How to Map 3: Prepare Your Data News
…will become clear later). The only way to make absolutely sure of that is to go into ArcMap and look at the attribute table of the shapefile (that’s basically the data that makes the shapefile look how it does), and check the names of the counties. To do this open the map, which is saved at C:\How To Map\How to Map 1, or wherever you put it. Then right-click on GBR_adm2 and select Open Attribute Table. This will open a box with the attribute tabl…
How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…called How To Map 1, so the address where it is saved is C:\How To Map\How to Map 1. To get our country outline into ArcMap we need to Add Data. To do this either click File > Add Data > Add Data or select the Add Data icon. This will open a box; click this icon till you reach ‘Home – Documents/ArcGIS’: From here click on Folder Connections. This is where you will connect folders from elsewhere on your computer to ArcMap. Click on this icon: and s…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…tely stunned. Henry explains that this lady would need to make the journey to town 2 or 3 times a week, leaving her home one day, staying with another Batwa community overnight and returning the next. Extraordinary. Getting a lift in the van saved her half a day’s walk. The van pulls up on the track and Henry says we are there – or nearly there. The village is just up here he says, pointing to the top of the hill which looms high above us. We can…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…of the roots of Bob Dylan… https://youtu.be/iRQlHbyzoKM https://youtu.be/9Qx_vs2Uw-U https://youtu.be/bmFyePat-VY https://youtu.be/HRXyT1czwG8 https://youtu.be/4jnrLn92SxA And with the Jose recording, we officially finished our November field trip, which took us to Rwanda, Uganda and Lake Victoria. Tomorrow we head back to Nairobi where we will be greeted by the Batwa singers and musicians we invited back to record in the studio. They have been tr…
Music of the Kalenjin: video playlist News
…pchoge Keino, chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee and the first African to win an Olympic gold medal (Mexico City 1968 in the 1500m). Video playlist The trip was facilitated by the generous support of donors to our charity the Abubilla Music Foundation. …
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…ight: Steve, Winyo (with Bone Guitar), Andy and Tabu. After this shameless tourist stop we head out towards Siaya. We’re still roughly 1 PM on the Lake Victoria clock, 90 minutes NW from Kisumu, but on a slightly different road than Rang’ala. We’re here to focus on the Nyatiti, the core Luo instrument – as played by the best players it is a bass, drum and rhythm guitar combined. And we saw some of the best players. We want to remind you first…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…amming our Pelicases in the back of the van and heading to the studio where Winyo was doing his Michael Jackson impression: Once the equipment was loaded, the Ketebul guys got the big truck… In terms of the trip to Kisumu, a picture is worth a thousand words… we will say no more on the topic: Tomorrow we get back to recording. That is a very good thing. The Singing Wells Team 27 November 2011…
Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga News
…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 …
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…his hand made guitar… And his growing fan base…. And that was that for our trip to Kisoro. We have lots of music, lots of video and lots more stories to tell. But we want to keep disciplined and report daily, so forgive us if we can’t give you everything at once. Over the coming weeks, these blogs will be filled with the music and videos and far more background on the project and the Batwa. For now leave for Nairobi again and then, on Sunday, trav…
Gary Barlow, Ayub Ogada and our very own global song News
…ound again. The global remix of the song features musicians from Sao Paulo to London to Nairobi, with lyrics in both English and Swahili. Musical styles are mixed – from the violins in London to Brazilian drums to the Kenyan nyatiti courtesy of Ayub Ogada. You can read all about the making of the global remix of ’71 hours’ here but in the meantime, have a look at the video which tells the story and was released for the launch of the Singing Wells…
Gary Barlow, Ayub Ogada & the Diamond Jubilee song News
…ere delighted to hear that Gary followed Andy’s advice and met Ayub on his trip to Kenya this week. Here he is speaking about it to Chris Evans on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show (22nd March). Click here to listen: Gary Barlow speaking from Kenya on Radio 2 Kothbiro If you’ve never heard the song Kothbiro here it is – we think you’ll love it as we’re sure Gary Barlow does. Magical Kenya If you’re going to Kenya on holiday we recommend you visit the M…
Kenya’s Great Rift Valley & the Kalenjin tribes News
… Photos and music from the Singing Wells trip to Kenya’s Great Rift Valley to record the music of the Kalenjin tribes. To read more about the field recording trip click here. …
A Batwa song in celebration of Uganda News
…e recorded the music of six communities in the Kisoro district. One of our favourite songs was one about Uganda – a song of the Batwa sung in celebration of their cherished county. When we invited some of the Batwa to Nairobi to record in the Ketebul Music studios, we asked them to perform a version of the song for our Influences series, accompanied by Jesse Bukinda on guitar and Winyo on vocals. Here it is….. …
Day 4: UOBDU and the Birara Dancers Story
…was walking from town back to her village. Yes, she walks the 46 kilometer round trip 3-4 times a week, often carrying goods to market or returning with food for the village. This was our first introduction to ‘Batwa Fitness.’ Along the way to the village we passed beautiful lakes nestled amongs the green hills – here’s one that we effectively drove completely around to get to the village. This is one of the many views of Lake Chou – 15 of our 23…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…serve the musical legacy of East Africa; we are trying to make it relevant to today’s artists. Our ‘Influences’ sessions seek to demonstrate the extraordinary power of this tribal music in relation to today’s music. Chief Sound Engineer: Commands the audio team and is in charge of input for all sessions and for completing all finished audio for that day. Assistant Engineer: In charge of set up/breakdown of set and assisting Chief Sound Engineer on…
News from the Batwa in Kisoro News
…t from those photos. The field visits is about to end while showing the photos to all the communities who performed music. Below are there comments None of us were expecting this We are happy to see ourselves and our friends Gasoda holding the pot its real. Gasoda looks exactly the way he always appears The Batwa who went to Nairobi were happy to see themselves in photos once again. Thanks to UOBDU and Singing Wells for sending this Album to us Se…