Day 4 (later): Recording for ‘Influences’ with the Birara Dancers Story
…where Winyo and other artists work with a sub-set of the tribe to create a new song. This is an altogether different way of recording and something very new and often scary to the tribal artists. They have to wear headphones to hear other instruments we recorded earlier. They have to sing into a mic. Often they are asked not to clap. Often they are asked not to dance while they sing. We do it to focus on sound quality, but we are fully aware that…
Day 3: From Nairobi to Kigali to Kisoro Story
…of the soil, which covers the roads, and seeps up the foundations of the houses, combined with the deep green of the vegetation. It is known negatively, of course, for the horrible 1994 genocide that was launched from its capital. Rwanda is roughly the size of the US state of Maryland, or Wales in Great Britian and has a population of 11.4 million. It’s econony was devasted by the genocide but is recovering; a major source of its recovery is the t…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…r, Singing Wells A note about the Singing Wells recording equipment: Because the ultimate goal of the Singing Wells Project is to helpother groups set up to expand the recording of tribal music in East Africa, we also use these blogs to also document our ‘way of working.’ The Gear: Let’s summarise what a the Singing Wells Kit is for a location shoot. We bring 7 bags to a site (the picture shows most of it); these are: SW1 and SW2: These are iden…
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…io to capture individual sounds. On the video side, we need a main crew focused on the performance and a secondary crew focused on Selling Wells, archiving the stories of the music and the artists. TO: The pilot was a success and proved we were right – take the studio to the talent not the other way around. This trip also confirmed that this mission is critical. As Steve said, the music was beautiful and the artists fantastic. But they were also o…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…MQA Muungano Kayamba The groups is led by Futuma Ali Mwacheruve, dancing and singing in the Kayamba style (which is also the name of the wonderful percussion). It was our first ‘harvest dance’ (Mavuno), which celebrated the harvest and the arrival of the new baby. Lots of ‘props’ including a baby doll, hay stack and lots of bowls of water and spices. Some final shots at our last village. Enjoy…. Winyo and the kids… That’s enough for now. There…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…in Sati, when Winyo joined Bado and his father, Nyerere wa Konde, to do a new song. Bado participates in his dad’s group, but separately records his own music. Bado’s music is great, propelled by his wonderful voice, but it’s American-sounding and could have been produced in LA. We asked him to do a song and he started singing one of his about a guy essentially asking a girl to be his… very urban hip hop and something you’d find in most major cit…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…vening that only Tabu could pull off. Amazing voice: We recorded video and used the mobile recording studio to record most of the concert. We’ll post this later. In the meantime, a couple of pictures: Winyo warms up with the Swiss Bone Guitar The Legendary Ayub Ogado …and his legendary goatee …and his legendary Nyatiti From left to right, Joyce, Alfred and Tabu. Joyce is from the Ford Foundation and supports Ketebul. Alfred helped introduce Ketebu…
Interview with Fifty Cows – fixer for Singing Wells News
…t boarder where singers and dancers from both tribes come together and perform. He feels this would bring a sense of unity and peace. He is a remarkable man and has used his past to shape his future and use it for good. Posted by Kathy Allen 9th March 2012 …
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…ired every two weeks and replace every two months. They lit fires in the house to cook. When he went to primary school Nick had to live with his grandmother in Abasuba because there was a school there. He started going to school when he was eight. He would go home to his parents in August and December for a month. He preferred being in his parent’s village. He liked village life because everything is free there. They grew their own food including…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…today as a first time observer. She was surprised these groups existed because she had never heard of them, even though she lives in the area. She was particularly impressed by Ben Kisinja who had a unique and animated way of performing. He played the pokondit, the guitar-like instrument, very well. She felt the older men were more soulful and she liked to hear their stories. She was also surprised how far some of the musicians had come to perform…
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…tion’ and the second is a taster of more contemporary music, which we have used for fund raising (they look the same because they share a screen shot, but they are different!) Lake Turkana Cultural Festival, Kenya: The Ketebul Music team travelled to Lake Turkana in May 2011 for the Singing Wells project and recorded some wonderful groups at the festival, particularly tribal dance. Read more about the Festival here. The Batwa Project in Kisoro…
A message from Henry Neza at UOBDU News
…clothes, seeds, utensils, bedding and tarpaulins to cover their leaking houses…… Eating good food among the Batwa families was also another priority for them. After the Singing Wells visit to Kisoro there was an opportunity for some of the Batwa to experience life outside their community when they visited the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi for more recordings. During this trip they were able to interact with the Ford Foundation and benefit from…
Sad News from Kenya News
…ear to all of those keeping track with the Singing Wells project. Some sad news. Okumu K’Orengo, one of the musicians we recorded in Kenya as part of the Singing Wells trip, had passed away. He was a master of the Nyatiti and performed for us in the village of Aluny, his final track on the day being a funeral dirge. We send our sympathies and condolences to his family and friends at this sad time. Here is an audio excerpt and video from his perfor…
AMF receive grant to fund Batwa recordings News
…atwa are fully and professionally documented, preserved for the future and promoted to a wide audience through all media platforms. We also intend that the SWP will provide a positive and lasting benefit for the whole Batwa community. The immediate benefit will be a source of new income as each of the music groups will receive a gratuity payment for their performances. The lasting benefit will be the preservation, awareness and appreciation of the…
Recording music & dance of the Batwa News
…atwa are fully and professionally documented, preserved for the future and promoted to a wide audience through all media platforms. We also intend that the SWP will provide a positive and lasting benefit for the whole Batwa community. The immediate benefit will be a source of new income as each of the music groups will receive a gratuity payment for their performances. The lasting benefit will be the preservation, awareness and appreciation of the…
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…ber Full Launch: Goal to design and build video recording equipment, train new sound and video engineers, complete the recording of 24-32 village groups and 4-5 new ‘Influences’ sessions. Phase Five: January-March 2012: Goal to complete an addition 3 CD’s, 3 DVD’s and a fuller archive of audio-video recordings and produce 5 ‘Influences’ songs. At the end of Phase Five, we will have developed two full on the ground audio-visual mobile recording u…