Day 8: Entebbe to Nairobi and Ketebul Studios Story
…other detector ourselves (#2) Once through this line we lined up for Kenya airlines. We are our own queue and it took a while to check in our 23 bags and convince them to let us carry our 11 carry on bags… Once checked in we then waited in visa line. No issues. By this time the flight is calling for boarding… There’s another line at the gate to go through Kenya security. Big queue and one very angry mzungu who was fed up. We all had to take off ou…
Promotion of Batwa cultural music: UOBDU report March 2013 News
…oject to record the music of the Batwa in Kisoro, Uganda in December 2011. United Organisation for Batwa Development in Uganda (UOBDU) Narrative Report on the Promotion of Batwa Cultural Music Since April 2012, UOBDU started implementing a project responsible for promotion of Batwa cultural heritage, supporting the performance of music and drama to local audience and to allow UOBDU to monitor and update the performance of the groups visited by The…
Hannah interviews Evelyn Ojok – Acet, Northern Uganda News
…iness in Gulu, the war has destroyed enough! How has the music you perform changed over time? I would say it is the same. I have no right to change it, I want to preserve it as much as possible for the future generation. However now the music means something different. When we sing about war and peace we are referring to the recent war that struck Northern Uganda. It helps us to heal but also to celebrate that we are now in peace. Who taught you t…
Northern Uganda: Day 6 – Soroti to Kampala (a driving story) Story
…re haven’t been that many changes along an ‘average roadside.’ The biggest change, and we’ve become quite obsessed by this for some reason, is the hats placed on the white charcoal bags. (Others would like to add that it’s just Jimmy who’s obsessed with the charcoal bags). For most of the places, folks just want to keep the charcoal dry. A good handful of grass is enough and you get the nun look with the green crown. But around Soroti, they take t…
How music archives can help communities News
…tudent whose doctoral thesis centred on issues of preservation and musical change. Kahunde accessed the recordings of Klaus Wachsmann which had been made in Uganda in the early 50’s and were archived at the British Library. He used the recordings to research how musical performance had changed over the years. He focussed on the music of the Buganda Royal Court which had not been heard for a generation after the Buganda Kingdom was abolished in 196…
Reporting back on recording trip to Kisoro, SW Uganda News
…ouses. Eating good food among Batwa families was also another priority and change. After the visit of Singing Wells to Kisoro there was an opportunity for some Batwa who had exposure to the outside life when they visited Nairobi and were able to interact with the Ford Foundation. During this trip the Batwa benefitted from some materials such as clothes, shoes and money which improved on their social status by dressing like dominant tribes here. Th…
Northern Uganda: Day 3 – from Gulu to Awach to Pakwach Story
…‘Tik Tik’ style (which means ‘Chin Chin’ because she ‘frets’ the Adugu to change the note with her chin). She would start each song singing and playing the Adugu and gradually the four other women would take over and the flutist would join. The magic thing was no one could hear her or the other women, they sang so softly and it was such a big crowd. But we gave her a lapel microphone and put a microphone directly on the Adungu and recorded. After…
Northern Uganda: Day 1 – Entebbe to Gulu Story
…retty flowers and strange guinea fowl pottering about. The two groups were united around 10 with our two drivers William and Emanuel and set off for Kampala. As promised Kampala traffic was a nightmare. The William Team (Jimmy/Pato and Hannah) tried to take a short cut, but the road was closed and we ended up winding through some very poor areas around Kampala with a truck not designed for essentially footpaths. All the time, the high rises of Kam…
Northern Uganda: Day 0 – London to Entebbe Story
…Hannah, Andy and Jimmy) all met at Terminal 5 at 0930AM to check in to BA flight 63 to Entebbe. After quick breakfast, we did last minute shopping for essential supplies (alcohol, sunglasses, papers) and then took the train to C57, where we boarded our flight and left pretty much on time. Jimmy sat next to Andrew who lives in Kampala and married to a Uganda woman with whom he’s had a one year old son. He was passionate about West African music an…
Day 9: Ketebul Studios with Ben Kisinja Story
…ght through to 9PM and the ‘northern folks’ rushed to the airport. The Ketebul crew continued to work in the studio, led by Jessie who loves bringing Singing Wells musicians into the studio. Hunter and Jimmy will board our flight at about 11PM and with a 12 midnight wheels up, we will officially end the ‘field visit.’ Now the hard work begins of producing all the videos… Jimmy March 11th, Joma Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi Kenya…
Lango Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…bellishments beyond west-bands, necklaces, armlets, and anklets.’ (p. 360). The Lango symbol is Amuka (Rhino). Amuka is independent, strong, and peaceful unless disturbed. References Curley, Richard T. (1973). Elders, Shades, and Women: Ceremonial Change in Longo, Uganda. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. Otiso, Kefa M. (2006). Culture and Customs of Uganda. Ohio: Greenwood Press. (Lango at everculture – 2012) Lango – h…
Day 3: Kitale to Kapsokwony, Kenya Story
…ove of cattle to a new level. 50 Cows is a local journalist and student at United States International University (USIU). The Music Groups Ben Kisinja First up for recording was Ben Kisinja, a wonderful guitarist in the typical Kalenjin style. Tabu describes this style as very traditional and the way of singing is very unique to the Sabaot clan of the Kalenjin. The guitar is called a burkandit, and is a homemade guitar somewhat resembling the Nyat…
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
We arrived last night in Nairobi. A flawless flight and passport control. The only hitch was actually leaving the car park which had one person taking money and doing various other things at the same time including chitchatting with passerbys. That took almost an hour. Preparations at Ketebul Music studio We came to Ketebul this morning to get ready for our trip tomorrow. Ketebul is buzzing with people getting everything packed up. Steve, project…
How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…page which displays the data you are about to download – an outline of the United Kingdom. Click Download. This will download a .zip file called, in this case, GBR_adm.zip. Open it up and take a look. What you will see is a crazy number of files, none of which your computer seems to really recognise. Don’t panic. What you’re seeing is just a few shapefiles (remember shapefiles? No? Let me jog your memory). As we’re looking at the shapefiles in the…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…ake any part of the trip to take on that role; on Wednesday we changed the flights into my name and on Sunday I found myself on a plane to Nairobi to meet Jimmy and Andy who had flown out the day before. It’s midnight in Nairobi when I arrive at the Fairview Hotel – in torrential rain. Jimmy and Andy have been working in the Ketebul Studio all day and are ready to retire for the night. We say a quick hello and arrange to meet for breakfast at 7.00…
How to Map 1: Housekeeping News
…s-pernickety-elderly-fella analogy, it also gets terribly irritated if you change your file or folder names. This is because the links made in ArcMap (that will make more sense later) aren’t live, meaning they don’t update themselves. So if you change a file or folder name ArcMap gets confused with the pathway it’s supposed to be following and it loses the data. It’s remediable, but a pain, so best to avoid doing that. The point of all this is: ke…