Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…in the evening we went to slippers to watch Winyo. We pumped some Tuskers into Andy and then relaxed a bit. He opened up more and we liked him. Andy now jumps in with a little more detail… AP: To be clear, that was the first time I’d been out of Europe and I was definitely nervous. The first night in the hotel, I practically curled myself up in the corner with a chair barring the door! I’m from the North and came south in 2001 and spend four year…
Kathy’s reflections on her Singing Wells experience News
…he trip. Kathy’s report from Kenya – March 2012 It was bit daunting coming into the Ketebul offices in the Go Down Art Centre on the first day. I had not met any of the people there and I wasn’t sure how I’d fit in. I need not have worried. Everyone was extremely welcoming and I could tell from the first day they were a professional group, had a common mission and were all dedicated. I enjoyed getting to know everyone and to hear what their views…
Interview with Fifty Cows – fixer for Singing Wells News
…ary and secondary school near there. He says it was a very challenging upbringing, not only because of his obligations to herd cattle and till the fields but also because of ongoing fighting between the Merekwet and Pokot. He often had to take months off from school to work in the community and to fight. From the age of eleven he was obligated to join the men of the village in their raids against the Pokot. He calls this war. The villages would ga…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 continued…. Story
…e were much closer to Mombasa in a densely populated town, Junda. We drove into this very densely back ‘village’ going deeper and deeper into the urban jungle on very potted roads, packed with pedestrians, bikes and frankly, a lot of suspicious folks somewhat unwelcoming of our two big trucks. None of us could imagine setting up recording equipment here and we weren’t sure how much we’d end up with if tried… But after a lot of false turns, we met…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…ngo (broken glass moved in a big bowl) and Ndema (2 brass rings played in ringing and muted tones) Mwenzele-Nyerere wa Konde Music Club Lungo (Bowl) and Ndema (rings) Zaire Ndindingwa The group is led by Fundi bin Kalale in the ndindingwa style. Wonderful percussionist using two shakers and a whistle (filimbi). https://youtu.be/cvpcFBTaoTo https://youtu.be/3bvGrAulYP4 The Fusion: In this first village we really confirmed the mission of Singi…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…arranged at Sippers. The music was fantastic and brought to life what the Singing Wells Project is all about. Let’s focus on the music. After all, it is all about the music and the concert that Tabu organised to celebrate the best in East African Music. This was the concert (actually Tabu called it a ‘meeting’ to celebrate the partnership of Ketebul and Abubilla): Kothbiro: Ayub Ogado. This is the song everyone remembers from the Constant Gardner….
Mufu Ndosi-Luvai – Crave Music News
…“I’m glad I came across Singing Wells. The production team goes all out to unearth East African traditional music, giving account of the people’s past and present through music. The recordings are a valuable treasure, since a lot of traditional African music often goes un-notated. Singing Wells is the much needed portal for ethnomusicology research in East Africa.” Publisher, Crave [music] Magazine. …
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…bonyo who is working as an intern at Ketebul Music. This is Nick’s second Singing Wells field recording trip where he is learning how to use the mobile recording equipment whilst also acting as photographer. He is now officially in charge of the ‘clapperboard’ – a role he is relishing. All about Nick Nick was born in 1988 in the village of Mirogi at the Mirogi Mission Hospital. He is Luo and unlike most of the younger engineers and artists at…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…s tribal music in her documentary. She was also impressed by how well the Singing Wells group worked together, especially when it rained and we had to pack up fast! An interview with Jackie Lebo Jackie works alongside Chela at the Content House Education Trust on the documentary about Kenyan runners. Her book ‘Running’ has been published by the Kwani Trust. Jackie is currently awaiting publication in the UK. She spent six year researching and…
Best of Singing Wells 2011 News
…of these performances to YouTube (so far). Every performance was unique and special – we loved them all – so picking just 10 songs for a ‘Best of’ album was not easy. Here are our final choices….it’s just a small reflection of what was an extraordinary year of recording music in East Africa. We hope you enjoy listening. Please get in touch and let us know what you think. Just send us an email – we’d love to hear from you. Email Victoria You can se…
Matthew Morin News
…and Tanzania during 2010 and 2011. He currently lives in Japan and is continuing research on music and civil society from a global perspective. Matt has been following the progress of the Singing Wells project since March 2011 when he met the team in Nairobi. He has praised the project for its ‘value to academic fields like musicology and anthropology in addition to the broader benefit of providing an open sourced educational resource, internatio…
Why “Singing Wells”? News
…mals 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. The singing wells illustrate the importance of traditional songs in the life of the Samburu tribes people. We think that ‘Singing Wells’ is a very good name for our project which aims to preserve, celebrate and share the unique mus…
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…now approaching the start of our second full year of field visits for the Singing Wells Project. It seems like a good time to step back to review the goals of the project and our progress and learnings. For those of you who are new to our work, this is a good place to start. OVERVIEW OF THE FIRST YEAR OF ACTIVITY: By the end of March 2012, we will have completed the following sets of field visits: March 2011 in Malindi, Kenya: This was our our pil…
Guy Morley – No Nation News
…Guy Morley is music programmer for the Big Chill festival – one of the highlights of the UK’s cultural calendar, and is the founder of No Nation, an independent arts programming, production and promotion company. No Nation has developed links across East Africa and has recently worked on a project for Sound and Music looking at the influence of early American country music in Africa. …
AMF receive grant to fund Batwa recordings News
…Institute of International Education has approved a grant to support the Singing Wells trip to Uganda to record the music and dance of the Batwa people. We are delighted that our proposal was successful and that the IIE agreed with our rationale for taking the project to the Batwa to increase awareness of their unique music and dance traditions. In our proposal, we outlined our rationale as follows: “The overall aim of the Singing Wells project i…
Recording music & dance of the Batwa News
…d Organsation for Batwa Development in Uganda. Rationale for taking the Singing Wells project to Kisoro, Uganda The overall aim of the Singing Wells project is to identify, record, preserve and promote the cultural music heritage of East Africa. In taking the project to Uganda to document and record the traditional music and dance of the Batwa, we can help to stem the tide which is threatening to obscure the music traditions of this ethnic gro…