A day in the field with Singing Wells News
…1 Canon EOS 5D 1 LED video camera lights 1 Flip HD video camera ThinkTank sun screens (for the laptops) Various Canon zoom and fixed lenses Plus at least 9 Sandisk memory cards and 15 portable back-up drives and a lot of leads and cables! Having settled on our first location the video engineers set up their shots while the audio engineers set up the recording rigs. The video engineers are working with Canon digital SLR cameras. One camera is used…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…ract the young boys, so the dance is usually held on bright days, when the sun is out. In all of these dances we are likely to record the Adungu instrument (a traditional Ugandan bow-harp) and the Agwara (a wooden trumpet). Pakwach and Nebbi: Next we visit the Alur and Lugbara tribes in Nyaravuru and Pakwach. Click here to learn more about these tribes through our Alur Profile and Lugbara Profile on the Singing Wells website. Here we will record t…
Alur Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…e three brothers. Tiful having been impressed by Nyapiri’s story of a good country beyond the river, moved with his followers including Lendu and Okebu to the highlands in the west. Nyapiri followed Tiful and traveled along the west bank of the Victoria Nile and finally camped with his followers in an area opposite Pakwach. The Land was not good for grazing and there being no salt licks his cattle began to graze away. One day some of the cows whic…
Day 6: Recording the Tugen & back to Nairobi Story
…rnet Museum which was surrounded by beautiful tall trees which blocked the sun. There were two all-female groups waiting for us, which seems appropriate given it is International Women’s Day. The Music Elimu Cultural Promoters Our first group was the Elimu Cultural Promoters from the Tugan tribe. They are a collection of women from little villages scattered around the Kabarnet area and they want to promote good values of culture and education. The…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…nounced ‘we’re here.’ We tried to find a recording site out of the burning sun but failed. We wanted the lovely 360 views and sacrificed shade for our art. The Music Groups Kasagat Traditional Dancers The first group was the Kas agat Traditional Dancers. Kathy talked to the tribal elder about them. They come from Tot, about 50km from where we were recording. They had walked here the night before and had been practicing all night and morning before…
Day 4: the Pokot Tribes Story
…h huts peppered along the green and red hills. Like Uganda and Rwanda, the countryside here is green with slashes of deep red as the soil is turned or roads are made. We arrived at the location picked by 50 Cows, the fixer, but we decided it was too close to the road and asked to be taken to a more secluded spot near a village or homestead. We got what we asked for and were rewarded with a 4 km drive straight up one of the hills through homestead…
Music of Northern Uganda News
…some really useful information given about travelling to the north of the country and where to find the music. Mary, Rose, Dnalega Bonnars and Charles all talked about different tribal communities we are planning to visit in December – the Langi from Lira, Iteso from Soroti, Lugbara from Arua and the Acholi from Gulu. Ndere Troupe While in Kampala, Steve and Patrick watched a performance by the Ndere Troupe at their centre in Ntinda, just outsi…
Singing Wells – Origins News
…oastal Region around Malindi and Mombasa and have now travelled across the country recording 30 musicians and traditional music groups representing three major tribes: the Mijikenda, the Luo and the Kalenjin. We have also travelled to Uganda to record the amazing musicians of the Batwa tribes, bringing many of them back to Nairobi to record them in Ketebul Music studios. We have designed two mobile recording units which can be assembled just about…
How to Map 3: Prepare Your Data News
…ch county of Britain, but if you’ve been following along using a different country and your own data then carry on with that. If you want to make your own nonsense data then this site will generate you some random data. Select CSV (basically Excel) as your Result Type and number range as your Data Type. When we downloaded the country outline of the UK, we downloaded three shapefiles of different administrative levels, called 0, 1 and 2. Administra…
How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…ree 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 administrative areas, i.e. the regions and districts of a country (though these may have other names, such as aimags in Mongolia)….
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…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 7.00am. Tomorrow we are off to U…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…ng vocals. We took a while to set up and the band took a nice break in the sunshine in front of the mud and straw hut. And here’s a close up of Organda: Now, let’s hear and watch him play: https://youtu.be/6Ayrekb9Qm0 https://youtu.be/Mqj8LYmbEJw https://youtu.be/B60npf2yLqU https://youtu.be/BQYtWOBQyBQ https://youtu.be/MJcIi3aY9zI Aloka Ohangla Group Fantastic group featuring the Orutu, the second major instrument of Luo music. If played by a m…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…ontinue to tell the story of one young man carrying a generator on his head 800 metres, with 400 metres elevation. We will get T shirts made. Francis Playing Kid Golf: Francis is the music leader of most of Kisoro Batwa, knowing all the clans – he is pretty much has the final say in who sings what song. He is also the lead dancer of his group. We will never forget Francis playing what we called ‘kid golf.’ He was carrying his big spear doing his d…
Day 5 (PM): The ‘Togetherness Group’ from Kanyabukunga Story
…ive near the streets under tin roofs…. The crew worked hard in the blazing sun – getting close to the action to make sure we captured the energy of each vigorous tribal dance. While the audio team for the day, Andy and Willie, deploy the essential sun shield for the mixing desk. They also found an additional use for the Pelicases, and Winyo’s guitar case, as mixing table and chairs! This little girl sensibly brought an umbrella for a sunshade……and…
Day 3: From Nairobi to Kigali to Kisoro Story
…tain range, just as the rains hit. We arrived safely, obviously, but hydro-planed a little too often, a little too close to 1,000 foot drops. We are now in the heart of gorilla country, surrounded by trekkers who have come to see the beautiful silver back males. But we are here to record the Batwa tribes, who were displaced from their forest homes by the understandable desire to protect the mountain gorilla. Right sentiment, horribly executed, as…
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…ca, the best modern artists are completely rooted in the heritage of their country. Their music is fresh and relevant, but the traditions are completely built into the song. You can hear the instruments, the rhythms, the harmonies, the melodies. Our young artists want to sound like 50 Cent. They seem almost embarrassed by the village music. This terrifies me. SK: Singing Wells can’t just be about archiving. We can’t be fossil collectors. We have t…