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
…a shared passion for music and commitment to help even in a small way to revive the musical heritage of East Africa. It is not enough to archive. We must revive and refresh our great musical traditions. At this point, we are weaving in and out of cars and trucks coming at us at 140 kilometres an hour. Jimmy suggests that Tabu go back to focusing on the road so we arrive ‘refreshed’ in Nairobi. The rest of the car agrees. Jimmy, on the road between…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…cond day in Diani. Early morning trip to Vuga Kwale County, in a densely covered village, of deep red earth, light blue buildings and wonderful village life. Recorded our final two groups and packed up equipment for the long trip home. The village We recorded at the village’s central meeting place. Throughout recording, clothes were being washed, iron and hung to dry, meetings were being held, grain sifted, chickens chased about… We felt very much…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 continued…. Story
…The Group prepares for their performance… Sengenya The most energetic group by far, brought the house down, with wonderful dancing. Led by Munyaka Chimega, they danced in the style of Sengenya (which bears their name). Non-stop dancing, multiple songs and they didn’t want to stop (but we ran out of video!). Fantastic energetic dancers that we’ve only captured on video…. …and all the kids joined in… https://youtu.be/m0eG1EcIpNM The kids By now…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 – recording in the village of Kibarani Story
…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 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…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…s. We must also work to make the songs, the heritage, the culture relevant to today’s artists. Part of that mission then is to help create an East African musical identity to rival the South and West African successes. We had a taste of what this could be on March 29th in Sati, when Winyo joined Bado and his father, Nyerere wa Konde, to do a new song. Bado participates in his dad’s group, but separately records his own music. Bado’s music is great…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…d, but rooting them in the generations of music that came before. This seems a perfect send-off to record village music. We leave tomorrow at 9AM. Jimmy …
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…For those of you who are new to our work, this is a good place to start. OVERVIEW OF THE FIRST YEAR OF ACTIVITY: By the end of March 2012, we will have completed the following sets of field visits: March 2011 in Malindi, Kenya: This was our our pilot project, working our way across the Malindi coast recording 8 separate musical groups. Our major learnings here were: A) our audio equipment kit was extremely good, including when working with a gene…
A message from Henry Neza at UOBDU News
…aquire things like goats, clothes, seeds, utensils, bedding and tarpaulins to cover their leaking houses…… Eating good food among the Batwa families was also another priority for them. After the Singing Wells visit to Kisoro there was an opportunity for some of the Batwa to experience life outside their community when they visited the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi for more recordings. During this trip they were able to interact with the Ford Fo…
Sad News from Kenya News
…or us in the village of Aluny, his final track on the day being a funeral dirge. We send our sympathies and condolences to his family and friends at this sad time. Here is an audio excerpt and video from his performance in Aluny. The news of his passing is painful indicator of how important The Singing Wells project is, in its aims to preserve music….
AMF receive grant to fund Batwa recordings News
…sic heritage. The SWP will literally put the Batwa back on the map as we add their music and dance to the ‘Discover the Music’ map on the Singing Wells website. We will make the recordings available to other NGOs and ethnomusicologists and we hope this will, in time, provide new opportunities and sources of income for the Batwa. In planning our visit, we have worked closely with UOBDU and the Forest Peoples Programme to ensure that the Bawta commu…
Recording music & dance of the Batwa News
…d their homelands, cutting back the forest to provide land for crops and livestock. However, it was in 1991, with the creation of formal conservation areas outlawing all human activity in the forests surrounding the Virunga mountains, when everything changed for the Ugandan Bawta. Unable to live and hunt in the forest, the Batwa were forced to live in areas not suited to their traditional way of life. They became largely excluded from Ugandan soci…
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
In this note, we provide an overview of the Singing Wells Project, the results of our March Pilot and next steps leading to our November sessions. We are pleased to report that the March Pilot confirmed the basic building blocks of the Singing Wells Project: a) mobile recording in the villages works and creates great performances, b) we can bring contemporary artists and traditional musicians together to create wonderful new music and c) we ca…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…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 Turkana region, the presentation of the cultural traditions makes the Festival a unique and fascinating experience for everyone involved.’ Steve’s objective is to record the music of all 10 performing groups. All the material will be taken back to the Kete…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Pato News
…ng equipment that would be used in the field. Unfortunately it was only Steve from Ketebul Music and our director Tabu who had arrived. I was introduced to Jimmy and honestly I was expecting him to be a much older guy. I had met Andy before. Back to my first encounter with my new love. I had read about her on the internet and I met her before through a friend but he never introduced me to her but he gave me her name [CANON 5D CAMERA] Jimmy kept a…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Willie Bembe News
…of tuskers is greatly appreciated. Alas….the restaurant is closed and we have to go out and get some food. DAY 3 We get into the car to go and find the first group we are to record Mwanzere Nyere wa Konde. Everyone is in high spirits as we get into the compound with old hats and set up the equipment. We get to see Andy in he’s real professional self. We learn a lot from him since now we can see how it is done in real time. The group is amazing. Th…