How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…here is a free online source for spatial data at http://www.diva-gis.org/. To get your spatial data you click on Free Spatial Data in the top-right corner. On the Free 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 p…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…asoda Yohanadj Mbirikimu Mbarushimana – “Challenger” The magic bass player (beat boxes into a pot) with Tiny Moses. Great backing vocals as well. Mbirikimu Mbarushimana Gaudancia (and baby Stella) A wonderful singer from the group ‘Togetherness’ who we recorded in the empty (good news) refugee camp outside of Kisoro. She sang with each of the groups over the weekend. Gaudancia Kampire And here were the results of our efforts! The Singing Wells T…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…he hits either ring (with different sounds), or the side of the box or the top of the box (with different sounds). He also has the option, and this is where it begins to sound more like a bass, to slide the rings along the top as he plays to elogate the note and change its pitch. Please now listen to him in action – it is extraordinary and yes, this is one guy, one instrument: https://youtu.be/yP3s7QyT750 https://youtu.be/34kILyMgZbM https://youtu…
Day 3: Homa Bay and the Kochia Dancers Story
…ish. We smell like a lot of other things by this time – there aren’t a lot of opportunities to wash and you’ll notice a lot shots of us in the same Singing Wells t-shirt – but luckily not yet fish. Fish would turn their noses at us. Our set, below, with recording equipment set up under the bar and the dancers ready to do their stuff… The Kochia Dancers Today is all about dances, so our videos will be much better than still photographs. Let us intr…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…the kick drum with his big toe (with a metal ring on it) banging on the bottom of the Nyatiti. The rest of the band added claps, dancing and wonderful backing 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/BQ…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…d them. We drove over them. We drove around them. And we recorded music on top of them. But we never got tired of the beauty of the hills around us. In the morning, the clouds were trapped in the valleys and in the evening the clouds climbed a bit to shroud hill tops in mist. Power and Locusts and Rain: In Kisoro, we had a power cuts every day. The last day for about 18 hours. In general this is okay as we have a generator for recording. We also h…
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…ssions with Francis, but we love this one, with Jessie and Francis singing together in the gardens of the Traveller’s Rest hotel in Kisoro. Please listen before reading the blog: https://youtu.be/c1XBVlNQL6E We also recorded a beautiful version of Amahoro with Jessie, Francis and the ladies. Francis and the ladies are happy to pose for a series of formal photos (each woman with her baby either cradled or on her back). Tabu and one of our hosts f…
Day 5 (much later): The Micyingo Group – guitar and bass! Story
…nderful dancer and he took centre stage. For us, he symbolised the essence of how life is for the Batwa today – a very hard life, but a life full of spirited song and dance… and this lady is their wonderful lead vocalist… https://youtu.be/pZzgr2PXZ3s https://youtu.be/gt4_CaZNN2c Then the guitar and bass took to the stage….if you are wondering where the bass is, the plastic bag turn out to be significant. We were bemused by this magic plastic bag…
Day 5 (PM): The ‘Togetherness Group’ from Kanyabukunga Story
…ng and we felt it was a great location to record Kanyabukunga Twifatanye (‘Togetherness Group”) from the village of Kanyabukunga. They are led by Gadensia Kampire. The SWP crew poses next to the road sign with the empty field behind. Soon, however, the area was filled with lovely children, here to watch some wonderful dancing and singing. As we unload the vans, the ‘Togetherness’ group are waiting to greet us on the ‘stage’….. The performance is f…
Day 5: Recording the Mperwa Dancers Story
….be/h_mVjup7_6s https://youtu.be/1zjh68iNClw Jessie leads the first Influences session and Winyo accompanies the lead singer and drummer on another…… …and then serenades one of the women outside her hut! The children like to get involved in what we are doing. These young boys enjoy exclusive access to the sound recording area, keeping a close eye on Andy and Willie and enjoying listening to the live performance through their headphones……
Day 4: UOBDU and the Birara Dancers Story
…s the green hills – here’s one that we effectively drove completely around to get to the village. This is one of the many views of Lake Chou – 15 of our 23 kilometre drive which took us around the whole lake. Our second introduction to ‘Batwa Fitness’ was on arrival at the village. The road stopped and we were told we’d need to take our equipment ‘up the hill’ another 1,500 metres to the top. It was at least 500 metre rise in elevation. We told yo…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…serve the musical legacy of East Africa; we are trying to make it relevant to today’s artists. Our ‘Influences’ sessions seek to demonstrate the extraordinary power of this tribal music in relation to today’s music. Chief Sound Engineer: Commands the audio team and is in charge of input for all sessions and for completing all finished audio for that day. Assistant Engineer: In charge of set up/breakdown of set and assisting Chief Sound Engineer on…
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…: Yes it is relevant and it is working. We’re a good team and like working together (sometimes even without Tuskers). Ketebul knows the music, has a feel for the artists, has full access to people that know the best communities to work with. We have none of that. But we bring different musical backgrounds and that helps. TO: Yes it works. And we’ve got a lot to do to prepare for the next phase! Good team. Diverse team. But a shared passion for mus…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 continued…. Story
…The Group prepares for their performance… Sengenya The most energetic group by far, brought the house down, with wonderful dancing. Led by Munyaka Chimega, they danced in the style of Sengenya (which bears their name). Non-stop dancing, multiple songs and they didn’t want to stop (but we ran out of video!). Fantastic energetic dancers that we’ve only captured on video…. …and all the kids joined in… https://youtu.be/m0eG1EcIpNM The kids By now…
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
…of us. My guess is finally the hunger had kicked in, and he couldn’t wait to get to Malindi and some food. We made it to Malindi around 9.30pm. No one knew the exact location of Paradise Hotel and The Leader and The Guide’s GPS couldn’t help us either. Luckily for us, while we were refueling car number 02 at Watamu, a friend of Pato’s who lives in Malindi just happened to come by the station for fuel too. He took us to Paradise Hotel (which turne…