Day Two: January 19, 2019 From Tarime to Buturi to Bariadi Story
…freestyle recording’ – what we mean here is we allow our three camera operators to ‘roam’ and to ‘release the band’ to dance. We are trying to overcome the somewhat artificial nature of ‘archiving’ where the band is constrained into a single shot. Magic Moment: We loved the percussion and wanted to capture this as magic moment. https://youtu.be/u7xcXahAlzI Group 2: Upendo Jazz: The group is from the Murangi Village in the Mara Region and their c…
Day 9 – Sunday 9th July 2017 Story
…ists of two arms and a cross‐bar.” Through a group interview, we attempted to compare them in: size (size of resonator; length of arms and per extension of strings); materials of fabrication (types 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 str…
Day 4 – Tuesday 4th July 2017 Story
…ainting ad strings); All of the instrument’s components are fixed and left to dry together (resonators, skin, arms and head). Finally, he makes a clear difference between clients who are traditional and/or locally famous players, for whom he does a sacrifice upon completion of job, and outsiders, commercial clients for whom he does no such thing. Finally, we closed our day with an indoors interview at Namsagali hotel in Siaya. There we talked to T…
Day One: 7 March 2022 (Shikangania and Mukumu) Story
…irges. This dramatic twist of events threw us off guard and we were forced to stop our program temporarily. As required by local custom, we dutifully went to commiserate with the family of the bereaved. We paid our last respects to the unknown dead in the sealed coffin and donated some money to the family to assist with the burial activities on the following day. Seeing that we had appeased the spirit of their departed, the mourners quieted down a…
Conclusion: Challenges and Recomendations Story
…ment comparison exercise done on day 8 of recording. Although I believe it to be a good idea, which allows putting a central instrument – in this case the nyatiti, into a larger context and isolating its particularities, I am convinced it could be done much better if organised differently and adequately prepared for. A group interview is always difficult to conduct and individual artists might be over‐clouded by their more eloquent fellows. This w…
3. Background of the Naizungwe drums Story
…ded traditional value systems that had come with foreign civilization also took their toll, causing erosion of the traditions. Can you describe the style of this tradition? It is percussive. The central concept is polyrhythms interlocking. Drums play loudly. The louder the better because loud is power, strength. People who have a healthy life are energetic and they often express that through music and dance and more. How are the drums played? The…
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….
The Kalenjin of Kenya Album
…rs and the Kewamoi Women Dancers both featured. The latter – a nice addition to the lineup, as the field day coincided with World Women’s Day. Eddie Grey was part of the team for the recordings, and he joined a number of groups to join them for Influences recordings. Two of these have been included on the album – his guitar playing accompanying The Elimu Cultural Promoters and the Kewamoi Women Dancers….
Albums Introduction Page
…ups 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 recordings. The albums are available to download through our Bandcamp store in your choice of formats. The proceeds from the sale of our albums will be fed back to the musicians involved in the recordings, wherever possible. CDs may also be available in the future. Join the mailing list to find out when…
Privacy Policy Page
…pean Union have introduced a new directive that makes it a requirement for websites to get consent for using cookies. Nothing has changed at singingwells.dev – except for the little cookie triangle in the bottom corner of the screen. The Cookies that we use are very much standard and in the true spirit of Abubilla Music and the foundation, we like to be open with you about our methods and how and why we do things. We want to make you aware of this…
Busolwe Post Test Club Group
…is about a boy in the village that is going astray. The singers advise him to get a job and settle down and find a woman. “Mabega Dance”: The song is about when you see someone who is happy and you know they have good fortune. But when you see them unhappy you know they are having problems. Magic Moment featuring the Tube Fiddle and Flutes. The flute (Omulelel) player is George Wandela. The two Tube Fiddle players are Wilber Mutanse and Geoffrey W…
Day Four: January 21 2019 Mwanza Story
…th his instrument during the RECCE. We recorded five performances: Changamoto: This is about life’s challenges Mawazo Gakwira: About deep worries Nkewane nsanja: girlfriend got pregnant and came to singer for papers Tudumishe mila: about honouring our culture Raisi Ametamka: politicians must support education https://youtu.be/Hmp4zM3kSaM Sadly, we then got rained out and went back to hotel. We scheduled additional groups for same location the next…
Singing Wells Stories Page
…f trying to help preserve traditional music is to try and make it relevant to today’s audiences and musicians and this goes a long way to helping. Since the field trip, we are pleased to report that Akello has been performing more with the Watmon Cultural Group (our group of the month for September – read more about that here. To read more about Akello and her part in Influences, click here: Akello To hear her collaboration with the Watmon Cultura…
Our Sponsors Page
…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 IIE to fund our field recording visit to Kisoro in south…
Day Three: Bungoma Town to Kakamega Story
…and had a big local hit. This made them stars and allowed each band member to buy their own home. Wilbert said at this point they were too big for the small bars and were invited everywhere to preform. They brought in other musicians to form a much bigger band. They then produced their third CD in 2013, Namusia, again with Soundcheck in Kisumu. They started performing all over Kenya. They are now very well established with houses, and Wilbert is m…
Day 1 – Saturday 1st July 2017 Story
…local nyatiti players; ‐ Discussion on whether a good nyatiti maker needs to be able to play the instrument as well; ‐ Names of currently best nyatiti makers in the area, according to Meshack and mention of several masters who passed away; ‐ Discussion on playing positions (traditionally played while seated on a stool, some contemporary artistes play while standing as well) and its cultural and symbolic importance; ‐ The practice of praising peop…