Report from Womex 2013 News
…ows on the other side of the hall – they seemed to be doing something with records… Further investigation showed us that they were creating vinyl records from CDs – they would do one track free of charge. We are therefore now in possession of a copy of a Vinyl record with the track Missing on it! One for the Abubilla collection certainly!…
Day 7 (pm): Recording at the Airport Guesthouse, Entebbe Story
…ically beaten a number of strokes depending on your age, in his case it was 300. Odika called it the ‘bush mind’, and sometimes even once soldiers returned that mind would come back again, in nightmares or in daily life. To help returning soldiers they were taken to Gulu Children of War Rehabilitation Centre for 6 months before going home, partly to make sure the rebels couldn’t find you in your home village but also to help the returning soldiers…
The Tribal and Musical Structure of East Africa – Worldmap Research News
…f which you can access easily on our website too, in a few steps, ‘Housekeeping’, ‘The Map Outline’, ‘Prepare Your Data’. I met with Rosie to talk about her experience using the map for the benefit of Singing Wells. How did you discover the mapping software? I am currently reading medicine at UCL, but during my gap year I spend time doing work experience in preparation. I was introduced to this new way of displaying data when working for the Virtu…
Day 6: Recording the Tugen & back to Nairobi Story
…tyre. This moved our departure time from the two hotels (Eldoret Club and Pine Tree) from 8am to about 9.30am. The tyre had a damaged tube that just wore out. We reassembled and headed off for a spectacular trip from an altitude of 2,800m down to 1,114m at one of the floors of the Great Rift Valley. The roads were more winding and steeper than on our trip to Rwanda last November but there was no rain and there were guard rails on the roadside whi…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…roads are filled with athletes training for London 2012. In addition, over 300 foreigners train here, mostly from Europe. We went to the main training centre and interviewed a project manager about why so many people travel all this way to train on the red dirt roads around Iten. She answered: “First, the altitude (roughly 2300 meters) is perfect – right at the peak of natural altitude where you can still train hard, but so high that the lungs ar…
Day 2: Nairobi to Kitale & an interview with Pato Story
…Series. He began to really love tribal music and so when we started developing the Singing Wells project he jumped on it, keen to head up the video recording department . We asked him what he liked most about the project and he gave two answers: “First, I love the exposure to different cultures – even my own. I have never heard a lot of the tribal music, even around my own villages. Our trip to Nyanza in November 2011 blew me away. I have never h…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…e group of children, but also so irrelevant to their real needs. A few skipping ropes, some Dynamo torches, harmonicas. Earlier on I gave one of the girls a skipping rope, demonstrating, rather badly, how to use it first. She didn’t need my lesson, she was already brilliant at skipping! And I had given one boy a harmonica as we walked down the hill – he had a little trouble at first as he breathed in rather than blowing out, but soon he was making…
How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…al data at http://www.diva-gis.org/. To get your spatial data you click on Free Spatial Data in the top-right corner. On the Free Spatial Data page click on country level data. On the Download Data by Country page, select the country you need and make sure the Subject is Administrative areas. There is other data available for free download from this page, such as elevation and population density, but for our purposes we’re only interested in admin…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…moments or jump in deep squats around the drums, and c) twice he did major spins, hitting drum, spinning and hitting again on time. The reason you hear it ‘fizzle’ at the last second is because he eventually collapsed. As you listen to drumming, let’s introduce the Orutu. It’s a one string instrument, played with bow, with notes determined by finger pressure against the central stick, ‘fretting’ notes. Here’s what one looks like close up: Here’s t…
How To (Arc)Map News
…t more here. You can also check out their non-profit organisations’ scheme, which allows registered charities access to software for free. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE FIRST POST…
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…being in his parent’s village. He liked village life because everything is free there. They grew their own food including maize, sweet potatoes, arrowroot and kale. They fished in the local lake and would sell some for pocket money and eat the rest. They also had chickens for eggs and meat. The water is pure so you don’t need to buy it. People are very friendly in the village and there is still honour and politeness. They respect their elders, alw…
More Ketebul voices…Steve reports from the field News
…style, a polyrhythmic groove heavy on shakers and punctuated with foot stomping and clapping. Andy manned the recording station, giving us Ketebul engineers a practical run through of the equipment. A moment of magic followed their performance when they were joined by Winyo on an impromptu off the cuff performance. The blend of Winyo’s guitar and melodic voice with their harmonies and percussion cannot be adequately described with words. Mwanzele…
More on the launch of the Ketebul Music website News
…vered a great site right on brief and within a tight budget which is a big bonus for the Singing Wells funds. Here are a few words from Wesley Burden about the challenge we gave them…… “Ketebul Music required a website design that delivered a strong sense of the colourful music of East Africa and the traditions that their non-profit organisation aims to help preserve. Using our experience from working with Abubilla Music and Sideways Recordings we…