How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…ase, GBR_adm.zip. Open it up and take a look. What you will see is a crazy number of files, none of which your computer seems to really recognise. Don’t panic. What you’re seeing is just a few shapefiles (remember shapefiles? No? Let me jog your memory). As we’re looking at the shapefiles in the C: drive rather than in ArcMap itself, you can see the six individual files which make up the one shapefile. In fact, in this case you’re looking at 18 fi…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…but not the Batwa…. We record Francis and his lead vocalists again, plus 2 groups from Alice’s community in the afternoon. Armed with my trusted 60D, I concentrate on taking photos of the different performers and the many children who accompany them. And make sure we have plenty of group shots of our star performers before we say goodbye for the last time (little do I know that there will be a reunion at the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi the fo…
How to Map 1: Housekeeping News
…re saved as. When you’re browsing files within ArcMap, a shapefile will appear like one tidy little file with a cute green icon. If you’re looking elsewhere in your computer, e.g. via the C: drive, the shapefile will be revealed in its true form: a group of six files which combine to make a shape or map. These six files will all have the same name but with a different suffix. These are: – .dbf – .prj – .sbn – .sbx – .shp – .shx Now we’ve got that…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…included. Gasoda Yohanadj Mbirikimu Mbarushimana – “Challenger” The magic bass player (beat boxes into a pot) with Tiny Moses. Great backing vocals as well. Mbirikimu Mbarushimana Gaudancia (and baby Stella) A wonderful singer from the group ‘Togetherness’ who we recorded in the empty (good news) refugee camp outside of Kisoro. She sang with each of the groups over the weekend. Gaudancia Kampire And here were the results of our efforts! The Sing…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…acho 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 Nyangile). Let us tell a bit more about…
Music of the Kalenjin: video playlist News
…music of the Kalenjin tribes people. The people from this highland ethnic group – the Nilotic – include eight culturally and linguistically related sub tribes – Kipsigis, Nandi, Tugen, Marakwet, Keiyo, Sabaot and Terik. They are perhaps most widely known as world class athletes as many of the legendary Kenyan long distance runners are Kalenjins, including Kipchoge Keino, chairman of the Kenyan Olympic Committee and the first African to win an Oly…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…https://youtu.be/BQYtWOBQyBQ https://youtu.be/MJcIi3aY9zI Aloka Ohangla Group Fantastic group featuring the Orutu, the second major instrument of Luo music. If played by a master it takes on the role of the ‘fiddle’ in Irish or US Country music. This band played it well…. but the highlight was the drum solo in the Ohangla style. Here’s the ‘Magic Moment Video’ of the performance: https://youtu.be/2FOs3TObydk What you need to know as you listen…
Day 1: The music of the Luo – starting at Rang’ala Village Story
…core instruments. Here, we almost start at the end, recording Osumba Rateng’s band, the Sega Sega Band: 5-6 vocalists and a couple of guitarists. https://youtu.be/pp_O-MYVbjg https://youtu.be/BUttehOfnKk https://youtu.be/-uRDY4G3_mo https://youtu.be/Z8N3nkdSB5g The Dodo Group Featuring Ogoya Nengo. The group sings in the Do Do style. Ogoya has exremely strong vocals and there are four ‘shaker’ players and amazing drummer and a set of dancers. …
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…as the final say in who sings what song. He is also the lead dancer of his group. We will never forget Francis playing what we called ‘kid golf.’ He was carrying his big spear doing his dances, surrounded by all the little children of the village. He would clear space for himself by gently ‘flicking’ the children to the side with his spear. He made a par five on the ‘Crane Song.’ Willie Bembe’s First Flight: Our sound engineer Willie Bembe enjoyed…
The Batwa Trail News
…rations. When Mgahinga Gorilla National Park was established, the Batwa, a group of indigenous people, were suddenly evicted from the forest and forced to abandon their low-impact, nomadic lifestyle. Now landless, they work for local farmers. The only time they are permitted to re-enter their cherished forest is as tour guides on the Batwa Trail. A visit to the Batwa trail permits visitors to discover the magic of the indigenous people old home wh…
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…: https://youtu.be/1et4E7lKojA https://youtu.be/1BvCwhX2ctM The Kabahena Group had arrived with the Gatera Group and due to the former’s extended performance, they had to wait quite a time to get ‘on stage’. This did not appear to be a problem – they watched and clapped the Gatera performance with enthusiasm, despite the onset of some spectacular rain (which did not subside until the early hours of the following morning causing the power cut whi…
Day 5 (much later): The Micyingo Group – guitar and bass! Story
…s’ 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 of spirited song and dance… and this lady is their wonderful lead vocalis…
Day 5 (PM): The ‘Togetherness Group’ from Kanyabukunga Story
…e wonderful dancing and singing. As we unload the vans, the ‘Togetherness’ group are waiting to greet us on the ‘stage’….. The performance is fantastic… here the group are singing ‘Waratsinze Sikota’ in praise of God, but lamenting that the Batwa people had lived in the forest under grass huts, but now live near the streets under tin roofs…. The crew worked hard in the blazing sun – getting close to the action to make sure we captured the energy o…
Day 5: Recording the Mperwa Dancers Story
…tart to set up the mixing desk while Patrick and Steve place the mics… The group gathers in place and the lead vocalist starts her captivating performance.. This older gentlemen joins the performance and takes the lead in most dances… While spectators from every generation take a seat for the performance… Here are the videos: https://youtu.be/zFjbdw9j1io https://youtu.be/W_VV8xEYziM https://youtu.be/t8Ui32w_NbI https://youtu.be/QHo5Eb2Az20 https:/…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…icrophones. This also carries the tripod for Roving Video 1. Cable Bag/Headphones: This is full of all the jacks, mic connects, headphone extenders. There’s a lot of cables. Mega Tripod: This is the bag for Pado’s pride and joy, the mega tripod for Stationary Camera 1. Project Management: How do we now set ourselves up for audio-video recording on site? Again, based on lessons from both the March Pilot and Lake Turkana, here’s the set up: Overall…
News from the Batwa in Kisoro News
…the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and DRC. They are now a largely marginalised group of people since a conservation programme to protect the mountain gorillas of the region caused their eviction from their traditional forest homes. You can read all about our trip to Uganda and hear the music of the Batwa here: Field Reports An email from UOBDU Following our trip to Kisoro last year we sent a parcel to UOBDU for the Batwa communities we visited. The…