Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…groups were very large, but because of budgets we could only bring a small number. We had good production but we couldn’t get the whole band in their element . Gargar was an example. Huge women’s group with lots of culture things – women’s rights … we could only work with four. We realised it would be better to take the studio to them. We would get a better view and get a more authentic sound. Then Abubilla Music contacted Tabu for a project and w…
Kathy’s reflections on her Singing Wells experience News
…o know the people in the groups as well as the people in the Singing Wells group. A few things struck me about the groups I interviewed. First they were for the most part not professional groups. They usually came from one village and the songs they sang came from everyday village life. Music is used as a form of communication and entertainment. The songs are used in various ceremonies such as weddings, births, funerals, harvesting and circumcisio…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…o as often as we set up the tent. Folks are gathered around for the second group. Birds were pretty much everywhere….. Folks are intrigued with Pro Tools 9…. …and life went on as we recorded… Zigidigi Cultural Troupe The group is led by Matano Mwachiti, featuring the Kivolti, a lovely flute. The leader of the social centre and a key member of the Zigidigi Cultural Troupe.. https://youtu.be/KSzaveOB7SA https://youtu.be/N14zZK0dMQA Muungano Kayamb…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 continued…. Story
…s and percussion… Katana bin Kalama, with beautiful costume of shells… 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…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 – recording in the village of Kibarani Story
…he goat pen to the right of the thatched hut where we recorded … The Music Groups Chechemeko Raha We recorded Chechemeko Raha first thing in the morning of March 30th. Led by Bahri wa katana, the group sang and danced in the Chechemeko style. Wonderful, pounding percussion, a great horn called the Gunda and massive kicking dancing called the mabumbu-mbu. Beautiful singing and dancing from the women and gracious leadership from Bahri wa Katana… Che…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…iving 10 hours the day before). Mwenzele – Nyerere wa Konde Music Club The group is led by Nyerere wa Konde in the Mwenzele style. The group featured a wonderful percussion trio, with the Lungo (broken glass moved in a big bowl) and Ndema (2 brass rings played in ringing and muted tones) Mwenzele-Nyerere wa Konde Music Club Lungo (Bowl) and Ndema (rings) Zaire Ndindingwa The group is led by Fundi bin Kalale in the ndindingwa style. Wonderful p…
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…o live with his aunt. Nick really loves music – his favourite was a reggae group called Lucky Dube and their song ‘Crazy World’. He first thought of writing and recording his own music but ultimately decided that he loved the world of video, photography and computer animation. He first heard of Ketebul Music in 2008 when they were working on their compilation Retracing the Benga Rhythm. Ketebul were in southern Nyanza to record Benga music and Nic…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…to some of 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…
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…ndon 2012. To date, we have recorded roughly 150 songs, across 25 tribal groups, with roughly 20 high quality performance videos, and hundreds of hours of local interviews. All of this is gradually moving ‘on line’ in our Music Map of East Africa. (See Discover the Music). More importantly, we now have a fully trained team of Kenyan sound and video engineers, with all the necessary expertise and equipment to do full field recordings (up to 8 mic…
AMF receive grant to fund Batwa recordings News
…e tide which is threatening to obscure the music traditions of this ethnic group. The SWP will ensure that the unique sights and sounds of the Batwa are fully and professionally documented, preserved for the future and promoted to a wide audience through all media platforms. We also intend that the SWP will provide a positive and lasting benefit for the whole Batwa community. The immediate benefit will be a source of new income as each of the musi…
Recording music & dance of the Batwa News
…e tide which is threatening to obscure the music traditions of this ethnic group. The SWP will ensure that the unique sights and sounds of the Batwa are fully and professionally documented, preserved for the future and promoted to a wide audience through all media platforms. We also intend that the SWP will provide a positive and lasting benefit for the whole Batwa community. The immediate benefit will be a source of new income as each of the musi…
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…p was Supaki Kalaza, led by Katana bin Kalama, also in the Mwenzele style. Group 5: Supaki Kalaza Our sixth group was Sengenya, led by Munyaka Chimega in the Sengenya style which is also the dance style. They completely captivated us with joyous dancing. By the end, the river bed was filled with dozens of kids dancing with them. Group 6: Sengenya Vuga Kwale County: We recorded next to the main meeting centre in the village – recording sessions…
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
…casionally let me spend time with her if I organized one for him. The next group was Mzinga, this groups lead singer, Aphonce Kazungu was my favorite. He had an amazing voice. I did not know we had search stars hidden in the villages. This was very interesting indeed. Mombasa was our next stop so we packed quickly and left. Time was moving fast and we still had two more groups to record. Fast forward to Mombasa. We got lost briefly but finally met…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Willie Bembe News
…learn a lot from him since now we can see how it is done in real time. The group is amazing. The father and son are very talented. DAY 3 I start to realize that most of the groups we are recording have members who are very old which means that they have been storing this music for a very long time. All this then translates to the project being very important for my generation, the rest of my countrymen and the whole world. This is history…..my his…
Discovering music roots with SWP News
…Coastal region was selected. The strip is mainly composed of the Mijikenda group of culturally related people; the Chonyi, Rabai, Duruma, Kauma, Kambe, Ribe, Jibana and the more known Giriama and Digo whom we focused on at this stage. Their music is relatively well known at the national level and is highly dependent on percussion with vocal solos and harmonies and pretty is rhythmic. Very sexy. There are various styles including sengenya, checheme…