Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…the other vehicle can catch up. In the meantime, I have the camera in hand to capture the wonderful landscape of the Rwandan hills on our climb to the border. There are some prominent themes on the trip which I noted down later that evening: bustling towns, people walking everywhere, women in colourful kikoys, children playing at the roadside, motorbikes, push bikes, sacks of potatoes, lush green hills, patchwork of fields, stunning lakes and lots…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…asy way to help is to have a ‘clap’ at the beginning of the take so that Pato can line up the three videos and audio. We talk to the musical groups and explain that Pato will say “1, 2, 3” and then clap. They are then able to start the song 3-4 seconds later. Inevitably and consistently, in every village, we end up with the whole village joining Pato in a “1-2-3 Clap”. This is sometimes a hundred people. Rwandan and Ugandan Hills: We climbed them….
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…the power cut which lasted the same length of time). Their wait allowed us to capture some photos of their members which demonstrate wonderfully the age range across the group and the fact that music here in Africa is for the whole community, from the very young to their much respected elders. This lady was one of the principal dancers and she out performed many of the younger members of the group… You can see her in action in the later part of th…
A Batwa song in celebration of Uganda News
…e recorded the music of six communities in the Kisoro district. One of our favourite songs was one about Uganda – a song of the Batwa sung in celebration of their cherished county. When we invited some of the Batwa to Nairobi to record in the Ketebul Music studios, we asked them to perform a version of the song for our Influences series, accompanied by Jesse Bukinda on guitar and Winyo on vocals. Here it is….. …
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…ideo and audio way. Going forward, we should work to use our second studio to capture individual sounds. On the video side, we need a main crew focused on the performance and a secondary crew focused on Selling Wells, archiving the stories of the music and the artists. TO: The pilot was a success and proved we were right – take the studio to the talent not the other way around. This trip also confirmed that this mission is critical. As Steve said,…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…illage. Enjoy…. Winyo and the kids… That’s enough for now. There’s 150 pictures more for every one we show, but the internet is too slow to keep posting Jimmy…
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…g these sessions to learn mobile recording techniques so they can continue to capture village music Create a multi-media song library of these sessions available to music lovers and ethnomusicologists on line and through CD and DVD releases. Create a separate video/audio song library of instruments and voices that would be made available to musicians and producers to encourage uses of traditional music in modern songs. Publish a set of ‘Influences…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…traditional costumes, arts and crafts, dances and music to each other and to visitors. Combined with the stunning geographical characteristics and the very limited general knowledge on the Lake Turkana region, the presentation of the cultural traditions makes the Festival a unique and fascinating experience for everyone involved.’ Steve’s objective is to record the music of all 10 performing groups. All the material will be taken back to the Kete…
More Ketebul voices…Steve reports from the field News
…o Tools. It was pretty impressive, the equipment, two mobile units in easy to carry travel cases, each equipped with a MacBook Pro laptop running on pro Tools 9, MOTU traveler interface, a 500mb external hard drive, and 2 ART headphone amps. There was also a 2 bags with mic and instrument cables, power extension cables, 8 pairs of headphones, mic stands, boom poles, 2 Rodes NT5 mics with dead cats (no animals were harmed in the acquisition of the…