Recording, archiving and sharing the traditional music of East Africa Page
…tyles of music we have encountered on our field trips. Here for the Music? Click here! Want to just enjoy some beautiful East African music and revel in some jaw-dropping performances? Head this way to see more videos of the inspiring performances we have captured on our field trips, incredible photography and purchase some of the albums we have recorded with the groups that we have met. Click here to Celebrate our Singing Wells Top 20 Moments You…
Day Six: January 24, 2019 From Mwanza to Dodomo to Nzali to Nairobi Story
…drums) and Njuga ( bells). We recorded four performances: Muhala Wane: a love song Kauwowa Naye: a song urging the youth to be brave in facing the challenges in everyday life Mwanana: a song in praise of one’s friend. Lyuwa Laloka: it is sunset and time to conclude whatever business and return home to your family https://youtu.be/J50cA94uhYk And…that was it! Our last group. From there we drove…and drove…and drove…and ended up back in Nairobi. So…
Introduction: Project overview and objectives Story
…Region of Kenya and Nairobi City in the period from 1st to 12th July 2017. https://youtu.be/NqomPAxomxI “Masters of the Nyatiti” being a pilot programme for a new project series under Singing Wells, one of the objectives of this report is to reassess the original concept based on experiences from the field and to point out encountered challenges and difficulties in meeting concept objectives. Thus, I hope that this document will raise questions fo…
Global Influences Project: Artist Submissions Page
…an follow him on… Instagram: @stefanositanne Twitter: @stefanositanne Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/stefanositanne Want to get involved in the #GlobalInfluencesProject ? Head to https://www.singingwells.org/global-influences-project/ ASHISHO x Nyatiti Group // Aloka Ohangla // The Otacho Young Stars We love this submission from Kenyan singer-songwriter and producer, Ashisho. This song is called “Enjoy” and we hope you love it as much as we do…
Day Two: January 19, 2019 From Tarime to Buturi to Bariadi Story
…rcussion only Magic Moment: Majirani again to record slightly differently. https://youtu.be/yQ52ZCL5Gro Group 3: Serengeti Group: This group, formed in 2016, was from the community of Kuria and played in the Ritungu style – this style refers to the form of dancing where the two lead dancers ‘nodded’ their head in almost a trance like way to the music and to their large eight-stringed instrument. We were mesmerized. Their instruments included the:…
2. Naizungwe Drums – progress report 1 Story
…above). He comes from a famous family of drum makers from Kalalu village, Buyanga sub country, Bugweri County in Iganga district. Muhamudu 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 trun…
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…rg/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Peter-Cooke-naizungwe-recording-1.mp3 http://www.singingwells.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Peter-Cooke-naizungwe-recording-2.mp3 What makes this project particularly exciting, is the difference of approach required compared to the entenga drums. With the entenga we found a surviving old master player (Musisi) who was able to teach a younger generation of musicians about the music and the performances. In the case of…
Day 6: Thursday, February 23rd, 2017 Story
…riff he used. I could never understand how a blind drummer could remember where all 10-12 drums were. Amazing.” Here’s Daudi: https://youtu.be/rrFWtOiWZx4…
Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…ankles. Kayamba (Shakers) Chilemba (large) and Ilemba (small) thumb piano https://youtu.be/RSE3dMgCEVk From the Boma Village we travelled to our hotel, the Bagamoyo Country Club and recorded music with Henry Mkanyia, his son Leo Mkanyia, Rajab Alli Nyunyusa, Tomato (Steven Jonas) Sophie Grant, and Elliot Wenman. First, a bit of background on all the players here: Henry: Henry was born in 1950 and has played in multiple bands throughout his life….
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…as are acrobatic acts. We spoke to Leo about this. “Yes, we love to bring comedy to our music. If you look at most circus troupes that are touring in the world today, a huge number of the acrobats and clowns are Tanzanian.” https://youtu.be/C-4PdHne3Jc We’ll leave you here. We checked in to our hotel, the Mediterraneo Hotel, Dar es Salaam. Tomorrow we head off for Bagamoyo….
A Report by Professor James Isabirye – Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion News
…on as collaborators within his project. You can read more about that here: https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/XGBCQ8EJIVZXHMMGUZ2V/full James Isabirye is a lecturer of music and music education in the Department of Performing Arts, Faculty of Arts 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…
Fundraiser for Matthew Watmon News
…our followers may be able to help us. If you are based in East Africa, please get in touch with Matthew’s brother, Constantine Odida ((MTN) +256-782-236-742 and (Airtel) +256-704-261-037). If you are based elsewhere in the world, we have created a GoFundMe 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 ap…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…e takes a big thick piece of cow hide and then cuts around it in a long circle, going around and around, creating strings over 40 feet long. The skill involved to do this of even width without cutting the string off is amazing. 7. Drying and rolling the cow hide strings To dry and roll the long strings he takes us next door to an alley, where he has put together very long strings, tied between a banana tree and stick in the ground. “After creating…
The Revival of Ohangla Music! News
…enre. 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…
Support for the Elgon Ngoma Troupe News
…our 2014 field trip, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkyDtBXfunI Watch Julius, the leader of the group, explain who the Elgon Ngoma troupe is, and their mission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5Wk0YnbByk&fbclid=IwAR27BBeDBEx-5jMqkKxFTL9vtS5NxBwun0psDF9hCNmfQe0PQodki2Cns3U…
Rediscovering the lost Royal Drums of the Buganda Kingdom: Day 1, Uganda Story
…im and realised that together they could begin to build the drums. Working closely with Albert and Shaban, a professional drummer who now leads the new band, they built a new set of Royal Drums, recruited a team of passionate drummers to learn how to play the drums, learned to tune the drums and ultimately learned to play new music. Over the course of their studies, the new drum students (most of whom are actually highly accomplished drummers and…