Gary Barlow, Ayub Ogada & the Diamond Jubilee song News
…and performed the beautiful and haunting song Kothbiro for the soundtrack of the film The Constant Gardner. We were delighted to hear that Gary followed Andy’s advice and met Ayub on his trip to Kenya this week. Here he is speaking about it to Chris Evans on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show (22nd March). Click here to listen: Gary Barlow speaking from Kenya on Radio 2 Kothbiro If you’ve never heard the song Kothbiro here it is – we think you’ll love it…
Day 5: Recording the Mperwa Dancers Story
…arried on their head and bikes). And there’s always the wonderful backdrop of the Virunga Mountains. And the inevitable narrow path leading up to the village…. And after a relatively short climb this time, we reach our destination… The small village consists of a handful of traditional thatched huts, some with fires burning inside…. More and more people arrive….and find our cameras and recording equipment interesting… The Singing Wells audio tea…
Day 4 (later): Recording for ‘Influences’ with the Birara Dancers Story
DAY 4: We continued our recording of the Birara Dancers when we invited four of the performers (Francis and the three lead female vocalists) back to the Traveller’s Rest Hotel in Kisoro. Jennifer who manages the hotel is brilliant. She allowed us to set up a recording studio, under the verandah of her hotel, just outside the bar. We were able to record there over the next three days, rain or shine, night or day. Which was good, because it rained…
Day 4: UOBDU and the Birara Dancers Story
…We woke up early and were greeted with this wonderful view from the garden of the Traveller’s Rest Guesthouse: After breakfast our first stop was the office of the United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU), where we met Henry Neza, the Capacity Development Co-ordinator, and Alice Nyamihanda, Tourism Officer and the first University graduate amongst the Batwa communities. They are to be our hosts and translators for the two days –…
Day 3: From Nairobi to Kigali to Kisoro Story
…s and beautiful lakes. What strikes you immediately is the deep terracotta of the soil, which covers the roads, and seeps up the foundations of the houses, combined with the deep green of the vegetation. It is known negatively, of course, for the horrible 1994 genocide that was launched from its capital. Rwanda is roughly the size of the US state of Maryland, or Wales in Great Britian and has a population of 11.4 million. It’s econony was devasted…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…airobi to meet up with Tabu Osusa, Founder of Ketebul Music and co-partner of the Singing Wells Project and met the Ketebul team in the studios for a day . Day 1: 11.11.19, Flight to Nairobi: Jimmy and Andy, Founder and Sound Engineer of Abubilla Music respectively, set out to Nairobi on Saturday for Nairobi. All good with flights, visas, bags and customs and we were greated by Tabu Osusa. Checked into Fairview, had the obligatory fries in a chip…
News from the Batwa in Kisoro News
…d Kisoro in southern Uganda in November 2011 to record the music and dance of the Batwa people. The Batwa are historically a nomadic tribe of forest dwellers who inhabited the mountainous regions across 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 a…
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
…our long ride back from Mombasa. We used the opportunity to interview some of the team about the Singing Wells Project. Jimmy to Steve Kivutia (Singing Wells Project Manager): Q: So, first tell us about your self and one thing surprising SK: I was born in Nairobi. I am one of four, the youngest. Both my brothers have been in the studio and like what I’m doing. But my mom keeps telling me to get a real job and is pushing advertisements toward me. A…
Kathy’s reflections on her Singing Wells experience News
…with the Singing Wells team in March 2012 on the trip to record the music of the Kalenjin. Here’s her report from the trip. Kathy’s report from Kenya – March 2012 It was bit daunting coming into the Ketebul offices in the Go Down Art Centre on the first day. I had not met any of the people there and I wasn’t sure how I’d fit in. I need not have worried. Everyone was extremely welcoming and I could tell from the first day they were a professional…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…ickens chased about… We felt very much in the middle of things. The corner of the ‘meeting place’, with the rich red earth gradually moving up the light blue walls By this time, we were using the back of the truck as the studio 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 grou…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 continued…. Story
…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 you know, we are surrounded by the children at every recording… here are a few more… We even had a…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 – recording in the village of Kibarani Story
…a full one. In this blog we report on the morning. We’ll give you a sense of the village, the groups, the kids and the ‘setup’… The Village This village was called Kibarani. We set up behind on larged thatched hut in an open field, filmed with cows (lots of mooing ended up on record), cow poo (lots of misteps), children, beautiful trees, chickens… but far off the main road, wonderful quiet and cool. This is the goat pen to the right of the thatch…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…ita is a very small village with about 200 people; we recorded in a subset of the village, where all of Bado‘s brother’s and sisters lived with their families. Bado is the fourth son of Nyerere Wa Konde, who runs the Nyerere Wa Konde Music Club and is the village elder. To reach the village, you go 15 clicks and then another 2 on a dirt road. There are about 7 houses, two cows, lots of chickens, groves of pea trees and lots and lots of children. A…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…ice: We recorded video and used the mobile recording studio to record most of the concert. We’ll post this later. In the meantime, a couple of pictures: Winyo warms up with the Swiss Bone Guitar The Legendary Ayub Ogado …and his legendary goatee …and his legendary Nyatiti From left to right, Joyce, Alfred and Tabu. Joyce is from the Ford Foundation and supports Ketebul. Alfred helped introduce Ketebul and Abubilla This was an evening to represent…
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…uipment whilst also acting as photographer. He is now officially in charge of the ‘clapperboard’ – a role he is relishing. All about Nick Nick was born in 1988 in the village of Mirogi at the Mirogi Mission Hospital. He is Luo and unlike most of the younger engineers and artists at Ketebul, was raised in a rural village. He grew up in Kanyamwa village. He has four aunts and seven uncles on his mother’s side. Her father, his grandfather, had si…