Day Five: January 22, 2019 Mwanza Continued Story
…his freestyle, where the group encourages the audience to get up and dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRmP_vEbiMI&feature=youtu.be Group 2: Kidedeya: From Kagera, this group was formed in 2005 or 2009, and performs in the Omusingero style. Their instruments are: Ng’oma (Drums) and Nyimba (Shakers). This was a group of wonderful dancing and costume changes. Every song a new and wonderful outfit. We recorded six performances: Omusingero: A s…
Day Three: January 20th, 2019 Story
…ming with song Balimi Magic Moment: Song Makule Magic moment again: Balimi https://youtu.be/4PxbBqqxuUQ Group 2: Biluli dutwa: This group was formed in 1984 and performs in the Busumabudo style. Lake the Snake Dances we recorded during our last trip, this group is part music, part circus, part acrobatics. A wonderful crowd pleaser! We recorded five performances: Busumabuno Kulima: A song about farming Watoto wakalime Freestyle on Kulima Magic Mome…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…and then talk to some young students about what they have learned. What is clear from our trips to visit these students, is that they are keen learners who are really soaking up all the information they can get. They know the process and the reasons for the production methods completely indepth, and it’s encouraging to see such young talent being so passionate about this project. Creating the Base: Part 1 We return to visit our musical scholars to…
Our Sponsors Page
…omment 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 main repository for all of our recording activities in East Africa, and the we are very proud of the latest version. Thanks to Wes and t…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Singing Wells Youtube Channel hits 2.5Million views News
…s filmed back in 2011, on the very first day of the Singing Wells pilot trip to Kenya. Seeing the generations of Nyerere’s family performing together was a special moment (his son Mr Bado is also a musician). We captured a great fusion of old and new https://youtu.be/-MU13FLg_io You also need to check out the Elgon Ngoma Troupe, performing a traditional circumcision ritual dance. Please keep following our channel – with new videos going up there’…