Diamond Jubilee Pageant at Windsor Castle News
…ure: Performers from the Masai, Samburu, Luo, Kamba and Kikuyo tribes The Nairobi Chamber Chorus considered the topmost choir in Kenya today Cultural Pavilion At the entrance to Windsor Castle there will be a Cultural Pavilion which will contain a backdrop of graphic representations of all the countries that have had a role to play in the Queen’s reign. On the Kenya stand there will be Singing Wells DVDs freely available for guests. The DVD is…
News from the Batwa in Kisoro News
…eal. Gasoda looks exactly the way he always appears The Batwa who went to Nairobi were happy to see themselves in photos once again. Thanks to UOBDU and Singing Wells for sending this Album to us See how we were dressed it is exactly the one I was addressed. In the Camera you can see everything, One was showing another one and said, See this one, you can not know that he is the husband of Nkumbuye, he is very smart in the photos I have got this ph…
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…is worth it guys? [This is a pretty relevant question 470 kilometres into a 800 kilometre journey back from the coast to Nairobi] TO: We have no choice. We have to do something and I don’t see anyone else doing what we’re doing. We’ve got to get three things right going forward: we have to get the audio right. People need to hear the music like we’re hearing it in the field. We’ve got to get world class at this. Second, we’ve got to get the video…
Kathy’s reflections on her Singing Wells experience News
…hours before we recorded them. They were proud and wanted to show us their best performances. I really felt for them if they thought they hadn’t done something right in the performance. For instance if they started singing before the clapper board was out of the shot they had to start again. This unnerved and embarrassed them and they had to regroup before they could sing again. I felt it was important to talk to them before the performances to pu…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
Greetings from Nairobi. We arrived on Saturday and spent Sunday at Ketebul, meeting the team and then recording a ‘Hall of Fame Concert’ that Tabu had arranged at Sippers. The music was fantastic and brought to life what the Singing Wells Project is all about. Let’s focus on the music. After all, it is all about the music and the concert that Tabu organised to celebrate the best in East African Music. This was the concert (actually Tabu called it…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…ting publication in the UK. She spent six year researching and writing the book spending spent much of this time in Iten, the home to many Kenyan elite runners. Jackie was born in Nairobi and moved to Kitale when she was two. Her father is Maasai. His family come from Rift Valley near Iten. In 1911, when the British took Laikipia, his ancestors were chased out of the Rift Valley to the south of Kenya. In the 1920s they eventually made an agreement…
Best of Singing Wells 2011 News
…s unique and special – we loved them all – so picking just 10 songs for a ‘Best of’ album was not easy. Here are our final choices….it’s just a small reflection of what was an extraordinary year of recording music in East Africa. We hope you enjoy listening. Please get in touch and let us know what you think. Just send us an email – we’d love to hear from you. Email Victoria You can see and hear more on our YouTube channel : Singing Wells on YouTu…
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…ing with us was a funeral song that our team at Ketebul Music felt was the best version they’d ever heard sung. Here it is: But, this journey is not just about preservation of the music. We are continuously reminded that this music is vibrant, fresh and contemporary. This was on full display for us at the close of last year when we brought 10 musicians from the Batwa communities of southern Uganda to Nairobi to record some of their songs with…
A message from Henry Neza at UOBDU News
…fe outside their community when they visited the Ketebul Music studios in Nairobi for more recordings. During this trip they were able to interact with the Ford Foundation and benefit from new clothes and shoes, which improved their social status among the dominant tribes here. This gave them confidence and changed their behaviour. Now the non Batwa community agree that the Batwa can compete with others in many different fields if they are given t…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…o undertake the trip to this remote area of North West Kenya, 800 km from Nairobi and home to the Turkana and Samburu tribes and the original ‘singing wells’. When Steve Kivutia (Ketebul Music) presented the idea of recording music at the Festival to the AMF, it seemed a perfect fit with the objectives of the Singing Wells project and the trustees were happy to approve a grant to cover the costs of travelling to the Festival with the new mobile re…
Discovering music roots with SWP News
…background with brotherly advice. March 26, 2011, about 22.00 hours, JKIA Nairobi. Ketebul had partnered with Abubilla on the Singing Wells Project, just about the best thing, in my view, that has happened to the dwindling fortunes of Kenyan traditional genres of music. Tabu and I were at the airport to receive James Jimmy Allen and Andy Patterson from Abubilla. I’d met Andy towards the end of 2010 on his first visit to Africa and we’d gotten on f…
More Ketebul voices…Steve reports from the field News
…ther two groups. Time was of the essence, so an early departure was in the books. Breakfast was a quick affair and we were soon on the road to Killifi. We made a brief stop at Pwani University to pick up Deche the fixer and replenish our water supplies, and then proceeded to the village of Kibarani. Set up was done in a matter of minutes, as the village kids gathered around to see what we were up to. All the kids, with studio in background The fir…
What we learned from the pilot phase News
…merican group) and turned it into something truly amazing by combining the best of old and new. The Magic Moment on Day 1 when it all seemed worth it. We took a simple (very American sounding song) from Bado and blended it with his Dad’s styles to make something really special 3. And Lessons? What Need to Improve? We were glad we did the pilot because we did learn a lot. Here are the main lessons: Far more time on Visuals: We had under-estimat…
Ketebul Music website launched News
…which would show the work of the Ketebul artists in their full glory and we think we’ve succeeded in our goal. Take a good look around the site to see how Ketebul Music is working to combine the traditional sounds of East African tribal music with the best of contemporary artists. And through Bandcamp, listen to or download the inspirational music of Kenya from artists such as Ontiri Bikundo and Makadem, or the 4 piece women’s group Bismillahi Ga…