From the streets of Kisoro Uganda to a professional recording session… Story
…Tiny Moses, backed by Winyo, plays guitar and sings in the Ketebul Studios in Nairobi. We discovered Tiny Moses during our visit to Kisoro Uganda to record the Batwa trips. Along with Francis and his wives and Jovah, we brought Tiny Moses and his team back to Nairobi to record them in a professional studio. Johnny and Bishop, on guitar and bass respectfully, joined Winyo to help Tiny Moses. Go here to listen to the result. …
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…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…e Indiana Archive, Bloomington References Hugh Tracey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Tracey http://www.ru.ac.za/ilam/history/hughtraceysportrait/ http://www.swp-records.com/Profiles/Hugh%20Tracey/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvnRFvSJeo&gl=NL&hl=nl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRjQnqjGCH0 http://www.afropop.org/wp/2295/hugh-tracey-discover-and-record/ http://www.muzikifan.com/tracey.html Klaus Wachsmann http://startjournal.org/2013/01/on…
Report from Womex 2013 News
…ked at both the African and Indian markets and how the markets are evolving. 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 Afric…
A recording studio which fits into the back of an SUV Story
…acBook Pro 2 MOTU Traveler MK3 Audio Interface 4 Headphone amps 8 Sony MDR-V600 headphones 2 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 Microphones 2 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…
Group of the Month – Watmon Cultural Group News
…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 Group page from our Musical Map of East Africa….
The origins of Singing Wells Story
…far more inspiration in western music than they do with East African music. I worry about this. As a people, we risk losing our deep cultural heritage – the role of traditional music and dance in our lives. And as musicians, we risk becoming undifferentiated. Rather than drawing upon what makes us unique we risk our voices being lost in the sea of American and British groups’. At Ketebul Music, Tabu recruits and develops musicians committed to th…
Meet our ‘Influences’ artists News
…He was born in what he describes as an ordinary family in a modest country side setting. Coming from a musical family, he spent most of his childhood enjoying the influences of jazz, soul and pop artists at the time. His greatest influence was of course Michael Jackson, not only for his musical composition but for his unique sound. Find Eddie Grey on Facebook here. Eddie Grey recording with Ben Kisinja Eddie joined the Singing Wells team on the fi…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…the women involved. In the conversation we had below she tells their story.. Tell me about your group: Ume Udoko Mit started to sing together before the war, but we had to stop during the war because most of us were moved to IDP camps where we had little time to rehearse together and the conditions were too bad. Now we sing and dance together all the time, we are only women (our style of ‘Apiri’ in Acholi is typically only performed by the wo…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…en fascinating, there haven’t been that many changes along an ‘average roadside.’ The biggest change, and we’ve become quite obsessed by this for some reason, is the hats placed on the white charcoal bags. (Others would like to add that it’s just Jimmy who’s obsessed with the charcoal bags). For most of the places, folks just want to keep the charcoal dry. A good handful of grass is enough and you get the nun look with the green crown. But around…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…ly left at 12:45 and got about 20 minutes outside of Soroti only to have a car breakdown. So we had to turn around and get back to Soriti for a quick welding (by a guy on the street in flip flops..). We didn’t leave Soroti until about 15:30, knowing we now faced 330 kilometers of tough roads. At least there was a pretty sunset! Jimmy On the road to Kampala…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…at is a building being torn down. We’re not quite sure anybody is 100% sure.. So the road becomes our DIY store, with little teams of thatched pillars, grass crowned white nuns and brick pyramids. But it is also our grocery store. If you see a big tree in the distance, you are pretty sure that you will find under it 6 or 7 ladies selling pyramids of potatoes, green oranges, etc… The fruit and vegetables complement the plethora of cows, sheep, goat…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – Pakwach to Widiang’a, Nebbi Story
…ack, but he does and he frightens everyone around the fire with his stories. Really fun. The final song was Aywanga, in the Agwara style. It is the celebration of the chief. It features the spectacular Ndara, the Bul and Agwara and involves a lot of rolling around. We loved it so much we recorded a ‘magic moment’ – there was even more rolling around then usual and the 150 kids around us had a great time. We then took the time to solo each instrume…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…portant as one recording trip can involved eight or more groups over a four-day period. Once we have finished recording the first group we assess whether we want to record any ‘Magic Moments’. These are where we film and record a musician performing solo on his or her instrument and are notable by the interesting nature of the instrument or the virtuosity of the performance. We then move to our second ‘set’ or angle on the site. Locations are chos…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…speaks native Luo and has become famous for her originality all over Kenya.. The Adungu: Origins: The bow-harp is an outstanding example of good Ugandan craftsmanship. Like the Nyatiti, the Adungu came from the traditional bow-harp or ‘lyre’ from the Egyptians. Michael Levy, a specialist in music of the ancient world, was particularly interested in the close likeness between the Ugandan Adungu played today and the Egyptian arched harp, particular…
Lango Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…head-dress. The prevailing fashion may be described as a kind of a helmet. ..Lango women, who are amongst the finest and most symmetrical of the Equatorial lake regions, wear little clothing or embellishments beyond west-bands, necklaces, armlets, and anklets.’ (p. 360). The Lango symbol is Amuka (Rhino). Amuka is independent, strong, and peaceful unless disturbed. References Curley, Richard T. (1973). Elders, Shades, and Women: Ceremonial Cha…