Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
Second day in Diani. Early morning trip to Vuga Kwale County, in a densely covered village, of deep red earth, light blue buildings and wonderful village life. Recorded our final two groups and packed up equipment for the long trip home. The village We recorded at the village’s central meeting place. Throughout recording, clothes were being washed, iron and hung to dry, meetings were being held, grain sifted, chickens chased about… We felt very m…
Interview with Fifty Cows – fixer for Singing Wells News
…Seminary to become a Catholic priest. He felt this would be a way to help promote peace between the tribes. He had too much experience with conflict and wanted a way to resolve it. He was involved with many peace negotiations between the Merekwet and the Pokot. Today he still goes to a yearly peace negotiation run by the Tegla Lorupe Foundation. Tegla Lorupe is a marathon runner and has won the London Marathon. She uses sport to woo the warriors…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 continued…. Story
…We’ve already reported on our morning… this blog covers our afternoon with our 5th and 6th groups… in an extraordinary setting on a river bank….
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 – recording in the village of Kibarani Story
This is our second day of recording and a full one. In this blog we report on the morning. We’ll give you a sense of the village, the groups, the kids and the ‘setup’… The Village This village was called Kibarani. We set up behind on larged thatched hut in an open field, filmed with cows (lots of mooing ended up on record), cow poo (lots of misteps), children, beautiful trees, chickens… but far off the main road, wonderful quiet and cool. This i…
Music of the Mijikenda: video playlist News
…In March 2011, the Singing Wells team travelled to the coastal region of Kenya for their very first field recording trip. The team recorded music from various groups representing the Mijikenda tribes. Video Playlist The trip was facilitated by the generous support of donors to our charity the Abubilla Music Foundation. …
Jimmy reporting on Kenya Rift Valley field trip (March 2012) News
…Back in Nairobi after the latest field trip, Jimmy files this report via Skype. Jimmy reflects on the recording trip and the weekend ahead in the studio with Ben Kisinja and the Otacho Young Stars. Jimmy reporting via Skype from Nairobi Date: 9th March 2012 …
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…rs’ to discover real music.” Nick’s favourite Singing Wells moment was the welcome we received at the home of Ogoyo Nengo in Rang’ala, Nyanza province. “She is a great artist and for her to welcome us to her home was a great honour. I felt so proud.” His worst moment was during the first day of recording on this trip to record the Kalenjin……when the rains came. In his typical wordy style Nick reported, ‘I was wet.’ When asked who from the team bos…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…s. An interview with Chela Lebo Chela was born and raised in Kitale, Kenya. She works with the Content House Education Trust to archive the history and progress of Kenyan runners. Chela has been working on the documentary project for the past four years. The programme follows two main runners – David Rudisha who won the 800m in the Beijing Olympics and Edna Kiplagat who is the world cross country champion. They are focusing mainly on their c…
Best of Singing Wells 2011 News
In 2011 we completed three field recording trips in Kenya and Uganda and also took the mobile recording studio to the Lake Turkana Cultural Festival. We’ve recorded over 150 songs from more than 25 local music groups and uploaded 36 videos 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 sma…
Matthew Morin News
…rida State University writing a dissertation on music and civil society in Kenya based on fieldwork conducted in Kenya 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 musico…
Why “Singing Wells”? News
…name came when Jimmy witnessed an extraordinary sight while travelling in Kenya – the real-life singing wells of the Samburu tribes people. The singing wells of the Samburu During the dry season, Samburu herdsmen (and boys) draw much needed water for their cattle from deep wells which they have dug in the parched river bed. As they pull water from these wells they begin to sing, a different song eminating from each well. The animals appear fr…
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…‘magic minute’ sessions: The Kalenjin project, Great Rift Valley, Kenya: Scheduled for March 2012, we will be travelling to the Great Rift Valley to record the music of the Kalenjin tribes. The majority the world famous Kenyan athletes are from this tribe and we will be capturing the traditional music of their region as they prepare for Olympic gold at London 2012. To date, we have recorded roughly 150 songs, across 25 tribal groups, wi…
Music of the Luo: video playlist News
…In December 2011, the Singing Wells team travelled to western Kenya on the shores of Lake Victoria to record the music of the Luo tribes. To read the daily field reports from this trip, click here . Video Playlist The trip was facilitated by the generous support of donors to our charity the Abubilla Music Foundation. …
Recording the Luo: photos & music News
…Music and photos from the Singing Wells field recording trip to Western Kenya, recording the music of the Luo tribes. …
Sad News from Kenya News
…roject. 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 performance in Aluny. The news of his passing is painful indicat…
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…s available on national days in stadia, at “boring” spots such as Bomas of Kenya and at traditional weddings or circumcision fetes deep in rural areas. I’d love to see big name entertainment spots in major towns across Kenya where one can easily be entertained by traditional troupes – who shall be reasonably remunerated for their efforts (and not depend on handouts from politicians who use them to spread their own skewed policies or lack of them i…