Central Uganda: Day 7 – A Magic Day in Entebbe Story
…Our best day. We never leave the hotel but create new music with wonderful vistors: Matia Kakumirizi, Passy and Charles from the Kika Boys Cultural Troupe, Jovah and Jacinta….
Discussions with Peter Cooke: ethnomusicologist and Ugandan music expert News
Peter Cooke Recently, Singing Wells embarked on our latest field trip to Uganda. We went in search of the lost musicians of the Ugandan Kingdoms, to discover and record the royal music. Fundamental to our understanding of traditional Ugandan music and our accurate sharing of the music we captured during the trip has been Peter Cooke, a retired ethnomusicologist and Research Associate at the School of African Studies, London. We’ve referenced Pete…
Central Uganda: Day 4 – Jinja Story
…We stayed in the wonderful Gately Hotel on the Nile in Jinja to record three groups: The Bigwala Cultural Group, Adagha Nalya Drama Group and The Bakuseka Majja Matta Group. We shall refer to this day as “Two Legends and a Lot of Big Horns”…
Central Uganda: Day 3 – From Mbale to Iganga to Jinja Story
…A long, but amazing day, sponsored by the Mara Group. We started in Mbale, recording The Elgon Ngoma Troupe, The Elgon Hero Brass band and Eridate Makwiri. We then travelled to record the Muwewesi Xylophone Group before racing back to Jinja….
Current Leading Figures News
James Isabirye James is a very passionate, hard working man. He has dedicated his time and efforts to multiple projects, across the world, in order to support traditional Ugandan music; he is a lecturer and music researcher for the Department of Performing Arts at the Kyambogo University, Uganda, he founded the Nile Beat Artists, whose members are not only musicians but passionate about tribal music, works as part of Selam, a non-Governmental org…
Music Depositories and Archives around the World News
1. International Library of African Music The International Library of African Music (ILAM) was founded by the great Hugh Tracey – whose efforts to record African music can be found in the History blog – in 1954. What is particularly significant about this African Music archive is that it is actually in Africa; on its website, it boasts the accolade of ‘The Largest Archive of African Music in sub Saharan Africa’. When it was originally founded by…
A History of Recording East African Music News
The history of African music recording and archiving can be seen most clearly and compellingly by detailing the history of a few key individuals, who were pioneers in their field. At the turn of the 20th Century, a colonised Africa was viewed as backward and void of any real culture worth preserving, which is why these ethnomusicologists were not only groundbreaking in their ideas, but revolutionary. They understood, far before the rest of the We…
ILAM, Repatriation and Jimmie Rodgers/Chemirocha News
While we were in Nairobi recording the old guard of Benga/African twist, we had our latest in a series of conversations with the Director of ILAM (International Library of African Music), Diane Thram. ILAM was founded in 1954 by the late Hugh Tracey, the legendary ethno-musicologist, who conducted ground breaking village recordings from the 1920’s to 1950’s. We are working with ILAM to begin to repatriate these recordings back to the villages fro…
Promotion of Batwa Culture/Music: UOBDU report Nov 2013 News
November 2013: We just received this report from Penninah at UOBDU updating us on the Batwa communities we visited in 2011. Narrative Report Since the last visit of the Abubilla Music Foundation group to Batwa in Kisoro in November 2011, the six Batwa groups who were visited have continuously promoted the Batwa culture through dancing and music at different stages. The same Batwa groups received dancing costumes and instruments from the remaini…
Ketebul Music: A Year in Review News
…During one of our long drivers through Central Uganda, Jimmy was able to interview Tabu about Ketebul’s activities in 2013….
Obuell-Lira and the Macedonia Band Story
…Here we introduce you to the Macedonia Band and the story of how their music saved lives in their community during the civil war in Uganda…
SWP Uganda 2013 – our proposed itinerary News
November 2013 sees the Singing Wells team come back together for another week of live field recordings. On this trip we will be working in East and Central Uganda, visiting musicians and music groups from the Baganda, Basigu, Bagwere, Basoga and Banyoli communities. In September, Steve and Tabu from Ketebul Music travelled to Uganda to undertake a ‘recce’ and identify the music styles and groups which we will be recording for this next Singing We…
The Birara Batwa Community Story
…The Singing Wells field visit to Uganda in November 2011 was to record the music of the Batwa people. Here we introduce you to the first Batwa community we met on that memorable trip – The Birara group…
The Batwa Community Story
…An introduction to the Batwa community in Uganda, visited by Singing Wells in 2011…
The Key to Sustainable Aid in Africa? Perhaps we should follow the music. News
…As we reflect on what we’ve learned with Singing Wells over the last 5 years, maybe, just maybe, music is a lot more important that we originally thought (and Lord knows we love music)…
What people say about Singing Wells News
…We have received great feedback about Singing Wells….here are a few quotes from our supporters…