May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…s base their work on more acoustic instruments while taking advantage of today’s modern recording equipment rather than being totally reliant on it to produce “robotic” stuff. There shall exist modern, contemporary music and traditional music. The latter is sometimes viewed as “backward” and is not at the frontline of entertainment in a country such as ours – in fact one must go to great lengths to access it. It’s available on national days in sta…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…oth in the preparation and in the course of the Festival. During the three days Festival, representatives of the Rendille, El Molo, Pokot, Samburu, Turkana, Gabbra, Dassanech and Borana present their respective customs and living conditions, spectacular traditional 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 Tur…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Pato News
…especially as we shared our personal experiences of the trip to the coast. DAY 7: Ketebul Music studios It was around 1pm everyone was looking energetic from what am sure was a good night sleep, Jimmy and Andy were in the studio with Winyo and Ayub Ogada who is a famous nyatiti player and Bbishop a guitarist who is a member of Winyo’s band working on some deadly tunes to be released in the near future. I did not know how talented a song writer Jim…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Willie Bembe News
…ery tired so we let the big boys have their meeting at the Fairview Hotel. DAY 6 It’s our guest’s last day and we enjoy having last recording sessions with them at the studio. The “seventeen hour” song is very catchy and Jimmy is dancing all over the place as an African touch is added by Makadem, Winyo and Ayub Ogada. Andy is at the control desk being a magician after tearing down our studio so we can use the new equipment. Jimmy is an amazing son…
Discovering music roots with SWP News
…recover from the shock of encountering a moon directly overhead. The next day, Sunday, they were busy at our studios before we ushered them to Sippers Restaurant where we’d lined up a team of brilliant music performers to welcome them and also accord them the opportunity to check if their hi-tech equipment would work well south of the Equator. Blow by blow accounts of the field recordings starting Tuesday March 29 to Thursday March 31 are availab…
More Ketebul voices…Steve reports from the field News
…meeting with one of our prospective donors, so we soon all retired for the day. Day 6: Diani to Nairobi The following morning we checked out of the hotel and loaded up the equipment and luggage into the cars. This time around I joined Tabu, Jimmy and Andy in car number 01 to talk shop on the drive back to Nairobi. Deche rode with us to Mombasa where we dropped him off. The drive to Voi served as a chance for us to reflect on the project and pin po…
What we learned from the pilot phase News
…ng truly amazing by combining the best of old and new. The Magic Moment on Day 1 when it all seemed worth it. We took a simple (very American sounding song) from Bado and blended it with his Dad’s styles to make something really special 3. And Lessons? What Need to Improve? We were glad we did the pilot because we did learn a lot. Here are the main lessons: Far more time on Visuals: We had under-estimated how beautiful the locations would be a…
Meet the team from Ketebul Music News
… Our ‘Throat to Choke’ on the project – Steve is responsible for day to day management. Jessie Bukindu: Senior Sound Engineer at Ketebul, Jessie will lead the studio work on Singing Wells, including the ‘Fusion’ projects: The ‘Sound of Ketebul,’ Jessie will lead many of the key ‘Fusion’ projects coming from Singing Wells Patrick Ondiek: Pato will lead the video/photography aspects of Singing Wells, including field cap…
Ketebul Music website launched News
…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 trad…
SWP Launch Day News
Today is launch day – the day we go live with the brand new Singing Wells website. And it’s a very exciting prospect, as the project starts in earnest from here. It’s particularly appropriate that we should launch today, as this week Kenya celebrates the 47th anniversary of independence, which was granted on 12th December 1963. And yesterday, I was very honoured to be a guest at a reception for Kenya National Day hosted by the High Commissioner i…