Contact Page
…estions or suggestions about sponsorship, fundraising, publicity, volunteering or anything else, please contact Victoria Denison Email Victoria: victoria@abubillamusic.com Our business addresses Abubilla Music Wey Court West Union Road, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7PT (A Limited Liability Partnership. Registered no: OC354221) www.abubillamusic.com Abubilla Music Foundation Valiant House 12, Knoll Rise Orpington, Kent BR6 0PG (Registered charity no:1142173…
Day Zero: 6 March 2022 – Travel To Stream Story
…e of most of the performing venues, thus cutting off the main revenue-generating activities of many artists. However, a number of urban-based performers were able to migrate their shows and concerts onto online platforms, reaching their audiences at their homes via live streaming. In doing so, they created new income-generating platforms, as some of these online acts allow audiences to support the musicians via M-pesa and Pay-Pal contributions. An…
Our Sponsors Page
…would like thank all the organisations and individuals who have supported Singing Wells to date, including the following: The Ciputra Group Type of sponsorship: Supporting Singing Wells projects in 2014 Thank you to The Ciputra Group for their generous support in 2014. Funds will be directed towards the Singing Wells project to repatriate the music recordings of Hugh Tracey currently archived in the International Library of African Music (ILAM) to…
Video playlists from Kenya 2018 Story
…ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oy4cBwvCpyE&list=PL6jxUA468Mq9NQ-zWTvuNk2xUKNJQr6Uh Bugnoma Roots Band https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESB-pxQBUYE&list=PL6jxUA468Mq9OAlm-PXg8Z-Pgb_ckPZHK…
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…entenga royal drums of the Buganda kingdom starting in 2015 and contacted Singing Wells with the hope that we would support him with funding for his new project. We are excited to announce that we have agreed to support James in his endeavours and will be posting about the project’s development, which has been under way for a month now. James gives some background about his inspiration for starting this project: “I led the revival of entenga royal…
Day 4: Tuesday, February 21st, 2017 Story
…icians from last night’s session for a further five. Here’s the full group including Henry, Rajab, Tomato and Leo: Here’s Tabu: Here’s Ndahani: Here’s Grace: Part one: We recorded with Chibite players only: Muheme (the tree to make the best drums). Interestingly, we later had a long conversation with Leo about wooden drums. He said that most drums are now steel, because it takes a whole tree to make one drum and you can’t afford to keep cutting do…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…n time to get to know us and understand our mission. By the end they were singing along to all the songs. In addition to being a professional musician, Leo also teaches music to school children so he is a natural with kids. On all the songs that he did, he had the whole village singing and laughing. We learned about the Bi Kidude and Unyago style. Throughout this trip we will encounter multiple stories about ‘women for women’ songs. In this case,…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…for decades. He was honoured in his time, with the then Prime Minister creating a specific post for him, so he could continue drumming for all visitors to the government. Because he was blind, he was invited to perform with specific women groups, of songs for women by women, of songs that no males could see. Every day we will tell more about Mzee Morris and his music (see picture below). We will also talk about his legacy and the attempts of his…
Fundraiser for Matthew Watmon News
…sed 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 appreciate your support at this time. We are sending…
Our journey to the Royal Drums: in the words of James Isabirye Story
…help. The only note I had was that we could reach Musisi through his sister-in-law. Now I had to find Musisi. He said his sister-in-law lived in Kasawo. Well it took me forever to find that village. After crossing swamps and taking wrong turns I kept asking for the village. Finally I found it and started asking for the sister-in-law. I found her and had only one question: is Musisi alive? He was, she said. But he lives in Kiboga which was about th…
Ketebul Music presents Shades of Benga Online News
…lar Music in Kenya delves into the foundations of modern Kenyan music, examining external influences from the English waltz to Afro Cuban Rumba and how they helped mould new music styles across Africa. Rumba was brought to Eastern Africa via the itinerant Congolese musicians Edouard Masengo and Jean Bosco Mwenda who’s intricate guitar-picking styles largely shaped the present Kenyan sound, with the Benga playing a dominant role. Currently, you can…
Recce to Tanzania for our 2020 Field Visit News
…ll team in a few weeks time. Thanks to the good people at Dhow Countries Music Academy for helping us with the information and contacts from their database. Getting a private crash course on the ganun from ganun virtuoso and teacher Rajab. In a few previous instances, the importance of Singing Wells is emphasised when someone we record passes on some time after we record them. We were reminded even more of the importance of Singing Wells when we r…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 4, Part 1 – Reflections Story
…villages that focused on instrument making or villages that focused on training potential musicians for the palaces. This patronage was not free, however, and the resources to fund the palaces and their music ultimately came from the same villages, through taxation and food contributions. Moreover, these musicians were not empowered to create, to lead rich musical lives, to become artists, to use the palace as a stepping stone to develop their ar…
The Revival of Ohangla Music! News
…rticle about the revival of traditional Ohangla music from nation.co.ke, featuring one of our favourite Ohangla artists, Otieno Aloka. Giving A Trendy Sound To Traditional Ohangla Music Traditionally played at weddings and funerals, the music is having new life put into it by young artists like Otieno who use electronic production, combined with incredible musicianship, to create a whole new genre. Otieno’s song Kanungo Eteko is massive on Youtube…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 2 – Interviews with Musicians of Uganda’s Royal Palaces Story
…he good news is that there are some. The bad news is that the group is declining rapidly. In some cases, we refer to musicians as the ‘last surviving’ musician. This is based on James’ best reckoning, having tried for years to find others. Neither James nor the musician involved wants the title of ‘last surviving’ and we would love to be proven wrong. Musisi is looking for more drummers and the ones we talked to today are desperate to find others…
Central & Eastern Uganda: Day 3, Part 1- Drum Making and Palace Players Story
…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 strings I tie them between t…