Bill Odidi Staff Profile
…ikuyu Popular Music. Bill says, ‘Music is the heartbeat of a people. Where there is music there is life’. …
Day 9 – Sunday 9th July 2017 Story
…ypes of wood); body parts (any specific additional parts and why); strings number; playing techniques (position of instrument; hands positioning and fingers involved in playing; plucking techniques); tuning and sound (central string, sound spectrum, twin strings, accompanying instruments in both traditional context and modern instrumental ensemble, technical innovations and developments); transmission methods; community occasions played in; taboos…
Day Zero: February 15, 2020 – Assemble in Zanzibar Story
…in Arabic as ‘having joy with music.’ Taarab’s origins are in the late 1800s. Mohamed Ibrahim, studied music in Egypt, where he learned to play the Qanun and returned to Zanzibar to form the Zanzibar Taarab orchestra. Of course, there are a variety of musical styles in Zanzibar, including (every use of quotes in this post are direct quotes from the DCMA): Ngoma: “Ngoma literally translated means drum and is a term to encompass all local tra…
Uganda: music of the Batwa Gallery
…record the performances of six Batwa communities from the district of Kisoro – Birara, Mpwera, Kanyabukunga, Micyingo, Gatera and Kabahenda….
Our Sponsors Page
…f sponsorship: Field Recording day in Kenya, Music of the Kalenjin, March 2012 Thank you to Anne for her kind and generous donation to towards our 2012 field recording visit to Kenya. Read all about it here. http://www.annewright.com/index.asp Institute of International Education Type of sponsorship: Field Recording Visit, Music of the Batwa, Uganda 2011 Through our relationship with The Ford Foundation we were able to apply for a grant from the…
Fadhilee Itulya Staff Profile
…Relations and Diplomacy. His first break in professional music was at the 2008 edition of Spotlight on Kenyan Music, where he represented Nairobi with his song ‘Jawabu’, which features on the compilation album. Other than the guitar he also plays the drums and the chivoti. During gigs he is backed by the three-girl group, Karama. Tetu accompanies him on the djembe and Andrew Ngatia on bass. Together they call themselves Fadhilee&Friends. He has wr…
James Allen Staff Profile
…in Africa extensively during that time. Jimmy launched Abubilla Music in 2008, a small label dedicated to developing young recording artists. The following year he began developing the idea for the Singing Wells project with Ketebul Music, sharing their passion for preserving and promoting the traditional music of East Africa. Jimmy has an MBA from Harvard University and an MA in International Economics from Johns Hopkins. He is a dual US-British…
Page
…no better than the other Batwa so I thank you for choosing me. I am happy 1000 times over. My message represents the rest of the Batwa people. I listened to the recording of my song – it was so nice, so sweet.’ The day ended with her joyfully dancing to her own record, with her newborn baby in her arms. It was a moment that made so much of the work put in by the entire team completely worth it. And it has inspired us to continue searching for more…
Pius Wafula Group
…le, used to play with a famous local group called “Webuye Jua Kali” up to 2009, when he founded his own group. Today the group counts 5 members who play the following instruments: LITUNGU – a 7-string traditional lyre; ISIRILI – a one-string fiddle; LUENGELE– a percussive idiophone, they use a wooden stool struck with wooden sticks; ENG’OMA – a generic term for drums, they use a plastic water container also struck with wooden sticks; CHISASI – sha…
Kiplagat Edwin Kwambai aka Fifty Cows Staff Profile
…ently pursuing an MBA in Strategic Management at the same Institution. In 2005, Fifty Cows joined Kass Fm, a local vernacular radio station as a Studio Technician and Radio Producer. An advent fan of traditional music, he quickly established his own music show that focused mainly on traditional music and oldies from Marakwet, Pokot, Sabaot, Tugen, Keiyo, Nandi and Kipssigis communities. It was during this period, presenting the show dubbed, “Tos T…
Day One: The Iteso People and their Music Story
…Relations and Diplomacy. His first break in professional music was at the 2008 edition of Spotlight on Kenyan Music, where he represented Nairobi with his song ‘Jawabu’, which features on the compilation album. Other than the guitar he also plays the drums and the chivoti. We welcome Fadhilee to Singing Wells and hope you enjoy his contributions! From Obekai, we drove to Kodedema, to record Obasie Palnyang. The group was founded in 1958 by Obasie’…
Day two: From Sirisia to Mabuyole Falls Story
…al Band. They played in the Tinkikti style. The group was formed in early 2000, when founder Webuye Juakali was a backup singer for separate band. In 2009 he became the main singer of the band. It has the following instruments: Shirili (Single String instrument) Litungu: multi-stringed instrument Chisasi: Shakers Luengere: Rattles Eng’oma: Drums They played five songs: Walunywa: A song about the local brew Aburende: You need the right person in po…
The Singing Wells podcast #3 Podcast
…Here is podcast number 3. In this podcast, we look at the development of Abubilla Music – one of the partners in The Singing Wells project – from initial idea, to music label. There are interviews with members of the SMCC, and music from the SMCC, Louise Calf, Gus Warriner, Tati Kalveks, Chris Kozlowski and Ketebul artist Winyo. Click here to download the podcast….
Day 4 – Tuesday 4th July 2017 Story
…current purchase conditions (order completed in approx. 2 weeks, price of 6000 Kenyan shillings per nyatiti), while mentioning that most of the nyatitis he makes go to clients from outside the area (as far as USA). Ogwe considers that since the materials are becoming more and more costly, so does the instrument and consequently fewer people are purchasing it. When describing his manufacture process, Ogwe enumerated several types of trees for the r…
Albums Introduction Page
…h the music of the area we were recording in. Each album also contains a number of extra tracks that weren’t strictly part of the archiving recordings we were making. These recordings are of ‘Influences’ sessions – where a popular musical artist has joined us on our trip to collaborate with the groups we record. In the event that we have invited one of the musicians back to the Ketebul Studios in Nairobi to record, we will also include these rec…
The Kalenjin of Kenya Album
…ith Ben Kisinja on the Burkandit, recorded in Kapsokwony on the 5th March 2012. Also recorded in the same session were the Chebonet Group and the Teriet Band. We also have a short snippet of The Masirtaret – a performance that was sadly cut short by rainfall – one of the perils of recording outdoors. The Sila Dancers began the day in Sila, followed by the Lomut Traditional Dancers and the Lomuge Group. The day recording the Pokot tribes was rounde…