News from the Batwa in Kisoro News
…and our friends Gasoda holding the pot its real. Gasoda looks exactly the way he always appears The Batwa who went to Nairobi were happy to see themselves in photos once again. Thanks to UOBDU and Singing Wells for sending this Album to us See how we were dressed it is exactly the one I was addressed. In the Camera you can see everything, One was showing another one and said, See this one, you can not know that he is the husband of Nkumbuye, he i…
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
…c was beautiful and the artists fantastic. But they were also older and no one from this generation was actively participating. There’s a complete disconnect in East Africa between traditional music and new music. And this is going to kill our traditions. In South Africa and West Africa, the best modern artists are completely rooted in the heritage of their country. Their music is fresh and relevant, but the traditions are completely built into th…
Kathy’s reflections on her Singing Wells experience News
…to travel with. When things went wrong like our car breaking down or microphones not working, they took it in their stride and came up with solutions. A great bunch of people. I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and heard a lot of wonderful music. In particular it was wonderful to see the fusion of old tribal music with contemporary music in the field and in the studio in Nairobi. The one thing that I learned on this trip was how important it is to tal…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…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 Jimmy…
Interview with Fifty Cows – fixer for Singing Wells News
…unner and has won the London Marathon. She uses sport to woo the warriors away from fighting. She encourages using their strength and endurance in sport and not in violence. He stayed at the Seminary for four years but eventually decided this was not the way to bring peace. Even though he is a Christian he did not feel the tribes would be convinced to put down their weapons in the name of Jesus. It wouldn’t make sense to them to stop fighting beca…
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
…he music. Three things to report…. The Village Sita is about 15 kilometres from Malindi, which 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 fourt…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…ship of Ketebul and Abubilla): Kothbiro: Ayub Ogado. This is the song everyone remembers from the Constant Gardner. Written by the legendary Ayub Ogado. He opened the ‘meeting’ and this was his final song. The instrument you hear is the nyatiti (a lyre-like stringed instrument) which he played. Marina, Samba Mapangala: This is the song that Samba opened his piece with. He followed Ayub Ogado who played percussion throughout. There was a lot of dan…
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…back home to visit because it’s much simpler, clean and safe. He graduated from High School in 2006 from Mirogi Boys High School and then went to University at the MOI Southern Nyanza Campus, graduating in 2010 in Information Technology. In 2008, he moved down to Nairobi and therefore had to travel back and forth over next couple years to finish his degree in Information Technology. While in Nairobi his first job was a three month internship with…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…the singers and, for example, the young woman in Ben Kisinja’s group came from Kitale, about an hour’s drive away. She was happy to see that people of all ages were committed to this tribal music. She’s interested in using some of this tribal music in her documentary. She was also impressed by how well the Singing Wells group worked together, especially when it rained and we had to pack up fast! An interview with Jackie Lebo Jackie works alon…
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…ecessary expertise and equipment to do full field recordings (up to 8 microphones and 3 digital cameras) throughout East Africa. PROJECT BENEFITS TO EAST AFRICA : We are on a journey. When we started, we knew the critical importance of capturing the cultural legacy of East Africa with tribal music, before it was lost to all of us forever. We were reminded of the importance of this in December, when one of the most extraordinary musicians we’ve rec…
Recording music & dance of the Batwa News
…st, the Batwa were forced to live in areas not suited to their traditional way of life. They became largely excluded from Ugandan society. Batwa communities suffered from poverty and exclusion and were offered little stake in the tourist industry which has developed in forests where they once lived. The plight of the Batwa in Uganda is now being recognized and there are initiatives in place to support their communities and help them reclaim thei…
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…, modern technology can greatly enhance these acoustic sources of music if one chooses to start from there. Imagine the sound of the Chechemeko Raha group with that insistent chime of their multi-shakers; it would serve well on a recording with prudent arrangement. It doesn’t take knowledge in ethnomusicology to cherish the end result.” We kept an ongoing blog of our recording sessions, which involved visits to four separate villages and the recor…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…o allow them to undertake the trip to this remote area of North West Kenya, 800 km from Nairobi and home to the Turkana and Samburu tribes and the original ‘singing wells’. When Steve Kivutia (Ketebul Music) presented the idea of recording music at the Festival to the AMF, it seemed a perfect fit with the objectives of the Singing Wells project and the trustees were happy to approve a grant to cover the costs of travelling to the Festival with the…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Pato News
…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 Jimmy was. 71hours to Monday is the title of the song t…