Music of Northern Uganda News
…ng a former colonial golf club to a place for training and exchange and to promote and celebrate local cultural achievements. Joyce and David aim to engage people in post-conflict Northern Uganda in the creative arts; resuscitate local arts, crafts and arts education and recover, heal and develop local cultural traditions. With Joyce Laker Director TAKS Centre in Gulu Although Steve and Patrick were not able to meet any local music groups whil…
Day 3 continued – an interview with Steve Kivutia Story
…, Lake Victoria) were amazing and more modern than most music today. The Clapperboard Today was the first day we used the ‘clapperboard’. First a little background to this…… Singing Wells has always been about the music so our initial focus was on audio recording. We invested in first class audio equipment and can record using 8 mics directly into Pro Tools. But during the March Pilot programme, we realised that the visual experience was as import…
Singing Wells – Origins News
…they begin to sing, a different song emanating from each well. The animals appear from the bush, seeming to recognize the unique song of their master. Once the animals have had their fill the herdsmen climb from their wells and disappear into the bush. The songs tell stories of Samburu traditions and help the herdsmen keep a steady rhythm while they lower and raise their buckets. These ‘singing wells’ illustrate the importance of traditional songs…
Day 3: Kitale to Kapsokwony, Kenya Story
…ub, Kitale at 8.30 and arrived at our first shoot of the trip – Kapsokwony Kenya, 56 kilometers from Kitale. We drove onto the athletic grounds of Chesamis High School to record four groups. Our fixer was ’50 Cows’ – clearly taken from 50 Cent, but taking the Kalenjin love of cattle to a new level. 50 Cows is a local journalist and student at United States International University (USIU). The Music Groups Ben Kisinja First up for recording was Ben…
Day 2: Nairobi to Kitale & an interview with Pato Story
…nting out PA equipment for DJs. His focus was relatively typical for young Kenyans at the time – Hip Hop inspired by US rappers. He joined Ketebul Music in 2006 and built up the video department there. While there, he was exposed to the Spotlight Series. He began to really love tribal music and so when we started developing the Singing Wells project he jumped on it, keen to head up the video recording department . We asked him what he liked most a…
Bill Odidi reporting on Singing Wells from London News
…don in August as part of Ketebul Music’s ‘Kenya @ 50’ music documentary. He teamed up with Andy Patterson while he was here and together they conducted a number of interviews with Kenyan musicians who are now based in the UK. They also had the chance to visit Kenya House in Stratford as a guest of our friends at the Kenya Tourist Board. Here’s Bill’s article published in Business Daily Africa: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Where+the+world+got…
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…ibal music. The Rift Valley is known for its marathon runners. Most of the Kenyan stars have come from this area of Kenya. On this trip we willl visit villages where the Olympic medal winners in Beijing are from and record their music. Ketebul is part of the Go Down Art Centre in Nairobi. This centre is funded by NGO’s and in particular the Ford Foundation. It hosts various artists including painters, sculptors, musicians and a film and TV product…
Song Translations: Music of the Kalenjin Story
…ng translations: view PDF Chebonet group Date of recording: 5th March, 2012 Recorded on location in: Kapsokwony, Kenya Song translations: view PDF Lomut Traditional Dancers Date of recording: 6th March, 2012 Recorded on location in: Kapenguria, Kenya Song translations: view PDF Lomuke Group of recording: 6th March, 2012 Recorded on location in: Kapenguria, Kenya Song translations: view PDF Kalomoywa Date of recording: 6th March, 2012 Recor…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…he top and we are in the midst of the Birara community. Shy children start appearing from the trees, young ones carrying even younger ones on their backs. The team sets up the studio and after a brief technical hitch with the power supply (a cabling issue apparently) we are soon recording the first ‘welcome’ song. It’s an extraordinary moment. Here we are on the highest point on the hill, overlooking a stunning array of green hills, all covered wi…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
While in Western Kenya, we made a decision to bring some of the Batwa singers back from Kisoro to Uganda. We spent Saturday and Sunday recording them and the results are fantastic. The whole way back from Kisoro to Kisumu we talked about the Batwa and how much we loved the singers. We thought about bringing them to Nairobi sometime in the future. We then decided the future is now and called Henry Neza to see if he would be willing to travel with…
Music of the Kalenjin: video playlist News
…eople. The people from this highland ethnic group – the Nilotic – include eight culturally and linguistically related sub tribes – Kipsigis, Nandi, Tugen, Marakwet, Keiyo, Sabaot and Terik. They are perhaps most widely known as world class athletes as many of the legendary Kenyan long distance runners are Kalenjins, including Kipchoge Keino, chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee and the first African to win an Olympic gold medal (Mexico City 19…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…e Scenes For the most part, we want you to enjoy the performances as they happened, without noticing the Singing Wells team. But these performances are recorded with six mics (two centre, one far right, one far left, lapel mic for singer, lapel mic for lead instrument) and three cameras (Camera 1 stationary, Camera 2 close in, Camera 3 roving). So there’s quite a big crew setting things up and recording both audio and video. So here’s the view fro…
Day 1: The music of the Luo – starting at Rang’ala Village Story
…ga Style) and the Do Do Band (Do Do), both Luo musical styles; the Luo are Kenya’s third largest tribe, making up about 13% of the population. The Sega Sega Band Led by Osumba Rateng. This is Benga style, originating from the Luo tribes, as they gradually built on the percussive/bass sounds of the Nytati to form something more bluesy; it morphs later into Rumba, which combines Benga and also Congolese music which is in turn heavily influenced by C…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…w his dad died – he was a Ugandan working in Kigali the day the slaughter happened. He is most likely buried in the mass grave along with 250,000 others. Nairobi: Observations and Reflections Arrived safely in Nairobi late Friday night and had an incredibly quick 20 minute drive from airport to hotel, entirely due to the police closing all the other roads for the Presidential convoy which had travelled from the airport just ahead of us. We like th…
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…performance, they had to wait quite a time to get ‘on stage’. This did not appear to be a problem – they watched and clapped the Gatera performance with enthusiasm, despite the onset of some spectacular rain (which did not subside until the early hours of the following morning causing the power cut which lasted the same length of time). Their wait allowed us to capture some photos of their members which demonstrate wonderfully the age range across…
Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga News
…Maisha Ni Matamu (Life Is Sweet) on Virunga Records. We first met Samba in Kenya, on a recording trip as part of The Singing Wells project. He sang as part of a ‘Welcome’ concert put together by our friends at Ketebul, along with Winyo and Ayub Ogada. We’ll bring more news on his new album as we have it, but until then you can view his tour dates on the Abubilla Music events calendar – just click here For a profile on Samba Mapangala click here …