Monday, February 19, 2018: Woke up early and drove to Sirisia to record the band Namatete. The band was founded by Weput Khulu Namatete in 1992. He and his friends gradually made instruments and learned to play them while taking care of their cattle. By 1992 they were good enough to call themselves a ‘serious’ band. …
The next morning we left early and drove from Bariadi toward Manzwa, stopping at the village of Budeka to record three groups: Group one: Baseki: This group was formed in 1975 by the parents of the current band members. They are from the Sukuma Ntuzu community and play in the Bulabuka style. The play drums,…
You can watch all the nyatiti players we recorded in this playlist. This report is to inform interested parties of the results of field recordings for “Masters of the Nyatiti” programme under Singing Wells project series, produced by Abubilla Music and Ketebul Music. It reports on the field interviews and recordings conducted between Kisumu and…
Tuesday, February 20th, 2018: Today, we returned to record Wilbert Wanyama in Bungoma Town. As mentioned, we met Wilbert on the evening of February 19th, but were unable to record his band due to thunderstorms. So we returned to Santa Maria Resort to record him the next morning. And the weather was sunny and crisp,…
The next morning we drove about an hour to Kisesa (A) to record two groups: Group 1: Mchele Mchele Sanaa Group: This group, from the Sukuma community, was formed in 2010 and performs with a number of styles: Bukomia Lume, Buchheye, Wigashe. Their instruments are: Ng’oma (Drums), Pembe (animal horns, large impala), Firimbi (flute),…
Day one of our field mission was originally reserved for travel, for the road from Nairobi to Kisumu City. However, as our schedule was going to be tight, and some of the preliminary work had not been completed, we opted for a semi‐formal preparative interview with John Otieno ‘Rapasa’, a young nyatiti player based in…
