How to Map 1: Housekeeping News
…icially a shapefile is “a vector data (points, lines, or polygons) storage format for storing the location, shape, and attributes of geographic features. A shapefile is stored in a set of related files and contains one feature class”. Simply put, it’s the kind of file that maps are saved as. When you’re browsing files within ArcMap, a shapefile will appear like one tidy little file with a cute green icon. If you’re looking elsewhere in your comput…
Day 3: Homa Bay and the Kochia Dancers Story
…glory are the Kochia Dancers who dance in the Ramogi style of dance (ref: for a great article on the Ramogi dance of the Luo, by Helen Odwar, click here): https://youtu.be/_qVuMFLJ9-M https://youtu.be/pwVlHnpw8Io https://youtu.be/B_M_OFRzDoU https://youtu.be/6AjxDKLPLkg https://youtu.be/2iGUcQRLRp4 Photo gallery Here is the chief drummer… Here is the coolest Kochia Dancer you will ever meet in Homa Bay: The band in full dance: One of the dancers…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…all instruments, accompanied by dancers and back up vocals; here he is performing….and posing for a portrait: He gathered a big audience….and The Singing Wells team poses with his band: https://youtu.be/9lnuEPTo1No https://youtu.be/RfDGq0WpDMk https://youtu.be/CyAm45yHzE0 https://youtu.be/JY0a4W0-8ME https://youtu.be/8canGj0fxXo The Village as ‘set’ We try hard to bring you a sense of the beautiful villages that serve as our recording studios. Ou…
Day 1: The music of the Luo – starting at Rang’ala Village Story
…singer Ogoya Nengo. We’re about 90 minutes northeast of Kisumu, our ‘base’ for two days. We are here to record the Sega Sega Band (Benga Style) and the Do Do Band (Do Do), both Luo musical styles; the Luo are Kenya’s third largest tribe, making up about 13% of the population. The Sega Sega Band Led by Osumba Rateng. This is Benga style, originating from the Luo tribes, as they gradually built on the percussive/bass sounds of the Nytati to form som…
Christine Kamau – “The Jazzist” News
…stine BBC Africa Beats: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17831507 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thejazzist Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/christinekamau …
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…si families and forced them to slaughter every family member. Mothers were forced to kill each of their children before they were slaughtered themselves. Rape was used to humilate and torture. Many rapists had AIDs and knowingly infected their victims. Long after the slaughter was over, the victims of rape continued to die in the thousands from AIDs. But most were burned or hacked to death long before. The ‘lucky ones’ died of AIDs. The memorial h…
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…e of our hosts from the hotel then join the group for the second shot. Now for a formal photo with Jesse, Jimmy, Francis and Tabu The ladies came to work on an ‘Influences’ session with Winyo. Here, they put down their track. Not at all phased by the use of headphones and mics, they take everything in there stride, performing a number of takes as the song develops. We start by giving them a simple click to follow the beat but quickly realised that…
Day 5 (much later): The Micyingo Group – guitar and bass! Story
…singing groups… This man was a wonderful dancer and he took centre stage. For us, he symbolised the essence of how life is for the Batwa today – a very hard life, but a life full of spirited song and dance… and this lady is their wonderful lead vocalist… https://youtu.be/pZzgr2PXZ3s https://youtu.be/gt4_CaZNN2c Then the guitar and bass took to the stage….if you are wondering where the bass is, the plastic bag turn out to be significant. We were…
Day 5 (PM): The ‘Togetherness Group’ from Kanyabukunga Story
…e audio team for the day, Andy and Willie, deploy the essential sun shield for the mixing desk. They also found an additional use for the Pelicases, and Winyo’s guitar case, as mixing table and chairs! This little girl sensibly brought an umbrella for a sunshade……and happily accepted some much needed water: And here’s a very special young lady from this community – Fiona Nyiraguhirwa. Fiona has been sponsored by UOBDU through Junior School. Everyo…
Gary Barlow, Ayub Ogada & the Diamond Jubilee song News
…have to admit to playing a small but hopefully significant part in Gary’s search for talented Kenyan musicians. We were asked by Gary’s production team for some advice about Kenyan music and our very own Andy Patterson suggested Ayub Ogada who we met in 2011 just as Singing Wells was launched (you can read our blog post here). Ayub, a musician from the Luo tribe, plays a traditional instrument called the Nyatiti and performed the beautiful and ha…
Day 5: Recording the Mperwa Dancers Story
…he lead in most dances… While spectators from every generation take a seat for the performance… Here are the videos: https://youtu.be/zFjbdw9j1io https://youtu.be/W_VV8xEYziM https://youtu.be/t8Ui32w_NbI https://youtu.be/QHo5Eb2Az20 https://youtu.be/wxzzC5qcweU https://youtu.be/mhzNpJLsZFA https://youtu.be/h_mVjup7_6s https://youtu.be/1zjh68iNClw Jessie leads the first Influences session and Winyo accompanies the lead singer and drummer on another…
Day 4 (later): Recording for ‘Influences’ with the Birara Dancers Story
…d remembers through music. But few peopele are there to listen and each performance runs the risks of being forever lost. With our mobile studios, we are able to take the studio to them, working in their environment to capture as best we can the music and dance of their community. It is important to note that these sessions are incredibly important to these communities. It is no exaggeration to say that most of them live to dance, live to sing. Wh…
Day 4: UOBDU and the Birara Dancers Story
…me were tilled, others in full bloom, so we faced a beautiful patchwork of terracotta and green. These are the predominate colours of this trip. The dance site itself was no less beautiful: We then set up the ‘studio’ ready to record the Birara Dancers: The key sound engineers do a final check before we begin: Steve, Andy and Jesse do a final sound check before we begin. https://youtu.be/l-1IG790EOs https://youtu.be/u38YYaTQMIY https://youtu.be/…
Day 3: From Nairobi to Kigali to Kisoro Story
…can go. Traveller’s Rest: We stayed at the Traveller’s Rest, a hotel famed for being a meeting place for gorilla observers. They write about this on their website: “In 1955 Travellers Rest was bought by Walter Baumgartel, and quickly became a meeting place for people interested in the mountain gorilla. Amongst them was ‘gorilla-woman” Dian Fossey, who said: “Walter’s hotel was an oasis to many scientists who came here before me.”. Fossey visited t…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…bubilla Music Jimmy Allen, Founder of Abubilla Music & Video Engineer for Singing Wells Andy, Chief Sound Engineer, Abubilla Music Vicki, Project Manager, 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 wo…
Diamond Jubilee Pageant at Windsor Castle News
…11‘ and features music videos from our field trips to the Coastal Region and Nyanza Province. We are grateful to our friends at the Kenya Tourist Board and Hills Balfour for arranging this for us and giving Singing Wells a presence at this wonderful cultural celebration. …