The Birara Batwa Community Story
…twa continue to be an impoverished and largely isolated community. We aim to help support the community we met by sharing their music and dance through Singing Wells. You can directly support the Birara Batwa by buying our Music of the Batwa album or by donating directly to our charity, The Abubilla Music Foundation. Buy the Music of the Batwa of Kisoro here Donate via YouTube here Donate via BelieveIn here…
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 First Singing Wells Influences Session Story
…sample their percussion. One of the members of the Nyerere Wa Konde Music club then played us some of the music he had created in a project studio he has, away from the village, towards the coast road. It was from this, that Tabu suggested that the member, Mr Bado (son of the leader of the group, and village) sang with his father on one of the son’s tracks. This was a new concept for the group. Bado had always sung in the family music group – and…
Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…quires government intervention and while we say committed performers it is clear they are struggling. On the positive side, I was incredibly impressed with how well the village elders have engaged the next generation. Every village had a group of young musicians and dancers. Some the best percussionists were 12-15 years old. Most of the best dancers were teenagers. You felt the next generation is passionate about the music and it is not just ‘a th…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…ups to perform and all the groups performed excellently, these occasions include the Kabahenda group danced for their Member of Parliament during the time he visited his constituency. Furthermore, the Kanyabukungu group entertained for the Prime Minister of Uganda while Birara group entertained the Ford Foundation Director from New York and FF Nairobi team when they visited UOBDU. Mikingo and Kanyabukungu groups also entertained visitors during th…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…r is that we will be able to become professional performers and be able to buy proper costumes, more instruments and better equipment to keep authenticity. Why do you like to perform? I am a woman’s leader for a local parish and my work has now spread to four different parishes, this gives me strength and hope. Working in this group has influenced women, they now have guidance and work to earn money for themselves. It is not only a musical group b…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Obuell-Lira to Soroti Story
…There were lots of scary moments when rebels would try to force them to declare alligence or die. But by miracle the rebel leaders let them live and play music as neutrals. In 1992, the Uganda Army then re-took control of the area. One of their first acts was to go to each village and accuse them of collaborating, typically killing the men under the assumption that they must have fought with the rebels. For Joshua, this was a terrifying moment be…
Singing Wells – The Story So Far News
…f East Africa. Support the Singing Wells project and buy a copy! You can buy a copy of the Singing Wells book at the Blurb Bookstore – just click this link: Singing Wells – The Story So Far The profits we receive from the sale of each book go directly to our UK charity The Abubilla Music Foundation which supports the Singing Wells project. Your donation will help give much needed financial support to tribal music groups in East Africa. By suppor…
Northern Uganda: Day 5 – from Pakwach to Soroti (a road trip) Story
…with eggs, but sometimes sunglasses, nails, electic sockets, rusty tools, clay pots, cutting boards or meal grinding tools, etc… Behind the blankets are stacks of wood, bed frames, gates and other big objects, including massive pipes. Dogs, goats and pigs are everywhere rooting in the piles of garbage left over from yesterday’s market. God help you if yesterday was cabbage day (very pungent).. And then there’s the mud. We love Ugandan mud. It is…
Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…ing Ndara riff and we wanted to capture it on its own. But the subsequent magic moment session lacked something – our friend was a musician in a band, not some studio session guy ‘mailing in his over-dub.’ Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. https://youtu.be/IktMw1iNcq4 https://youtu.be/Hk5DlFHa8Lg And with that, brushed the bugs from our hair and clothes, pulled some beetles from the camera bags and had dinner. Tomorrow is a driving day as…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…we Here’s Wanencalo Munu: https://youtu.be/-vb_69xN7ZY Here’s Aciel Longo: https://youtu.be/A_iBiSJIrsQ Here’s Luo Yee: https://youtu.be/m-9CTn_zkKA Here’s Luga Luga: https://youtu.be/zTwZdHLQjUs And finally here’s Kot Ngwer Cwe: https://youtu.be/BVFzbppQ9Ig We loved their energy and recorded a second ‘Magic Moments’ of the day for one of their dances. Waroco Tekwaro The fourth band was Waroco Tekwaro, made up of many of the members of Ker Kal Kwa…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…Lolo Lok La Moi Omako Kwot Kicinge Lakwat Dyangi Pe Kotacwer Lokakura Bor. https://youtu.be/4Jt5-pqpOWw https://youtu.be/Aw2Nj1GNpGo https://youtu.be/5SLa0biLa54 Ribbe Ber Drummers Our third group was the stunner. It was also called Ribbe Ber, but this was the drum group – males drummers mostly, with female dancers. All young adults and extremely cool. The group included two dancers that were the best we ‘ve seen and the rhythms of the Gwara (gala…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…ti Wachsmann, K. Trowell, M. (1953). Tribal Crafts of Uganda. 1st. ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ‘Traditional Instruments’ of the Uganda People’ (2012), Face Music, Available: http://www.face-music.ch/ ‘EgpytSearch Forums’, Wysinger, M. (2008), REAL Ancient Egyptian Music and Dance , Available: http://www.egyptsearch.com …
Lango Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…he 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 Change in Longo, Uganda. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Otiso, Kefa M. (2006). Cult…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…lessing to say good-bye and come again. Used in initiation rights for men. https://youtu.be/zdA6j78RZjU https://youtu.be/LpcsgT8LRUg https://youtu.be/GCbYevDBGBA Embolot The second group were the Embolot from village Kamogo. They live in the forest as farmers. Honey from the forest is an important part of their diet. The white paint on their faces also represents the soil as with the Sagat. Their songs included: ‘Sinendet’ : this is the name for…
Day 3: Kitale to Kapsokwony, Kenya Story
…uences track with Eddie Grey, a musician who joined Ketebul Music in 2011. https://youtu.be/ot3xNHqm7pU https://youtu.be/MPPFeuH1vF4 Please click here to read the meaning behind Ben’s songs: Song Translations of Ben Kisinja Chebonet Our second group was Chebonet, a traditional folk group with several percussionists and a wonderful young lead female vocalist. They were a great choral group with some wonderful dancing using shields and spears. Again…