Before They Pass Away News
…auty’. “I believe that I had to choose the most beautiful people on the planet in the most beautiful environment that they lived in,” he says. Nelson’s work not only shares the wonderful cultures and traditions of these people with the world, but also serves to highlight the struggles these communities face: constant threats of displacement from their land, potentially deadly diseases brought by newcomers, and loss of the habitat on which they rel…
Singing Wells is on Bozza! News
…heir fans throughout Africa. The platform is available to emerging and established artists from around the continent and can be easily accessed by visiting www.bozza.mobi from mobile phones and PCs.” Thabiso Mohare, Head of Brand & Marketing…
The story of Anyim Lac Story
…ur field recording visit to northern Uganda. We were staying at the Acholi Inn in Gulu and, as usual, gathered in the early morning for the day ahead. We travelled about an hour from Gulu to Awach and the small community of Paibona Tuga which is well known for the music of the likembe, the thumb piano. We found the ideal setting for the performances – under the shade of a large tree which not only served to protect the recording equipment but was…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…Fellowship grant to study South Rhodesian music, with which he made over 600 recordings, and inspiring traditional English musicians, Ralph Vaughn Williams and Gustav Holst, at the Royal Academy of Music, who urged him to “discover every chord” of traditional African music, Tracey ran out of funding. He became a broadcaster, utilising every opportunity to promote African music. However, he could not stay away from Africa long, and in 1946 realise…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…ng. India was a particular suprise here – in a population of 1.2 billion, 50 % are under 30 and consuming music. In Africa – 60% have electricity whereas 86% have a mobile phone. This is again another area in which the Singing Wells project may be interested in the future – mobile phones and ring back tones as a method of delivery for music. Mike and I also attended the African music networking session which became the launch for a new initiative…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…a Host of More Urgent Problems: When Tabu and I started Singing Wells in 2008, we were passionate about its mission: to record, archive and share the traditional music of East Africa. Our twin goals were to sustain and celebrate the extraordinary cultural music heritage of the region and to help make this legacy relevant and fresh to today’s audiences. The last five years has only re-enforced our commitment. On our first goal, we only have to rem…
Group of the Month – Watmon Cultural Group News
…project at the Singing Wells. Group of the Month sees us take one of the 50 groups we have recorded in the field since the beginning of the Singing Wells project, and feature recordings, stories, videos, interviews, and other content we have gathered in East Africa. Our first group of the month is the Watmon Cultural Group. We have videos from our Uganda 2012 trip, as well as recordings made in both Naguru and at the Entebbe Airport Guesthouse, w…
Alice’s story Story
…er through her first year at secondary school. Another NGO, the Bwindi and Mgahinga Impenetrable Forest Conservation Trust, then supported Alice to the end of Senior 4. During her A Level studies she was supported initially by UOBDU and then ADRA once again. Finally, Alice attended Bugema University near Kampala where she gained her diploma in Development Studies and became the first university graduate from the Batwa community. She has been worki…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…n her head and marches into the local market to sell a packet for about 2,000 Ugandan shillings ($1). By our calculation, that is a 15-30 kilometer round trip the market, giving her time to make two runs. Most of the women carry empty bottles and cans on top of the grass bundle so she can buy essentials, like cooking oil at the market. The thatched bundles are then sold at the market to businesses that are working on new thatched roofs or those ne…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…lady sitting on the blanket in the middle of this village, surrounded by 100’s had a beautiful, strong, pitch perfect voice. Incredible. She sang: Two Man Dong Lakee Cok Mon Alwak Munu Keya Here’s Two Man Dong: https://youtu.be/CwBlvGLF0YY Here’s Lakee: Here’s Cok Mon Alwak: https://youtu.be/mWakegCOMV8 And here’s Munu Keya: https://youtu.be/IoImfE_sG3M Moving on The day ended and we drove an hour back to Gulu. We then bought a snack (it was 6 PM…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…and a team of performers – 6 groups with 20 members in each – and another 100 children. By the end, these two teams were joined by another group of 100 adults from the surrounding village. Our backdrop became not the cement buildings, but the faces and shirts of our three teams – we guess they were 350 strong at the peak. The Music Groups The main theme of the day was dance. All groups featured wonderful female dancers and two ladies in particular…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…ked lunch. We drove. We drove. And we raced faster and faster to make it to Gulu before DARK, our true horrible enemy on drives. Darkness just fell as we hit Gulu, which was fine, as we slowed right down and joined the chaos of the Gulu city center. We pulled into our hotel at around 1910, only 10 minutes or so after our target time. We pulled into the Acholi Inn, unloaded all the equipment to our rooms and quickly feel into a dinner of Nile Speci…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…arly around the valley) you can find many instruments that date back over 5000 years, many, like the nyatiti, are also found in Egyptian hieroglyphs (right). The Luo people are related to the Acholi people of Uganda, a tribe we will come across in our next field visit. They play a similar instrument called the Adungu. Style: As music is mainly functional for the Luo, traditionally a nyatiti player is called upon to play at weddings or funerals, as…
Lango Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…ful unless disturbed. References Curley, Richard T. (1973). Elders, Shades, and Women: Ceremonial Change in Longo, Uganda. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Otiso, Kefa M. (2006). Culture and Customs of Uganda. Ohio: Greenwood Press. (Lango at everculture – 2012) Lango – http://www.everyculture.com/Africa-Middle-East/Lango.html#ixzz2AhrHntF4 …
Day 6: Recording the Tugen & back to Nairobi Story
…yre. This moved our departure time from the two hotels (Eldoret Club and Pine Tree) from 8am to about 9.30am. The tyre had a damaged tube that just wore out. We reassembled and headed off for a spectacular trip from an altitude of 2,800m down to 1,114m at one of the floors of the Great Rift Valley. The roads were more winding and steeper than on our trip to Rwanda last November but there was no rain and there were guard rails on the roadside which…
Bill Odidi reporting on Singing Wells from London News
…published in Business Daily Africa: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Where+the+world+got+real+flavour+of+Kenya+in+London/-/1248928/1480860/-/djb5mf/-/index.html Photos from Kenya House …