Day 4: UOBDU and the Birara Dancers Story
…erracotta 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/uNeC4Dw4bu0 https://youtu.be/9FZeFgg4jKI https://youtu.be/VhR6f97o_6o https:…
Day 3: From Nairobi to Kigali to Kisoro Story
…the hotel as her “second home.” The photo shows us ‘on the road’ between Rwanda and Uganda, about to climb the second mountain range, just as the rains hit. We arrived safely, obviously, but hydro-planed a little too often, a little too close to 1,000 foot drops. We are now in the heart of gorilla country, surrounded by trekkers who have come to see the beautiful silver back males. But we are here to record the Batwa tribes, who were displaced fro…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…team in the studios for a day . Day 1: 11.11.19, Flight to Nairobi: Jimmy and Andy, Founder and Sound Engineer of Abubilla Music respectively, set out to Nairobi on Saturday for Nairobi. All good with flights, visas, bags and customs 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 coordinat…
Diamond Jubilee Pageant at Windsor Castle News
…r ‘Best of Singing Wells 2011‘ 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. …
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
…he 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 years at…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…n 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 150 pictures more for every one we show, but the internet is too slow to keep posting…
Interview with Fifty Cows – fixer for Singing Wells News
…how to live a good life and be honourable. They are mainly from the 1950’s and 60’s and sound a bit like the Beatles. He doesn’t have recordings of older tribal music. He is the first Kalenjin to ever be a radio presenter. He also presents talk radio programs where people can discuss their opinions about politics and tribal conflicts. The radio is listened to by many across the Kalenjin tribes. Every hut will have a radio and what is said on the r…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 continued…. Story
…d 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 our hosts who gradually led us through the town and…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 – recording in the village of Kibarani Story
…then start the first song and by the end of the session we are generally surrounded by 50-100 kids… Behind the Scenes We have good routines now: We set up our little tent (right) We set up mic stands We set up mics and while folks are setting up, Pato interviews the group leaders That’s it. We’ll follow up with this afternoon’s action in the next blog… Jimmy…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…There are about 7 houses, two cows, lots of chickens, groves of pea trees and lots and lots of children. All smiling all the time. The Music Groups We arrived and set up our tent, our two tables, our recording kit and our six mics. Andy ran the desk, supported by Jessie, Steve and Willie. Jimmy and Pato handled video, Winyo did a lot of photography and Tabu and Maddo watched (having retired after driving 10 hours the day before). Mwenzele – Nyere…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…tures: 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 Ketebul and Abubilla This was an evening to represent everything Ketebul is about – bringing new East African artists to the world, but rooting them in the generations of music that came before. This…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…our years after university Jackie went to Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and Washington DC to gain her MA in creative writing. She thoroughly enjoyed this programme and her education in the US. She feels that in Kenya children are taught well to memorise and take exams but not taught as well about to think and analyse. Jackie moved back to Nairobi in 2005 where she worked for a media company and also was head of a magazine, using her writing…
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…ring these sessions, by inviting contemporary artists to join the sessions and write and perform songs inspired by the village music and supported by the village musicians. Train a new generation of sound engineers during these sessions to learn mobile recording techniques so they can continue to capture village music Create a multi-media song library of these sessions available to music lovers and ethnomusicologists on line and through CD and DVD…
Discovering music roots with SWP News
…nres of music. Tabu and I were at the airport to receive James Jimmy Allen and Andy Patterson from Abubilla. I’d met Andy towards the end of 2010 on his first visit to Africa and we’d gotten on fine. I was looking forward to meeting Jimmy. Tall, burly American now domiciled in the UK. One look at him and I saw a professional we could do business with. I immediately loved his good nature too. We ferried them to their hotel and let them recover from…
Ketebul Music website launched News
…ists in their full glory and we think we’ve succeeded in our goal. Take a good look around the site to see how Ketebul Music is working to combine the traditional sounds of East African tribal music with the best of contemporary artists. And through Bandcamp, listen to or download the inspirational music of Kenya from artists such as Ontiri Bikundo and Makadem, or the 4 piece women’s group Bismillahi Gargar, whose aim is to remind people of their…