Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…convinced the kitchen to cook fish in the traditional Kenyan style AND went to sleep early. We loved recording at the hotel so much that we convinced tomorrow’s group, the Nile Beat, to meet us in the hotel gardens tomorrow morning so we could record them before packing up for Kampala. That’s it, other than we enjoyed more spectacular thunderstorms and power cuts throughout the evening. As it should be….
Before They Pass Away News
…am tribe who decorate themselves with masks, wigs and plants to scare off potential enemies. In Vanuatu, he witnessed the traditional dance ceremonies that tribal people believe is crucial to gaining wealth. In Papua New Guinea’s highlands, he recorded how the Huli people shave their heads when they become a man, and continue to do so every day. With that hair they create wig that they decorate with feathers from birds, and that wig is a personal…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…champions with them twice and have gotten real support. They now have confidence and skills and an ‘act’ that is great. Their style of music is amazing – they play drumming music on the slabs – they bring the percussion directly on to the instrument. This makes the tone so rich and it is far richer than the skin sound of a drum. The drum sound of the slab, with the hole underneath is actually unique in the world of percussion. They are not limited…
Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…mats, and are more formally trained. They act as music judges and help to identify new talent. Most of the members are teachers that are being trained and are training. They are highly creative and dramatic.” The Namaddu Troupe The second group was the Namaddu Troupe, with 28 members and was formed in April 2009, led by Ndoboli Ramathan, and from Lyama Sub County. Their style of music was Namaddu Dance. Their costumes were Gomasi, Kanzu and skins…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…Group, which were 8 men who collectively played the Amadinda, a 22 key wooden xylophone. There total group size is 15. The musical style is Kadinda. The group lead is Waswa Hood and he started playing when he was 17. There were two other original members: Kiwuwa Buruhan and Sulayiman Sserubiri. The group started in 1939 performing for the Kabaka (the Ugandan King), but then stopped performing in the king’s palace in 1966 when the king was removed…
Our top 5 Singing Wells songs for March News
…tyle is Kirarire and Authi. The lead singer wears Murungi, an ornament on both sides of the arms which is worn by the initiator/circumciser; it signifies a man of respect and authority. This one made it onto the top five because of the incredible clothing and dance moves. 4. Kumbuka Asee – Itinga These guys are some of my favourites. Again, great moves, great outfits and great rhythm. The group is led by Margaret Mbia and plays in the musical styl…
Singing Wells is on Bozza! News
…ead of Brand & Marketing…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…he British Library Sound archive for research, one of which is by a PhD student looking at traditional Ugandan music, who used to Klaus Wachsmann archive to further his research. The British Library has approximately 3.5million sound recordings in total available to listen to onsite, with a Reader Pass. However, thanks to the Archival Sound Recordings project, from 2004-2009, the British Library was able to make over 50,000 of these available for…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…create materials for secondary schools from the archive. In that way, (students) can be able to remember and to understand what was there before […] With the recordings, we can give (students) some background and some context; they would be able to understand and go find out more by themselves […] My thinking is that a culture that doesn’t have a history is a dead one.” His recordings are available to play online, for anyone, in the Klaus Wachsma…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…the British Underground and our membership with the Association of Independent Music. Horizons joined up members from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. We were pleased to be sited next to New Zealand across the way and next door were South Africa! Podcast Andy recorded a few snippets of audio for an upcoming podcast – which will feature on the site soon. The Team A big thanks to Mike and Louise who were marvellous evangelists for the projec…
The New Singing Wells website News
…oking for. And finally… Please get in touch with us via Twitter or Facebook and let us know what you think of the new site! Our thanks go to Wes Burden and the team at Nebulo Strata who worked tirelessly on the site. …
Group of the Month – Watmon Cultural Group News
…er Jan Willem and the other guests, we set up a recording studio in the garden. You can join us on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/singingwells and on Twitter here: http://www.twitter.com/singingwells – if you do tweet any links, please use the hashtags – #gotm and #singingwells We’ll update this page with any new items we add to the site over the course of the month. Check out the featured content links below to find the Watmon Cultural G…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…isit and start refilling all by group, by song. Joyful. Joyful. We’re confident that you didn’t want that detail. On the other hand, we have now fixed the tire and returned to the bumper to bumper traffic heading toward Kampala. We’re passing a truck full of petrol as we write and….gulp…. survived. To re-cap the journey so far. We set out at 1300 for Soroti to Kampala, promised to arrive before dark. We were chased back to Soroti with a broken rig…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…Shure mics & stands 2 Rode Lavalier omni-directional mics 2 Rode NTG-1 condenser Shotgun mics 1 Matched Pair of AKG C414 XL Microphones 1 Matched Pair of Rode NT5 Microphones2 Rode professional boom pole 1 K&M telescopic mic stand/boom 1 Canon EOS 7D 1 Canon EOS 60D 1 Canon EOS 5D 1 LED video camera lights 1 Flip HD video camera ThinkTank sun screens (for the laptops) Various Canon zoom and fixed lenses Plus at least 9 Sandisk memory cards and 15…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…l in the community. Between Pajotu and the Ribbe Ber Drummers, we are confident that music is alive and well in Acet. Here’s Balo Murali: https://youtu.be/psNObM1Qwdc Oriang’ Kinene After a quick ‘magic moment’ with the Ribbe Ber drummers again we then brought on Oriang’ Kinene who sang Dano Lworo Donce Lobe. Here’s the video for Dano Lworo: …and the video for Donce Lobe: Finally, Andy started our video on ‘We Are All One’ which will be our 2013 F…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…ere used for strings, but now they are made with fishing lines. The two wooden beams are bamboo sticks and wood chips bonded together using bees wax, which helps create a deep echoing sound. Gender: The nyatiti is traditionally only played by a man. The first four days after a male’s birth and a male’s death in the Luo are said to be very special in their culture. The lower four strings of the nyatiti represent the first four days of his birth, an…