Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…a. We had Passy, Jacinta, Maita, James (our musical leader in Uganda and co-founder of Nile Beat Artists) and Jovah, the wonderful female singer we first listened to in Kisoro and then again in Nairobi. We will talk more about Jovah below. The group practiced and performed two songs: Ugandan Lullaby: We knew that Jovah and Maita knew lullabies and James came up with the idea of doing a combined lullaby involving each of the singers, using a tradit…
Central Uganda: Day 6: Kampala to Entebbe Story
…deforestation on spirits. Lead vocalist this song is Hellen Flavia The back-up vocalist for this song was Diana Natero. And the wild dancer was Lubowa Bashir. Omwenge (a local brew): This is about how the local brew is made in stages and sets out each procedure to produce the brew. The lead vocalist is: Magic Moment: No vocals, and we called it ‘Magic Dancing’ Magic Moment: We called this ‘Magic Singing’ James Isabirye says of this group, that “it…
Central Uganda: Day 5 – Jinja to Kampala Story
…f the year in Uganda in 2004. Their leader is Haruna Walusimbi. They have 4-5 drummers depending on the song, 2-3 flute players, 2 tube fiddle players and 2 thumb pianos. They also have the traditional Ugandan Xylophone. All instrumentalists also sing and are supported by three ladies who sing and dance. The three core members are: Walusimbi Nsibambi Haruna: He the Founding Director of Nile Beat Artists. Walusimbi was once the Global Youth Earth D…
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
…d teaching them to the music students and to music teachers who came for in-service courses. Like Musisi, Busuulwa had not found conditions good for him at the palace and after the attack on the palace and the flight of the Kabaka (King) into exile in London, Musisi no longer had a patron so they were both enthusiastic about working at Kyambogo. Sadly Bulasio Busuulwa died during that awful period of turmoil under the dictatorship of Amin and Obot…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…ed a few beers and stayed in one of the cottages telling stories about our best Singing Wells moments, only some of which had to do with the music. The group then divided roughly along age lines on the fundamental issue of fish vs. sleep. Tabu, Jimmy, Andy and Vicki voted sleep and we had food delivered to our cottages, ate and went to bed early. Steve, Patrick, Jacinta, Nick and Robert voted fish and went off the local casino for ‘the best fish i…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…ing in the back of the band and the xylophone players, urging them on with faster and faster beats. One by one the dancers would jump over the xylophone players to perform in front of them. The players would give the dancers fantastic beats and eventually they would retreat and another dancer would join. All great fun. James Isabirye says, “This area, where they come from is known for the Xylophone. This particular group has grown out of festivals…
Central Uganda: Day 2 – Kampala to Budaka Story
…about this group were the beautiful vocal harmonies; this was some of the best choral singing we’ve heard at Singing Wells. The group started in 2001 and perform in HIV sensitization sessions twice a month and other ceremonies such as weddings, introductions, and Cultural Competitions, the most well-known of which is sponsored by the beer Senator. Their trainer is Paul Mwima and they originate from Bunyole, Butaleja District. Their style is Mabeg…
Central Uganda: Day 1 – From Entebbe to Kidinda Story
…ng about ready to provide backing vocals. Children began to gather as we un-loaded equipment. Most of them smile widely when our cameras turned toward them. Most came running to us to see their pictures show up on our camera screens. The musicians had built a performance hall, with a grass floor and tapestry ceiling and were busy practicing when we arrive. Given the rains, the village grounds were covered in about 3 inches of sticky beautiful Ugan…
Who’s looking at you? Story
…This little fan joined us along Lake Victoria to record some of the best Nyatiti players in Kenya in November 2011….
Meeting Ketebul: an interview with Tabu News
…ng Andy. Actually, thinking about it now it wasn’t the worst, it was pretty funny! The worst was driving from Mombasa to Malindi at night, it was dangerous. The road was narrow, unmarked and I didn’t like it. We said after this we wouldn’t do it again. Now we hardly drive at night. As for the best? Every moment is the best when it comes to Singing Wells! What can we look forward to from Singing Wells and Ketebul this year? We’re going to be doing…
Ten More Singing Wells Stories News
…eir music provides a soundtrack for the costs of all simple solutions; well-intentioned actions to protect an animal species have marginalised thousands of forest people who have lost their homes, their culture, their livelihoods… We recorded them in their villages and invited them back to our studios in Nairobi to work with some of Kenya’s best musicians. We maintain a great relationship with our Batwa friends and recently invited Jovah to meet u…
Current Leading Figures News
…ells trip. The TAKS Centre (Through Art Keep Smiling ) is ‘a grassroots non-profit organisation whose services are for the benefit of the community.’ They saw the desperate need for a centre to provide space for Northern Ugandans to nurture their artistic talents, as “for over 20 years the people of Northern Uganda have been victims of a cruel civil war between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).” Odwar points out that J…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
…omington Campus of Indiana University and is open for listening from Monday-Friday: 10am-12pm then 1pm-5pm, except during the Summer when it is only open 1pm-5pm. 9. Centre de Recherche en Ethnomusicologie CREM (Research Centre for Ethnomusicology) is a French institution in Paris, which houses an extensive archive of world music; a vast and crucial resource for ethnomusicologists and PhD students. Collaborations with Government departments, other…
Archiving Guidelines News
…of the Audio Heritage: Ethics, Principles and Preservation Strategy’ (IASA-TC 03). When researching guidelines for the online archiving of sound, the term metadata is often mentioned and this is the largest part of the edition that was revised for re-publication, stressing the importance of extra information being attached to the sound file, describing the location the sound was recorded, the artist, the date, etc and other technological informat…
A History of Recording East African Music News
…the difficulties of archiving with an easily destructible medium like reel-to-reel tapes and the importance of now digitising these perishable recordings. The sound engineer who had recorded the music with Wachsmann kindly offered up the copies he had made a kept aside. Wachsmann went on to lecture at various universities and was awarded the bronze medal for “Devoted Service to Africa” from the Royal African Society in 1958. His legacy lives on a…
Promotion of Batwa Culture/Music: UOBDU report Nov 2013 News
…the two service providers who were used by the organized before to design T-shirts and wrappers clothes for UOBDU dancers. On 18th January 2013 both service providers delivered their work to UOBDU and receive their payments. Each Batwa group were able to receive 12 T-shirts which had the name of the community written on back with clothes for wrapping. In addition, each group received six ankle bells, two drums (a big and small). After completion o…