Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…arranged all travel papers by the 30th. They then left the morning of the 30th and travelled by private van from Kisoro to Kampala, arriving in Kampala the same evening. They spent the night in Kampala and left the morning of the 1st of December and arrived in Nairobi in the afternoon of the second. ‘They’ were five ladies and five babies and three men, plus Henry. 14 people drove for roughly 48 hours to sing. Second, let’s introduce the team. Eac…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…ing three very different groups: the Otacho Young Stars, The Kanindi Jazz Band and Jose Kokeyo himself. The Music Groups The Otacho Young Stars The first group were four young men, playing in the Orutu style. First, let’s introduce them: from left to right, they were playing the Sanduku (Luo: Nyangile, which literally means ‘box’) Orutu, the metal ring (Kengele in Swahili and Ongeng’ in Luo) and a very happy backing vocalist (who also played the N…
How To (Arc)Map News
…e it. To that end, Singing Wells will be blogging about how to use ArcMap 10 and what exactly we’re doing with it, so anyone with access to it can understand and follow along (and that includes members of the Singing Wells team itself). Watch this space for future posts, and if you’re interested in ArcMap, you can find out more here. You can also check out their non-profit organisations’ scheme, which allows registered charities access to software…
Day 3: Homa Bay and the Kochia Dancers Story
…session with Winyo and Jesse on guitar: And that concluded the afternoon with the Kochia Dancers. The Singing Well Team 30 November 2011…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…tps://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. Our recordings are delightfully accompanied by cows and chickens expressing their inner musical selves. And that’s okay, because that is how the music is played and enjoyed. The audience gather round the ‘stage’ with a t…
Where the hell is Matt? 2012 News
…Matt Harding’s new video is an inspiration – he’s done something very special to bring people together through music and dance and show that, despite our many differences, dancing is something that brings happiness to everyone. If you haven’t seen it already, here’s the wonderful new video….. Where the Hell is Matt? 2012…
Day 1: The music of the Luo – starting at Rang’ala Village Story
…vA-sSgurw https://youtu.be/VOhmHrO8E7s https://youtu.be/jQsCd_U717c https://youtu.be/FOj8jQDOqhI https://youtu.be/qfB0NCW5v-0…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…en, however, but arrived about 7:10. We exited and then walked across the 100 metre ‘no man’s land’ to the Rwandan side, leaving the cars to come through separately. We check in with police and then go to Rwanda passport control to enter. This is now 7:20 or so and a big crowd is forming but luckily, as we were so early arriving,we got through okay. By about 7:40 we were done, but the cars were not yet allowed to pass, as the Uganda exit border ha…
The Batwa Trail News
…mmunity fund to cover school fees and books, and assist in the purchase of new land for the Batwa. The tour encourages the practice of traditional skills such as sourcing medicinal plants, making bamboo cups and using bows and arrows – skills which are being lost as the Batwa integrate with the surrounding communities. The income provides an alternative to illegal poaching in the park’. Click here for the Batwa Trail website The Batwa Trail video…
Samba Mapangala & Orchestra Virunga News
…Records. We first met Samba in Kenya, on a recording trip as part of The Singing Wells project. He sang as part of a ‘Welcome’ concert put together by our friends at Ketebul, along with Winyo and Ayub Ogada. We’ll bring more news on his new album as we have it, but until then you can view his tour dates on the Abubilla Music events calendar – just click here For a profile on Samba Mapangala click here …
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…Kamuntu Moses Group. They only performed two songs for us but each lasted 20 minutes and involved frenetic dancing follows by a set of ‘James Brown style’ falls to the floor from the principal dancers, only to be revived again by the drummers. Simply amazing. Their drums were the key to their style – reviving them each time they fell from ‘James Brown’ exhaustion: https://youtu.be/1et4E7lKojA https://youtu.be/1BvCwhX2ctM The Kabahena Group had a…
Day 5 (much later): The Micyingo Group – guitar and bass! Story
…d song. But then, they switched gears and set up a smaller group of ‘bass’ and guitar and absolutely blew us away… They started as wonderful large group moving through a set of songs, including ‘Imparake Yagahinga’, the National Park song, which is a staple of the Batwa 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 o…
Day 5 (PM): The ‘Togetherness Group’ from Kanyabukunga Story
…he energy of each vigorous tribal dance. While the 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…
Day 5: Recording the Mperwa Dancers Story
…her hut! The children like to get involved in what we are doing. These young boys enjoy exclusive access to the sound recording area, keeping a close eye on Andy and Willie and enjoying listening to the live performance through their headphones……
Day 4 (later): Recording for ‘Influences’ with the Birara Dancers Story
…e region. Most of the music is ‘trapped’ in remote villages – everyday in 100’s of villages across East Africa wonderful performances occur as the community celebrates, mourns and 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 co…
Day 4: UOBDU and the Birara Dancers Story
…and we were told we’d need to take our equipment ‘up the hill’ another 1,500 metres to the top. It was at least 500 metre rise in elevation. We told you about ‘our gear’ but forgot to mention that it is NOT light. There were 10 of us and 7 heavy bags, plus the generator. We tried to take the equipment up but were quickly done in my altitude and the slippery red mud of the region. Several young Batwa boys came down, grabbed our equipment and ran u…