Discovering music roots with SWP News
…awn shop. And any field job with local respondents needs a “fixer”. We had one in one Deche. Interesting fellow. He made sure we got the groups we were seeking. But by late afternoon of each day, he didn’t seem quite sober to me. On our last night, he almost dragged me out of the hotel for a “final night out” – he was buying, he repeated over and over again. I have never been known to refuse an offer for good old Tusker. But I fled. Deche, don’t w…
More Ketebul voices…Steve reports from the field News
…t compromising on sound quality. Mzinga were accompanied by a small wooden xylophone, the marimba. Mzinga After four captivating numbers from Mzinga, we quickly pulled down the set and set off for our second location. The drive would take us to Mombasa,where we would end up in the most interesting set of all so far. Junda. We first drove in to what seemed to be a very busy township with a very steep and treacherous gravel road to drive on. Every…
What we learned from the pilot phase News
…recording studios performed flawlessly and the sound we captured is truly extraordinary. We played back the songs to everyone that would listen and to a person people were amazed at the quality of the recordings. There’s the odd cow, or screams of kids raising around the village, but goodness -that is what this is all about. We used a generator throughout and easily isolated it so no noise leaked on to the recordings. We also used three separate v…
Testing the mobile recording equipment News
…is prolific in these communities and features superb drumming and athletic dancing. Katana Bin Kalama is a contemporary Giriama musician and his song ‘Nilipata Mzungu’ is featured on Ketebul Music’s Spotlight on Kenyan Music Vol.4. It’s a great example of the fusion of traditional tribal sounds and rhythms, in this case the Mijikenda, and contemporary Kenyan music. Click on the album cover to have a listen….
Ketebul Music website launched News
…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 traditional culture through song. …
SWP Launch Day News
…1963. And yesterday, I was very honoured to be a guest at a reception for Kenya National Day hosted by the High Commissioner in London, Mr Ephraim Ngare. It was a wonderful occasion, with a motivating speech from Mr Ngare about Kenya’s progress and the special relationship it shares with the UK. It made me feel very positive about the Singing Wells project and the connection we are making between London and Nairobi through music. So a big thank y…