an income from their music. Our Gift to You As well as a special thank you on our website we’ll send you details of the music group you have sponsored, a DVD of their music videos and a downloadable album of their music, plus a Singing Wells commemorative t-shi…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…Some of the children here tell us about their reasons for learning the instruments, what other instruments they are learning and how they are enjoying the process. We cannot wait to see their progress and finally watch them perform with this incredible instrument, given a new lease of life by the next generation of musicians! From Embaire to Entongooli: Part 1 For these musical scholars, their musical journey actually starts with another fascinati…
The Singing Wells podcast #5 Podcast
…Edition 5 of the Singing Wells podcast is here – with a bit of a catch up on the latest news from the past 12 months of the Singing Wells project. Click here to download Podcast 5…
Here for the Music? Page
…ce to listen to some of our Singing Wells Albums, head to the links below. Stories Read some of our most memorable stories from the field, featuring stunning photography taken by our team. Learn more about the communities we meet, the instruments that are being played and the background stories behind some of the photohraphy on our website. Albums Head here to see the collection of Albums we have created as a result of our recordings on the Field…
Singing Wells Stories Page
…e Luo of Kenya To learn about the instrument the Nyaiti, check out the instrument page here: Nyatiti Instrument page Jovah We met Jovah on the second day of our trip to record the music of the Batwa in South West Uganda. We travelled out of Kisoro to the village of Mperwa. The Mperwa dancers performed in their village in a lush setting in front of cultivated hillsides and the Viriunga volcano. Jovah takes a lot of pride in her music and is full of…
News Page
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…any musician who is hard working. We hope the final performance will be a reflection of our musicality and what we hear in the recording.” 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….
Day 7: Friday, February 24th, 2017 Story
…reservation role’ is more physical – she is working to preserve all the physical recordings of Tanzania musicians, many of which are rotting away on dusty reel to reel recordings. And that is it. We then rushed to the airport to depart to Nairobi for a weekend of recording at Ketebul Studios. And thus ends our first Field Visit to Tanzania. Enjoy the videos as we produce them. …
Day 6: Thursday, February 23rd, 2017 Story
…rris We then interviewed Daudi about Mzee Morris: “I met Mzee Morris when I was younger and saw him play. I loved his style from the first moment I heard it. I also listened to him on the Tanzania Broadcast Corporation, because his drums was used hourly to announce the news. I spent three months trying to learn the drum riff he used. I could never understand how a blind drummer could remember where all 10-12 drums were. Amazing.” Here’s Daudi:…
Day 4: Tuesday, February 21st, 2017 Story
…full plate is a metaphor for an abundant life and good harvest) Part two: We then brought in Henry and Leo Mkanyia, Rajab-Alli Morris, Steven Jonas (Tomato) and Elliot Wenman and Sophie Grant to play five more songs. These were: Marugaro Sanaa: arts Chipela: When you’re hungry you gather lots of fruit from the fruit tree). This song featured Ndanhini on the thumb piano who created the most amazing rhythm, which played off Henry’s bass brilliantly….