A message from Henry Neza at UOBDU News
…s visit to Kisoro there was an opportunity for some of the Batwa to experience life outside their community when they visited the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi for more recordings. During this trip they were able to interact with the Ford Foundation and benefit from new clothes and shoes, which improved their social status among the dominant tribes here. This gave them confidence and changed their behaviour. Now the non Batwa community agree th…
Sad News from Kenya News
…y being a funeral dirge. We send our sympathies and condolences to his family and friends at this sad time. Here is an audio excerpt and video from his performance in Aluny. The news of his passing is painful indicator of how important The Singing Wells project is, in its aims to preserve music….
AMF receive grant to fund Batwa recordings News
…has approved a grant to support the Singing Wells trip to Uganda to record the music and dance of the Batwa people. We are delighted that our proposal was successful and that the IIE agreed with our rationale for taking the project to the Batwa to increase awareness of their unique music and dance traditions. In our proposal, we outlined our rationale as follows: “The overall aim of the Singing Wells project is to identify, record, preserve and pr…
Singing Wells Project News Update News
…OCTOBER 2011 NEWS: Here is the latest news and itinerary for Phase 4 – the Batwa and Luo music recording trip in November. Click on the image to download the PDF: …
Recording music & dance of the Batwa News
…s next month with a field visit to the Kisoro district of Uganda to record the music and dance of the Batwa people. The Batwa, historically a nomadic, forest dwelling community of hunter-gatherers, are widely acknowledged to have been the first human residents of the forest areas which stretch across much of what is now Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and DRC. In recent history however, the Batwa have become a displaced and largely forgotten ethnic group…
Abubilla Music release fourth album News
…he latest album from Abubilla Music has been released and there’s a launch party on 2nd October in Richmond when The Saturday Morning Canasta Club will play tracks to a (hopefully) admiring audience – more news about that to follow. Click on the cover for a sneak preview – the track ‘Breathe’ performed by the Singing Wells Project’s very own Andy Patterson……. Importantly, the album also includes the global remix of an origina…
AMF News Up-Date News
…There’s some exciting developments happening with all our projects and partners. Take a look at our news update here: …
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…rld), Chairman of Ketebul, describes the Singing Wells Mission: “Of course the world cannot live in the past and must move on, but there is no future without a past. Countries that have rich music industries and whose music crosses borders have their successes deeply embedded in the music of their ancestors. Southern, Central and Western African nations have their modern music genres deeply rooted in the rhythms, harmonies and melodies of their pa…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…ed 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 new mobile recording equipment. The main purpose for the Festival, which is hosted by the German Embassy in Nairobi and the National Museums of Kenya, is to ‘overcome tribalism in the region and to promote peace and reconciliation among the local communities around Lake Turkana b…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Pato News
…group was the props they had on set, I must say I was a little scared because the tribe from this area are the Digo’s and it is alleged they practice witch craft. What made my fear worse was their dance which was really creepy. We did however enjoy their performance. This being the last day of the tour we planned to finish earlier than the previous days so as to have some little time to relax. On our way back to the hotel we made a stop at the Af…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Willie Bembe News
…gada. I say hi to Andy who is at the control desk recording the event with the new equipment. I meet Jimmy a bit later when the event is over. Gosh he’s tall….and very hands on since he was helping take down the mics. DAY 2 We gather at the studio so we can set of on the road trip to Malindi The tall guy jokes on Jimmy start. He is a little taken a back. He comes back full swing with jokes of he’s own and I say “Good One”. In The Car To Malindi Ji…
Discovering music roots with SWP News
…ckages and are currently working on three others simultaneously. Of course the world cannot live in the past and must move on, but there is no future without a past. Countries that have rich music industries and whose music crosses borders have their successes deeply embedded in the music of their ancestors. Southern, Central and Western African nations have their modern music genres deeply rooted in the rhythms, harmonies and melodies of their pa…
More Ketebul voices…Steve reports from the field News
…st of the group in their dancing which they called Kiringongo. This showed us the need to have lapel mics in the future, to enable the performers give their most natural and comfortable performance without compromising on sound quality. Mzinga were accompanied by a small wooden xylophone, the marimba. Mzinga After four captivating numbers from Mzinga, we quickly pulled down the set and set off for our second location. The drive would take us to Mo…
What we learned from the pilot phase News
…nging Wells and describe their influences. Winyo will start as he was with us the full time and is already passionate about describing who’s inspired him. Sounds library: We have the beginning of a wonderful sounds library to help producers access different instruments and loops. We will start to build this now. Full Archive: We will, of course, achrive all performances including all the wonderful interviews we completed with the performers. 5. An…
Meet the team from Ketebul Music News
…r at Ketebul, Jessie will lead the studio work on Singing Wells, including the ‘Fusion’ projects: The ‘Sound of Ketebul,’ Jessie will lead many of the key ‘Fusion’ projects coming from Singing Wells Patrick Ondiek: Pato will lead the video/photography aspects of Singing Wells, including field capture and DVD’s and visual archiving. Pato: Photography, Videographer, Archivist. Willie Gachuche: Willie is a Ketebul Sound Engineer…
£25K donation from Abubilla Music Foundation News
…om the The Abubilla Music Foundation of £25,000 has been allocated by the trustees to the Singing Wells project. This has meant that all expenditure on the development of the Ketebul Music website has been covered and we are now able to go ahead with the purchase of the all mobile recording equipment which will be needed for the village recording sessions. Our resident technical expert and sound engineer, Andy Patterson, has sourced everything we…