ATTA is following Singing Wells News
…guest at the World Travel Market at Excel and I met representatives from a number of organisations and companies in the travel and tourism industry operating in the East African counties we are visiting during our field recording trips. I met Nigel Vere Nicoll, Chief Executive of the African Travel & Tourism Association and explained a little about Singing Wells and our aims to record and celebrate the cultural music heritage of East Africa. It se…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…to Gulu at around 2PM (yes, we tend to spend a lot of time getting mobile phone cards!) and headed out on a 360 km drive to the town of Gulu in Northern Uganda. Within minutes we were deeply immersed in the ‘classic’ East African road scene: big tall white bags of coal, with grass helmets, bricks in various stages of manufacturer (either drying or firing), pyramids of potatoes, tomatoes on patches of blankets under trees, tiny goats tethered near…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…and in particular, collaborate with contemporary music artists to generate new material for ‘Influences’ – a series of new songs influenced and inspired by traditional themes. Our aim is to provide a lasting benefit for the Batwa community in Uganda and we are doing this through our continuing relationship with UOBDU. We were delighted to receive this message from Henry Neza, UOBDU Capacity Building Officer and our liaison contact with the Batwa c…
A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…to our equipment lists all of the time as we refine our methods and learn new techniques and face new challenges. For our next field recording trip to northern Uganda (December 2012), this is the list of everything we will be taking with us: 2 Apple 17″ MacBook Pro 2 MOTU Traveler MK3 Audio Interface 4 Headphone amps 8 Sony MDR-V600 headphones 2 Shure mics & stands 2 Rode Lavalier omni-directional mics 2 Rode NTG-1 condenser Shotgun mics 1 Matche…
Northern Uganda: Day 0 – London to Entebbe Story
…The London gang travels to Entebbe and reunites with some friends from Kisoro……
Day 9: Ketebul Studios with Ben Kisinja Story
…d Winyo on vocals. Watch this space. We also continued our work to capture new artists for Missing – Global Remix, our 2012 fund raising song. We had Prasad Velankar, a wonderful Indian percussionist join us to put on new percussion. He plays the Tabla at the speed of light and transformed the song. He was so good, we decided to put together a magic moment. Watch this space for videos. We recorded right through to 9PM and the ‘northern folks’ rush…
UOBDU report on Singing Wells visit to the Batwa, Kisoro Uganda News
…all the music groups who performed for the Singing Wells project. The good news is that being involved in the project seems to have given the groups a new and added pride for their music and has inspired them to practice their dances so that they can confidently perform to more audiences. It is also clear that the financial contribution made to UOBDU by the Abubilla Music Foundation has gone a long way to improve the quality of life for the Batwa…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…ata when working for the Virtue Foundation in 2011. They were keen on this new technique and trained me to use it for mapping health data in Ghana (example shown below). This was in collaboration with Harvard University. Following on that I spent some time working with the GIS department at Harvard in Boston specifically learning how to use the mapping software, and I also attended GIS classes given at Harvard. I then brought the idea to Singing W…
African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…f the Singing Wells project is to introduce tribal East African music to a new generation of musicians and fans who might not consider it relevant today, through The Influences Series. Some of my favourite prominent Benga musicians of today are Ogwang Lelo Okoth, Musa Juma (below) and Dola Kabarry (below). Instrument: The nyatiti has 8 strings and is usually played sitting down on a three-legged stool known as the ‘Orindi’, it can be as low as shi…
Day 7: In Nairobi – sponsors, blogs and strategy Story
…ting with contemporary studio musicians and sound engineers ready to bring new arrangements. The sponsors discussed that these missions are sometimes in conflict. If we spend too much of our time showing videos of more traditional tribes singing traditional songs, we might turn off the young audience we are trying to attract. Like kids everywhere, they tend to reject their parents’ and grandparents’ music, hoping to discover new music they can uni…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…bumped and jostled for about 80 kms. The land is tilled now, waiting for a new planting season, so we are surrounded by red. The red roads, the red tilled soil on either side, the red dust filling our eyes and lungs as cars pass us. We have the opportunity to interview Tabu in detail about his ancestry. The only issue was, the more animated he became, the slower we went. So we knew that the more interesting the trip the longer it would take and tr…
Day 3 continued – an interview with Steve Kivutia Story
…that same year he met Tabu through a friend who sang with Tabu’s band, He knew of Tabu because of his legendary status within Kenyan music. Tabu invited Steve into a meeting where he brought some songs he had worked on. Steve was still a big Hip Hop fan and loved R Kelley. He also liked Salif Keita, an afro-pop singer/songwriter from Mali, his only ‘African music’ influence. Steve’s first job at Ketebul was as an intern working with Jesse and Gabr…
Day 3: Kitale to Kapsokwony, Kenya Story
…– 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 Kisinja, a wonderful guitarist in the typical Kalenjin style. Tabu describes this style as very traditional and the way of singing is very unique to the Sabaot clan of the Kalenjin. The guitar is called a burkandi…
Day 2: Nairobi to Kitale & an interview with Pato Story
…011 Jovah – Ye Warararaye by singingwells We asked Pato whether he always knew he would be involved in music. “No, but from high school I knew I was going to be working on videos. And music is my life. I started listening to Joseph Kamaru when I was growing up in the Ngara Estate, another part of Nairobi. He was the biggest Kikuyu artist around and would walk around our area with a guitar and play to all the little kids. My brothers all love salsa…
Abubilla Music remix an original Batwa song for Influences News
…ies in the area. The song, called ‘Inyange’, is in praise of beautiful people who are compared to the beautiful white Inyange (Egret) bird. Musicians from Abubilla Music in London have added to the track for our Singing Wells Influences series. Here is the first ‘rough mix’ of the song….. …
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…o use the new lighting kit (SW 4), but he was constantly distracted by the new Singing Wells Flip Camera. Nick focused on learning the Clapperboard. And Willie joined Jimmy in the studio with Johnnie, the guitarist, to lay down some guitar tracks for the new fund raising song, Missing – Global Remix. An interview with Tabu The the midst of all the packing chaos, Hunter and I had a chance to talk to Tabu, the head of Ketebul and a music producer wi…