Day 3: From Nairobi to Kigali to Kisoro Story
…untain gorillas. It is a completely land locked country. It shares Lake Victoria with Kenya and Tanzania. Crossing the Border: Rwanda was colinised by the Germans and Belgians, Uganda by the British. The result? As you cross the border between the two countries you switch sides of the road. Our drivers had left hand side drive, which was fine in Uganda, but meant that those in the passager side were left in the ‘middle of the road’ driving around…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…ms and we were greated by Tabu Osusa. Checked into Fairview, had the obligatory fries in a chip basket and crashed. Day 2: 11.11.20 Day in Ketebul Studio: Jimmy and Andy meet the SWP team at Ketebul Studios to coordinate all the gear and prepare for our trip the next day and, importantly, to set out the 2012 Fund Raising Song, which will be a follow up to 71 Hours to Monday, which was our 2011 Funding Raising Song. Here’s a reminder of 71 Hours………
Photos from the pilot phase Story
…We promised a final set of pictures and some further reflections. And we deliver. …
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…real job and is pushing advertisements toward me. A real job to her is doctor, lawyer, teacher – not someone involved in music. In terms of something surprising, I have two birthdays. All my life I knew my birthday was December 12. But when I went to secondary school I had to bring my birth certificate. It said December 15th. So my actual birth date is December 12, but my recorded birthday is December 15th, when my mum actually filled in the form…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 – recording in the village of Kibarani Story
…g and dancing in the Koringongo style. They used the Marimba, a wooden xylophone. Wonderful lead vocals, very Islamic sound… 4 the Mzinga, featuring the Marimba …with lots of the children The Children Our routine is now established. We drive into a village and meet the musicians and begin setting up. We are about 10 folks and the musicians are another 10-15. We then start the first song and by the end of the session we are generally surrounded b…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…is on the Kenyan eastern coast, against the India Ocean. It has a long history, is mostly Muslim and has been ‘discovered’ by everyone including Chinese Emperor’s in the 1400’s. Sita is a very small village with about 200 people; we recorded in a subset of the village, where all of Bado‘s brother’s and sisters lived with their families. Bado is the fourth son of Nyerere Wa Konde, who runs the Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club and is the village elder….
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…t in the room. 50 years of East African music, the hand-off of one generation to the next. Massive respect for each others talent and an amazing evening 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 le…
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…rybody’. I am the intern and everyone bosses me around. But with the clapperboard I get to yell “All QUIET!” so now I can tell everyone to look at me and do what I say!’…
Best of Singing Wells 2011 News
…n 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 see and hear more on our YouTube channel : Singing Wells on YouTube or on Soundcloud: Singing Wells on Soundcloud SWP – The best of 2011 by singingwells …
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…udio equipment kit was extremely good, including when working with a generator. B) but we needed to raise additional funds to significantly upgrade our video capabilities. In this early pilot, we did a very good job of ‘preserving’ the cultural heritage of the region, but also discovered the importance of what we called ‘Influences’ sessions, where we work with local tribal artists to create more contempory songs. Read more here. The first video i…
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. …
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…ional costumes, arts and crafts, dances and music to each other and to visitors. Combined with the stunning geographical characteristics and the very limited general knowledge on the Lake Turkana region, the presentation of the cultural traditions makes the Festival a unique and fascinating experience for everyone involved.’ Steve’s objective is to record the music of all 10 performing groups. All the material will be taken back to the Ketebul Stu…
More Ketebul voices…Steve reports from the field News
…oad trip was delivered, and Maddo, chairman of Ketebul Music board of directors, had to drop off the owner who intended to test Maddo’s skills behind the wheel. Tabu took off with Jimmy and Andy and headed to Sippers for drinks and dinner and a musical performance by Samba mapangala, Winyo, and Ayub Ogada, that he had organized to welcome our friends from Abubilla. We all joined them later, and I couldn’t believe how late it was when we finally le…