Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…s and naturally join in when others are singing. There isn’t any formal training in tribal music. It is mother to child.” Tabu goes on to describe the role of tribal music,” Their music is a ‘way of life’. They use music for communication, passing on information and entertainment. Music is always present when there is a birth, a death, a wedding or other ceremony. Each tribe will have unique stories to tell of their history, of war, of famine etc…
How to Map 3: Prepare Your Data News
…anised and formatted so it’s worth sorting that out first. Import the data into ArcMap. Join the data to the country outline shapefile. Export the joined data and shapefile as a new shapefile. Display the data. Prepare the data To demonstrate I’ll be using some nonsense data about the number of unicorns in each county of Britain, but if you’ve been following along using a different country and your own data then carry on with that. If you want to…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…part of the trip to take on that role; on Wednesday we changed the flights into my name and on Sunday I found myself on a plane to Nairobi to meet Jimmy and Andy who had flown out the day before. It’s midnight in Nairobi when I arrive at the Fairview Hotel – in torrential rain. Jimmy and Andy have been working in the Ketebul Studio all day and are ready to retire for the night. We say a quick hello and arrange to meet for breakfast at 7.00am. Tomo…
How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…saved is now: C:\How To Map\Country Outlines\UK. Getting your map outline into ArcMap Open ArcMap and select Cancel – you want to create a new map rather than opening an existing one. This will give you the completely blank ArcMap screen. Before we do anything else, we’re going to save our map. Like all your other GIS files it needs to be saved on the C: drive. It’s also a good idea to put it in a folder of its own because it will start to collec…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…dj Mbirikimu Mbarushimana – “Challenger” The magic bass player (beat boxes into a pot) with Tiny Moses. Great backing vocals as well. Mbirikimu Mbarushimana Gaudancia (and baby Stella) A wonderful singer from the group ‘Togetherness’ who we recorded in the empty (good news) refugee camp outside of Kisoro. She sang with each of the groups over the weekend. Gaudancia Kampire And here were the results of our efforts! The Singing Wells Team 4 Decemb…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…d in the studio. They have been travelling since Tuesday, November 29th, by bus from Kisoro to Kampala to Nairobi. We will see them tomorrow night and begin to record them on Saturday, 3 December. The Singing Wells Team 1 December 2011…
Day 3: Homa Bay and the Kochia Dancers Story
…of opportunities to wash and you’ll notice a lot shots of us in the same Singing Wells t-shirt – but luckily not yet fish. Fish would turn their noses at us. Our set, below, with recording equipment set up under the bar and the dancers ready to do their stuff… The Kochia Dancers Today is all about dances, so our videos will be much better than still photographs. Let us introduce you to the dancers; here in full glory are the Kochia Dancers who da…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
We are based in Kisumu, at the Nyanza Club, deep into Luo-land tribal music. Today we are focusing on some of the best Nyatiti and Oruti players around. And we discovered the Keith Moon of Luo drumming. Woke up at the Nyanza Club, outside Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria. This is the view of Lake Victoria we face in the morning before we set out to the next village, Saiya: As we will do six times on this trip, we pass the equator. We can’t…
Day 1: The music of the Luo – starting at Rang’ala Village Story
…e/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 Cuban music. The big guy in Luo Benga was Daniel Owino Misiani who developed the style in the 60’s. A big reason to return to Luo-lands is to trace back to the origins of Benga, understanding in more detail the core instruments. Here, we almost start at the end, recording Osumba…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…for ‘being prepared.’ ‘ Roadside Occupations: We can also divide the roads into various roadside industries. The road to Mombassa is peppered with small villages selling charcoal at the road side – vans travel up and down the road buying big white bags of charcoal. The road from Kigali to Kisoro is dotted with brick makers – you see them dig up the right earth, make the bricks, dry the bricks and ultimately sell them to the passing vans. You ain’t…
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…ces’ sessions with Francis, but we love this one, with Jessie and Francis singing together in the gardens of the Traveller’s Rest hotel in Kisoro. Please listen before reading the blog: https://youtu.be/c1XBVlNQL6E We also recorded a beautiful version of Amahoro with Jessie, Francis and the ladies. Francis and the ladies are happy to pose for a series of formal photos (each woman with her baby either cradled or on her back). Tabu and one of our…
Day 5 (PM): The ‘Togetherness Group’ from Kanyabukunga Story
…nior School. Everyone is hoping she will be able to continue her education into High School and beyond. She is a wonderful role model for the Batwa and is proving how, with the right opportunity, Batwa children can achieve the same educational goals as any other child. Here are the videos which include a Batwa song called ‘Abagyeni Beza’ which is in praise of visitors to the community, telling them that they are beautiful. A lovely song for us to…
Day 5: Recording the Mperwa Dancers Story
…ple arrive….and find our cameras and recording equipment interesting… The Singing Wells audio team – Nick, Andy & Willie – start to set up the mixing desk while Patrick and Steve place the mics… The group gathers in place and the lead vocalist starts her captivating performance.. This older gentlemen joins the performance and takes the lead in most dances… While spectators from every generation take a seat for the performance… Here are the videos:…
Day 4: UOBDU and the Birara Dancers Story
…in Uganda (UOBDU), where we met Henry Neza, the Capacity Development Co-ordinator, and Alice Nyamihanda, Tourism Officer and the first University graduate amongst the Batwa communities. They are to be our hosts and translators for the two days – we were lucky to be joined by Precious as well, Alice’s five month old daughter. Patrick photographs Alice and Precious with Winyo and Steve. And the SWP team pose at UOBDU proudly wearing our Singing Well…
Day 3: From Nairobi to Kigali to Kisoro Story
DAY 3: Today, we travelled from Nairobi to Kigali to Kisoro, arriving at the Traveller’s Rest Hotel by late eveningWe set off early so we could settle all custom issues with our equipment (we really wanted to return with it all!). We then took Kenyan Airlines (new plane with movies!) to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, population roughly a million. We were met by our drivers Arun and John and drove through heavy rains to the Rwanda-Uganda border cr…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…lights, visas, bags and customs and we were greated by Tabu Osusa. Checked into Fairview, had the obligatory fries in a chip basket and crashed. Day 2: 11.11.20 Day in Ketebul Studio: Jimmy and Andy meet the SWP team at Ketebul Studios to coordinate all the gear and prepare for our trip the next day and, importantly, to set out the 2012 Fund Raising Song, which will be a follow up to 71 Hours to Monday, which was our 2011 Funding Raising Song. Her…