Steve Kivutia Staff Profile
…ed from Maseno High School in 2000 after which he studied computer science at university and then worked in graphic design and multi media agencies. He joined Ketebul Music in 2005 after meeting Tabu Osusa through a friend who sang in Tabu’s band. He worked as an intern, initially on the Spotlight on Kenyan Music series. He is now one of Ketebul Music’s most respected sound engineers and a valued member of the Singing Wells team in his role as Pro…
The Revival of the Entongooli Page
…t process of preserving the wood through the use of animal dung. More on that later… Simple but Effective Tools Having the right tools for the job doesn’t necessarily mean the most high-tech or complicated. As we show in this video here, the tools needed to continue shaping the base of the Entongooli are very simple, but remain incredibly effective. Using a small hoe, the base of the Entongooli is slowly shaped by chopping away at the dried piece…
Day Two: 8 March 2022 (Ilesi) Story
…ake a little time to play in sync with the polyrhythmic beats of the Iteso of Western Kenya. When the tuning session was finally figured out the actual recording started at about 17:00 hours. The three sisters and their two brothers have pleasantly matured musically and it was really encouraging to see them helping to keep their father’s legacy alive. All was done a few minutes to 8:00pm. After the routine photo shoot the Obasie Palnyang brothers…
Watmon Cultural Group Group
…ective of musicians led by Amone Watmon Matthew, which promotes the preservation of Ugandan cultural heritage through dance. The group is made up of up to 50 members, the youngest members being only seven years old. Matthew was born on the 25th November 1951 in Kipgum district, Awedi village in the north of Uganda. He was fond of playing music as he grew up, playing the nanga (a harp) in the field as he tended the family cattle or worked on the fa…
Recording Resources Page
…rk out the best processes for working effectively out in the field. With that in mind, we have created some resources for other groups to use for working in the field. Please feel free to use the below resources for your field trips in whatever region you are based, and please do reach out to us. We love to meet others who are passionate about music in their own region! Village Visit Management Audio Recording Protocol Field Visit Workflow We hope…
Hannah Calascione Staff Profile
…ng Wells project before she starts her degree in Anthropology at Cambridge University in 2013. She is joining the Singing Wells team for the field visit to Northern Uganda 2012 and has researched the area in great detail, writing reports on the tribal groups and their music and traditional instruments. Hannah will be armed with a microphone as she interviews the musicians and documents their oral histories, providing the all important context for…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…dodo style is one of the oldest forms of music performed by the Luo people of Western Kenya. Olith Ratego is a self-taught musician who plays a musical instrument fashioned by himself. It is a replica of the nyatiti (an eight stringed traditional lyre), which he calls okoddo and is modified to the pentatonic scale. Olith Ratego’s recording session went uninterrupted and was completed shortly before 6:00pm. The last group to be recorded was the new…
Kiplagat Edwin Kwambai aka Fifty Cows Staff Profile
…abu Osusa during a Singing Wells fact-finding reece on the music of the Kalenjin, which was the focus area for the Singing Wells project at the time. Fifty Cows went on to be the main contact person and “fixer” for the project. In 2014, the Singing Wells again called on Fifty Cows for the first Repatriation Project by the International Library of African Music, which was supported by the Singing Wells. This repatriation project involved retracing…
James Allen Staff Profile
James (Jimmy) Allen is a senior director and member of the board of Bain & Company, a global management consultancy, where he co-heads the firm’s Global Strategy practice. He has 20 years of experience in international business and has worked 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 W…
Guy Morley Staff Profile
Guy Morley is the founder and Director of No Nation. No Nation is an independent UK based arts programming and promotion company. Some of the festivals that Guy has programmed include The Big Chill, Brighton Festival and African Soul Rebels. Guy is also a freelance music promoter and DJ. In the course of his career he has produced a radio show called Afro Base, on Juice 107.2 and Totallyradio.com and been the resident DJ in several venues in Man…
Introduction: Project overview and objectives Story
…ke Region of Kenya, notably in Kisumu and Siaya Counties. The details of these recordings will be described in a day to day report and followed by an evaluation of their success and comments on the general framework of the project series….
Nyangile Instrument
…A resonating box – hit by the player with a wooden stick, who often holds ongeng’o rings in their hand and feet to add more rhythmic potential. We heard the Nyangile, also referred to as the Sanduk (Swahili for Box), played by a member of the Otacho Young Stars, when we recorded them at Dinkys Resort Club, Rongo, as part of our field trip to record the music of the Luo in Western Kenya….
Hunter Allen Staff Profile
…g Wells’ first Lost Song Books documentary, which told the story of our repatriation project in 2014. The project involved the returning of recordings by Hugh Tracy to the Kalenjin and Luo communities from which he recorded in the 1950s. Hunter graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2015 and aspires to continue a long and fruitful relationship with Singing Wells. Most recently he joined the rest of the team in filming Singing Wells’ second…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…e our experimental fusion of contemporary elements with traditional sounds of Western Kenya region. Dave and I go back a long way as we worked together on several musical projects under the Nairobi City Ensemble. Other notable projects with Dave were during the period of Spotlight on Kenyan Music, which was a collaboration between Ketebul Music and the Alliance Française in Nairobi. Mention should also be made of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival…
Day 2 – Sunday 2nd July 2017 Story
…choice and procurement of nyatiti skin for the resonator; note on methods of attaching strings to the resonator; and confirm that transmission of skills was traditionally done solely by observation. Obong’o also spoke of 3 witchcraft stories associated to competitions and explained the fact that culturally there were no women players by their lack of energy and interest. Finally he corroborated the idea of traditional taboo concerning two nyatiti…
Day Five: January 22, 2019 Mwanza Continued Story
…the group encourages the audience to get up and dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRmP_vEbiMI&feature=youtu.be Group 2: Kidedeya: From Kagera, this group was formed in 2005 or 2009, and performs in the Omusingero style. Their instruments are: Ng’oma (Drums) and Nyimba (Shakers). This was a group of wonderful dancing and costume changes. Every song a new and wonderful outfit. We recorded six performances: Omusingero: A song about playing th…