Diamond Jubilee Pageant at Windsor Castle News
…om the Masai, Samburu, Luo, Kamba and Kikuyo tribes The Nairobi Chamber Chorus considered the topmost choir in Kenya today Cultural Pavilion At the entrance to Windsor Castle there will be a Cultural Pavilion which will contain a backdrop of graphic representations of all the countries that have had a role to play in the Queen’s reign. On the Kenya stand there will be Singing Wells DVDs freely available for guests. The DVD is from our ‘Best of…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…rist and bass player and put down great guitar and bass tracks to build on the new version of the song we originally prepared in Abubilla Music’s London Studio. Winyo then added a third verse, changing the song from a Londoner pining for Spain, to a Kenyan longing to return to Africa. The full Singing Wells team was in the studio. It is worth re-introducing everyone again, as we will be discussing them throughout the trip: From Ketebul Music Tab…
News from the Batwa in Kisoro News
…to re-cap, we visited 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….
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
…, that was the first time I’d been out of Europe and I was definitely nervous. The first night in the hotel, I practically curled myself up in the corner with a chair barring the door! I’m from the North and came south in 2001 and spend four years at Uni, one year of which was in industry. After graduation, I worked as technical engineer and got more into engineering the audio side of sounds, vs. the technical side. Someone I had been working with…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…4zZK0dMQA Muungano Kayamba The groups is led by Futuma Ali Mwacheruve, dancing and singing in the Kayamba style (which is also the name of the wonderful percussion). It was our first ‘harvest dance’ (Mavuno), which celebrated the harvest and the arrival of the new baby. Lots of ‘props’ including a baby doll, hay stack and lots of bowls of water and spices. Some final shots at our last village. Enjoy…. Winyo and the kids… That’s enough for now….
Kathy’s reflections on her Singing Wells experience News
…and for hours before we recorded them. They were proud and wanted to show us their best performances. I really felt for them if they thought they hadn’t done something right in the performance. For instance if they started singing before the clapper board was out of the shot they had to start again. This unnerved and embarrassed them and they had to regroup before they could sing again. I felt it was important to talk to them before the performan…
Interview with Fifty Cows – fixer for Singing Wells News
…over land. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s the fighting decreased because there were less cows to fight over. In Merekwet and Pokot tribes the men belong to a particular tribe but the women are not considered to be from just one tribe. They can migrate between the tribes without reprisal. They are considered “common property”. So even at the height of the conflicts the women could go from tribe to tribe and no one would even notice. When the…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 continued…. Story
…gradually went back on the road to Mombasa to record in the morning in an other rural village. But now, we were much closer to Mombasa in a densely populated town, Junda. We drove into this very densely back ‘village’ going deeper and deeper into the urban jungle on very potted roads, packed with pedestrians, bikes and frankly, a lot of suspicious folks somewhat unwelcoming of our two big trucks. None of us could imagine setting up recording equip…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 – recording in the village of Kibarani Story
…This is the 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 K…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…of Sita… Let’s focus this blog on today’s music. After all, it’s all about the music. Three things to report…. The Village Sita is about 15 kilometres from Malindi, which is on the Kenyan eastern coast, against the India Ocean. It has a long history, is mostly Muslim and has been ‘discovered’ by everyone including Chinese Emperor’s in the 1400’s. Sita is a very small village with about 200 people; we recorded in a subset of the village, where all…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…s from the Ford Foundation and supports Ketebul. Alfred helped introduce Ketebul and Abubilla This was an evening to represent everything Ketebul is about – bringing new East African artists to the world, but rooting them in the generations of music that came before. This seems a perfect send-off to record village music. We leave tomorrow at 9AM. Jimmy …
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…ck’s second Singing Wells field recording trip where he is learning how to use the mobile recording equipment 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…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…lagat Lebo (Chela) who is making a documentary for Custom House Education Trust about Kenya’s elite athletes. An interview with Chela Lebo Chela was born and raised in Kitale, Kenya. She works with the Content House Education Trust to archive the history and progress of Kenyan runners. Chela has been working on the documentary project for the past four years. The programme follows two main runners – David Rudisha who won the 800m in the Beij…
Why “Singing Wells”? News
…ells’ is a very good name for our project which aims to preserve, celebrate and share the unique music traditions and heritage of East Africa. More on Kenya’s singing wells BBC World Service video on how the singing wells in the village of Daaba have changed the life of the local community: …
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…mporary music, which we have used for fund raising (they look the same because they share a screen shot, but they are different!) Lake Turkana Cultural Festival, Kenya: The Ketebul Music team travelled to Lake Turkana in May 2011 for the Singing Wells project and recorded some wonderful groups at the festival, particularly tribal dance. Read more about the Festival here. The Batwa Project in Kisoro, Uganda: This visit was partially funded by t…