Singing Wells Top 20: Okumu K'orengo

We are thrilled to launch our Singing Wells Top 20 - A celebration of our favourite moments of our travels and discovery over the last 10 years.

As we approach the 10 year anniversary of Singing Wells, we wanted to revisit, re-educate and remember some of the most riveting and emotional experiences on our journey. We start today with this incredible performance by the legendary Okumu K'Orengo.

Okumu's talent is renowned across East Africa, and in 2011 we had the immense pleasure to bear witness to this talent personally, and record one of his final performances - within weeks of this video being filmed, he passed away. This tragic story reminded us of exactly one of the reasons why we started Singing Wells - to archive and remember the incredible musicians and musical traditions across East Africa.

However, this story does have an uplifting ending. Okumu K'orengo's legacy lives on, not only through these recordings, but in the form of his son who plays the Nyatiti with the same passion and expertise as his father.

Follow our journey through our Top 20 moments on all social media channels, our Youtube page and our website, singingwells.org