Music of the Mijikenda: video playlist
In March 2011, the Singing Wells team travelled to the coastal region of Kenya for their very first field recording trip. The team recorded music from various groups representing the Mijikenda tribes.
In March 2011, the Singing Wells team travelled to the coastal region of Kenya for their very first field recording trip. The team recorded music from various groups representing the Mijikenda tribes.
Back in Nairobi after the latest field trip, Jimmy files this report via Skype. Jimmy reflects on the recording trip and the weekend ahead in the studio with Ben Kisinja and the Otacho Young Stars.
“I’m glad I came across Singing Wells. The production team goes all out to unearth East African traditional music, giving account of the people’s past and present through music. The recordings are a valuable treasure, since a lot of traditional African music often goes un-notated. Singing Wells is the much needed portal for ethnomusicology research…
While on the road in Kitale, we interviewed Nick who is working as an intern at Ketebul Music. This is Nick’s second Singing Wells field recording trip where he is learning how to use the mobile recording equipment whilst also acting as photographer. He is now officially in charge of the ‘clapperboard’ – a role he is relishing.
On our journey from Nairobi to Kitale we are joined by Chelagat Lebo (Chela) who is making a documentary for Custom House Education Trust about Kenya’s elite athletes.
In 2011 we completed three field recording trips in Kenya and Uganda and also took the mobile recording studio to the Lake Turkana Cultural Festival. We’ve recorded over 150 songs from more than 25 local music groups and uploaded 36 videos of these performances to YouTube (so far).
Matthew Morin is a doctoral candidate in musicology at Florida State University writing a dissertation on music and civil society in Kenya based on fieldwork conducted in Kenya and Tanzania during 2010 and 2011. He currently lives in Japan and is continuing research on music and civil society from a global perspective. Matt has been…
We often get asked why we have called our project ‘Singing Wells’. The inspiration for the name came when Jimmy witnessed an extraordinary sight while travelling in Kenya – the real-life singing wells of the Samburu tribes people.