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…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…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’s 15…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
A message from Henry Neza at UOBDU News
…od 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 new clothes and shoes, which improved their social status among the dominant tribes here. This…
Sad News from Kenya News
Happy New Year 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 fro…
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…
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…t: To accomplish these objectives, we’ve divided the Singing Wells Project into distinct phases – these phases are meant to pilot different aspects of the project and adjust our objectives/approach as we learn. There are five phases of the project between our launch in September 2010 and the completion of our second set of DVD’s/CD’s in March 2012: Phase One: Sept-Dec 2010: Establish Digital Footprint for the Project: We built the websites for Ket…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…urkana Cultural Festival to collect new audio and visual material for the Singing Wells project. The Abubilla Music Foundation (AMF) was pleased to be able to provide the funds to allow them to undertake the trip to this remote area of North West Kenya, 800 km from Nairobi and home to the Turkana and Samburu tribes and the original ‘singing wells’. When Steve Kivutia (Ketebul Music) presented the idea of recording music at the Festival to the AMF,…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Pato News
…since Malindi is famous for tuk tuks (3 wheeled motorbike taxis) I jumped into one with Winyo and Jesse and headed back to Paradise Hotel. Day 4: Off to Kilifi Everyone was glad to checkout of Paradise Hotel but what was funny was the look Andy gave the receptionist at Paradise Hotel when he asked us to visit again. The day’s program was long because we had four groups to record, two in Kilifi and the two in Kaloleni, Mombasa. We left early picke…