Alur Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…is bead. Nyapiri killed the child and got out the bead. This caused a separation of the 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 t…
Day 3 continued – an interview with Steve Kivutia Story
…then make a sound that linked all cameras to audio.’ Someone pointed out that what we needed was a clapperboard – something the film industry had discovered 100 years ago and the solutions to all our problems! We were chastened. We asked Nick to be in charge of ‘the clapperboard’ and he got very good at shouting out takes, despite a lot of abuse from the Camera Crew. We now refer to him as ‘Clapper Man’. The rain We need to talk about the rain. We…
Singing Wells – Origins News
…y music career was dancing on a hill in Uganda with Jovah from the Mperwa Batwa community. She has one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard. For me, Singing Wells is 100% about inspiration – I am in awe of the talent we find.’ And finally the origins of our project name. We often get asked why we have called our project ‘Singing Wells’. The inspiration for the name comes from the real-life singing wells of the Samburu tribes people. During…
Day 3: Kitale to Kapsokwony, Kenya Story
…r was ’50 Cows’ – clearly taken from 50 Cent, but taking the Kalenjin love 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 ca…
Bill Odidi reporting on Singing Wells from London News
…music documentary. He teamed up with Andy Patterson while he was here and together they conducted a number of interviews with Kenyan musicians who are now based in the UK. They also had the chance to visit Kenya House in Stratford as a guest of our friends at the Kenya Tourist Board. Here’s Bill’s article published in Business Daily Africa: http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Where+the+world+got+real+flavour+of+Kenya+in+London/-/1248928/1480860/-/d…
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…discover with Singing Wells. “I didn’t really know what to expect of the Batwa of Uganda, and was blown away by the musicianship. I expect to be surprised again!” The last time he was there was about 20 years ago. He thinks the music will be similar to music he has heard in Northern Kenya. He says he is always surprised by the quality of the voices and harmonies. “It’s as if they’ve been professionally trained.” The tribes are generally pastorali…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…themselves on the camera’s screen. On the way down the hill we have plenty of company and help with the equipment. I am escorted down by a group of children, one of whom walks directly ahead of me, turning frequently to check I’m OK. Henry asks him his name. He’s called Nicholas. We tell him my daughter is called Nicola and he finds this hilarious. He asks my name and spends some time repeating it with his friend Dorothia, giggling when I try to c…
How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…l data. Downloading the outline There 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…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
While in Western Kenya, we made a decision to bring some of the Batwa singers back from Kisoro to Uganda. We spent Saturday and Sunday recording them and the results are fantastic. The whole way back from Kisoro to Kisumu we talked about the Batwa and how much we loved the singers. We thought about bringing them to Nairobi sometime in the future. We then decided the future is now and called Henry Neza to see if he would be willing to travel with…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…cause it was first populated by a Road Company). We started in the morning at the compound of Jose Kokeyo, a legendary Luo Benga guitarist, but the rain attacked and we had to move. We ended up at the DRC Rongo in the back garden, recording three very different groups: the Otacho Young Stars, The Kanindi Jazz Band and Jose Kokeyo himself. The Music Groups The Otacho Young Stars The first group were four young men, playing in the Orutu style. First…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…ined. And we saw some of the best players. We want to remind you first of what a Nyatiti looks like and also of it’s beautifully haunting sound, played by the most famous Nyatiti players of all time, Ayub Ogado; here he is with Kothbiro: The Music Groups We saw three groups: two Nyatiti groups sandwiching an Orutu group playing in Ohangala style (a percussion-dance style most often used in weddings/celebrations amongst the Luo). Th…
Christine Kamau – “The Jazzist” News
…p://www.facebook.com/thejazzist Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/christinekamau …
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…TSU https://youtu.be/lu1YXMKnJts https://youtu.be/BulZceL6gXs Kabahenda Batwa Community We now think we know where James Brown got “the act” from. You know the one – he dances and dances and pretends to be exhausted then falls to the floor. Handlers come over to get him and he shrugs them off only to dance some more. And this is repeated many times over. Well, we’re convinced this routine was invented in Kisoro by the Kamuntu Moses Group. They o…
Congratulations Singing Wells! News
…s Project website. I’ve shared it with a lot of people because these sorts of collaborative efforts at recording, archiving and disseminating music ethically are so important. I met Tabu Osusa and Bill Odidi while doing some training on audiovisual archiving in Kenya as part of a British Library World Collections Programme initiative. It was a great pleasure and it is wonderful to see these fruits of their expertise and enthusiasm. Janet Topp Farg…
Day 4: UOBDU and the Birara Dancers Story
…Nyamihanda, Tourism Officer and the first University graduate amongst the Batwa communities. They are to be our hosts and translators for the two days – we were lucky to be joined by Precious as well, Alice’s five month old daughter. Patrick photographs Alice and Precious with Winyo and Steve. And the SWP team pose at UOBDU proudly wearing our Singing Wells t-shirts We picked up the UOBDU generator and headed to the Birara Dancers, 23 kilometers u…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…mum output required from each village visit is: Audio and video recordings of at least 3 performances per tribal group (CD/DVD quality) Full interviews with tribal leader, group leader and key members of the community (on camera) Stills and video of the village and community One ‘Influences’ session. To remind, an ‘Influences’ session is when a Ketebul or Abubilla artist works directly with the local group on a song, either one he/she has been wor…