Day 3: Kitale to Kapsokwony, Kenya Story
…emale vocalist. They were a great choral group with some wonderful dancing using shields and spears. Again, Eddie stepped in for an Influences session with a subgroup to record. Please click here to read the meaning behind the songs of the Chebonet group: Song translations of Chebonet Teriet We then recorded Teriet, a guitarist with a wonderful acoustic guitar with a lot of miles. His best song was ‘Sigerer’. Kathy interviewed him about all his so…
Day 2: Nairobi to Kitale & an interview with Pato Story
…sic and not good. I knew the second it started. I was so glad it started raining and we could get out of there.” [Editor note: we did not include this group in any Singing Wells materials.] So here is Pato’s favourite Singing Wells track – Jovah from the Mperwa Batwa community in Kisoro performing with Jesse on piano at the Ketebul Music studios This track is also on our album Best of Singing Wells 2011 Jovah – Ye Warararaye by singingwells We ask…
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…am and getting organised we headed back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s long drive North. Kathy Allen Trustee, Abubilla Music Foundation…
Bill Odidi reporting on Singing Wells from London News
…s with Kenyan musicians who are now based in the UK. They also had the chance to visit Kenya House in Stratford as a guest of our friends at the Kenya Tourist Board. Here’s Bill’s article published in Business Daily Africa: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Where+the+world+got+real+flavour+of+Kenya+in+London/-/1248928/1480860/-/djb5mf/-/index.html Photos from Kenya House …
Song Translations: Music of the Kalenjin Story
As part of the Singing Wells project we are documenting the meaning behind the songs of the artists we record. Here are translations of the songs of the Kalenjin tribes. Ben Kisinja Date of recording: 5th March, 2012 Recorded on location in: Kapsokwony, Kenya Song translations: view PDF Chebonet group Date of recording: 5th March, 2012 Recorded on location in: Kapsokwony, Kenya Song translations: view PDF Lomut Traditional Dancers Date of rec…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…g trip was a last minute one. Kathy, one of our Abubilla Music Foundation trustees, had to pull out of the trip quite suddenly which left a gap in the team’s resources. Kathy was due to be videographer on ‘Roving Camera 2’ and also document the names and meanings of songs we would be recording. On Tuesday Jimmy asked if I could make any part of the trip to take on that role; on Wednesday we changed the flights into my name and on Sunday I found my…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…the Batwa in Nairobi unless he was 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 th…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…he went to university in Moscow. So he and Jimmy had a great time talking Russian the whole time as the others looked on slightly mystified. He played five tracks and you have a pretty good idea of the roots of Bob Dylan… https://youtu.be/iRQlHbyzoKM https://youtu.be/9Qx_vs2Uw-U https://youtu.be/bmFyePat-VY https://youtu.be/HRXyT1czwG8 https://youtu.be/4jnrLn92SxA And with the Jose recording, we officially finished our November field trip, which…
Music of the Kalenjin: video playlist News
In March 2012 the Singing Wells team travelled to Kenya’s Great Rift Valley to record the 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 Ki…
Day 3: Homa Bay and the Kochia Dancers Story
…ere aren’t a lot of opportunities to wash and you’ll notice a lot shots of us in the same Singing Wells t-shirt – but luckily not yet fish. Fish would turn their noses at us. Our set, below, with recording equipment set up under the bar and the dancers ready to do their stuff… The Kochia Dancers Today is all about dances, so our videos will be much better than still photographs. Let us introduce you to the dancers; here in full glory are the Kochi…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…guys in middle). And a view from the field showing Jimmy on Camera 2 filming Organda Joginda: Andy resting after setting up microphones: And Steve working as chief engineer on this session (Macbook Pro and two Motu audio interfaces on top of our trusted Pelicase, which acts as storage for all equipment, chair and table….in the back of the truck that will see us throughout Western Kenya: Finally, here’s Willie setting up a lapel mic for Okumu Kore…
Day 1: The music of the Luo – starting at Rang’ala Village Story
…The big guy in Luo Benga was Daniel Owino Misiani who developed the style in the 60’s. A big reason to return to Luo-lands is to trace back to the origins of Benga, understanding in more detail the 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/Z8…
Christine Kamau – “The Jazzist” News
…rica Beats: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17831507 Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/thejazzist Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/christinekamau …
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…f the road.’ The drive back was beautiful, through the hills of Rwanda. We rushed because we wanted some time in Kigali to visit the Genocide Memorial Museum. We were able to spend about 90 minutes there before heading to the airport. To a person we found it was very well done and very sobering. We’re sure everyone knows more about the Rwandan genocide than we did, but here were some of our ‘we didn’t really know that’ conclusions: From launch to…
The Batwa Trail News
…aditional skills such as sourcing medicinal plants, making bamboo cups and using bows and arrows – skills which are being lost as the Batwa integrate with the surrounding communities. The income provides an alternative to illegal poaching in the park’. Click here for the Batwa Trail website The Batwa Trail video by Ivy Beccu Ivy’s email to Singing Wells Hello Victoria, I thank you for writing to me! I was in Uganda on an organized tour and v…
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…in (which did not subside until the early hours of the following morning causing the power cut which lasted the same length of time). Their wait allowed us to capture some photos of their members which demonstrate wonderfully the age range across the group and the fact that music here in Africa is for the whole community, from the very young to their much respected elders. This lady was one of the principal dancers and she out performed many of th…