Chebonet Group
…Music of the Kalenjin Kapsokwony, Kenya…
The Luo of Kenya Album
…band led by Osumba Rateng, and then a Dodo group led by Ogoya Nengo. We next move to Aluny Village – with performances from The Joginda Boys, Otieno Aloka and the late Okumu K’Orengo and his Nyatiti Group. The Kochia Traditional Dancers gave a very visual performance, and one of their tracks, recorded on the shores of Lake Victoria at the Homa Bay Hotel is also included. The final day of recording on the trip saw us head to Rongo – and the settin…
Ndere Instrument
…Metal rings, struck with a metal beater. We encountered the metal rings first on our first recording in Kenya in March 2011. The Nyerere Wa Konde music club used the Ndere rings in combination with the Lungo to create their percussion bed….
Kasagat Traditional Dancers Group
…Music of the Kalenjin Iten, Kenya…
The Kalenjin of Kenya Album
…onies of the performances have been captured well, with The Elimu Cultural Promoters and the Kewamoi Women Dancers both featured. The latter – a nice addition to the lineup, as the field day coincided with World Women’s Day. Eddie Grey was part of the team for the recordings, and he joined a number of groups to join them for Influences recordings. Two of these have been included on the album – his guitar playing accompanying The Elimu Cultural Pro…
Embolot Group Group
…Music of the Kalenjin Iten, Kenya…
Sangwamahoro and Royal Burundi Drums News
…, it later evolved into a cultural club designed to help children born in exile reconnect with their heritage—particularly their language and cultural practices—and to offer a platform for adults to meet, share experiences, and uplift each other. Today, Sangwamahoro has grown into a vibrant cultural collective, featuring a group of drummers, as well as male and female dancers, who perform at various events, festivals, and concerts across the east…
Kenya: music of the Mijikenda Gallery
…Images from the Singing Wells trip to the Coastal Region to record the music of the Mijikenda, a culturally related group of nine clans. Our recordings concentrated on the music of the Giriama and Digo clans – a music style renowned for rhythmic percussion, vocal solos and harmonies. We recorded 8 different music groups from the region….
Field Recording Report by Kahithe Kiiru Story
…ople of Teso) are Nilotes who live mainly in Eastern Uganda and in Western Kenya. The Iteso of Kenya are about 500,000, the majority of whom live in Busia County. Their music varies from traditional drums to string ensembles of impressive complexity and we were lucky to both witness and document this variety. The first location of recording was Atapara village of Ong’ariama sub-location within Amongura location of Teso sub-county. Here we visited…
Dodo Group feat. Ogoya Nengo Group
…Music of the Luo Rang’ala, Nyanza province, Western Kenya Lead Vocalist: Ogoya Nengo…
Page
…cent Singing Wells Influences was dancer and researcher, Kahithe. She has extensive experience in ethnographic research and fieldwork management, as well as 8 years of experience in ethnomusicological research in East Africa, with a special focus on dance traditions of Kenya. Kahithe has a master’s degree (MPhil) in Ethnomusicology and Dance Anthropology from the University of Paris X Nanterre and is currently finalising her PhD in Anthropology (A…
Day Two: 8 March 2022 (Ilesi) Story
…e time to play in sync with the polyrhythmic beats of the Iteso of Western Kenya. When the tuning session was finally figured out the actual recording started at about 17:00 hours. The three sisters and their two brothers have pleasantly matured musically and it was really encouraging to see them helping to keep their father’s legacy alive. All was done a few minutes to 8:00pm. After the routine photo shoot the Obasie Palnyang brothers and sisters…
Teriet Band Group
…Music of the Kalenjin Kapsokwony, Kenya …
Sila Dancers Group
…Music of the Kalenjin Kapenguria, Kenya…
Day Three: 9 March 2022 (Kisumu) Story
…ukabwa. It took almost an hour for the two to figure out Akwabi’s unorthodox, expressive free style for most of his songs before the actual recording began at 2:00pm. After a few false starts we finished the recordings of Peter Akwabi at 4:00 PM with his latest song which is a tribute to D.O. Misiani, the maestro of benga music who died in the lakeside city in May 2006. Next on stage was Olith Ratego, a musician whose unique dodo style is one of t…
Day Four: 10 March 2022 (Rongo) Story
…from the region. Ontiri has performed in most entertainment venues within Kenya and is among the few Kenyan musicians with a huge fan base in the US and Canada, where he has also toured extensively. Ontitri has been invited to perform in South Korea and Germany, not mention that he was one of the leading performers at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2014. Ontiri on the obukano and vocals was backed by Leonidah Basbori on tumba and vocals wit…