African Strings: The Nyatiti and The Adungu News
…e to suggest they were, not only due to their likeness, but because of the way the instruments have migrated with their players, as shown on the map (left). Below is a video made by Levy, one of three, describing his theories linking the Adungu with ancient Egypt. Here is his website. The Instrument: The Adungu is based on the major or pentatonic scale. In modern Africa the Adungu has tuning-pegs, which the Egyptians did not, and play the harp wit…
Background on the Music of Northern Uganda News
…ges were evacuated and millions were moved into displacement camps. Being away from home, the traditional music of one’s tribe and ancestors becomes much more important for recovery and a way of holding on to normality. (The Tribal Structure of Uganda) Lira: We will then visit Lira and listen to the music of the Langi tribe. Go here to learn more about The Langi. Unfortunately Steve and Patrick were told that the music in Lira is in decline and fi…
Day 6: Recording the Tugen & back to Nairobi Story
…the song ‘Chang’aomen’ – a song about a woman who gets married and moves away from home and brings special gifts back to the village. Song Translations: Kewamoi Women Dancers ‘Tarkok’ : about a woman who ran away from home. The man is singing about how he can’t live without her and he will travel as far as he needs to find her. ‘Chesaina’ : this is a person who can hold the hind leg of a donkey. This is highly unusual because a donkey kicks so ha…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…r so stalls. Then more empty roads and lovely hillsides. We travelled this way for another 80kms or so. Finally, at one hillside, there was a flat area and we stopped and 50 Cows announced ‘we’re here.’ We tried to find a recording site out of the burning sun but failed. We wanted the lovely 360 views and sacrificed shade for our art. The Music Groups Kasagat Traditional Dancers The first group was the Kasagat Traditional Dancers. Kathy talked to…
Lugbara Tribe Profile – Music of Northern Uganda News
…re said to have been twins: Arube and O’duu. Arube was a boy while O’duu was a girl. These twins, unlike their parents Gboro-Gboro and Meme, were believed to have been ordinary human beings and tradition asserts that they were born in the ordinary way. Meme died immediately after giving birth to the twins, who then grew up to marry each other and start the first clan. For more information about the Lugbara people, visit everyculture.com, or (websi…
Day 3 continued – an interview with Steve Kivutia Story
…ight on Kenyan Music series. His feature artist was Makedem who ‘blew him away’ and he still views Ohanglaman as his favourite album. He also says Jesse was the perfect coach, so passionate about good music, but so meticulous about creating great music. Steve has worked on all the Spotlight series and fell in love with Iwdi Aching, a lovely female vocalist who, he says, showed him that African tribal music didn’t need to be ‘old.’ He feels that Si…
Day 3: Kitale to Kapsokwony, Kenya Story
…ical 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 called a burkandit, and is a homemade guitar somewhat resembling the Nyatiti of the Luo. He was joined by a percussionist who played the karachimek, which is essentially two sticks on the ground played by two sticks. Tabu first met Ben in 2007, when working on Spotlight on Kenya Music Vol.4. He…
Day 2: Nairobi to Kitale & an interview with Pato Story
…even around my own villages. Our trip to Nyanza in November 2011 blew me away. I have never heard music like that. My favourite was the performance from Okumu K’Orengo. I was so moved. He was singing about death, about his own father, about his grandfather. He forced you to think about all the people you’ve lost. Secondly, I love the confidence it gives me to expose my friends to new music. They all love the music I bring home – it is so differen…
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…ld.” Tabu goes on to describe the role of tribal music,” Their music is a ‘way of life’. They use music for communication, passing on information and entertainment. Music is always present when there is a birth, a death, a wedding or other ceremony. Each tribe will have unique stories to tell of their history, of war, of famine etc but there will be common themes as all Africans have similar challenges and experiences.” Ketebul is recording tradit…
Singing Wells – Origins News
…neer, Patrick Ondiek, adds, ‘I love producing the final videos and getting phone calls from my friends asking me ‘how did you find these musicians?’ I feel like I’m on the cutting edge of music, bringing these talented musicians to my Nairobi friends.’ We have developed a three year plan to record a wide selection of important tribal musicians in East Africa. We are recording music in Northern Uganda in Autumn 2012 and then we will travel to Tan…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…poverished lifestyle of the community here. I can’t imagine living in this way – tiny grass huts, mud floors, a basic latrine, a mother washing her baby in a small washing up bowl. I realize that I would be equally unable to live a nomadic life in the forest, the way the Batwa lived for centuries. The Bawta heritage is one of a simple life living off the fruits of the forest and surviving without any of the modern day comforts we know. The sadness…
Bill Odidi reporting on Singing Wells from London News
…med 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/-/djb5mf/-/index.html Phot…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…he heart of our sessions. Francis Sembagare Tiny Moses Tiny Moses blew us away at the hotel one evening when we discovered him and the magic bass. He is an extraordinary guitar player and a lot of fun. He joined in all our group sessions over the weekend. Moses Nzikumua-Kamuntu (Tiny Moses) Jovah (and baby Jonain) We met Jovah our second day of recording in Kisoro; she was the lead singer of the Mperwa Dancers and we loved her voice. She has been…
How to Map 3: Prepare Your Data News
…d to be identical. (The reason for that will become clear later). The only way to make absolutely sure of that is to go into ArcMap and look at the attribute table of the shapefile (that’s basically the data that makes the shapefile look how it does), and check the names of the counties. To do this open the map, which is saved at C:\How To Map\How to Map 1, or wherever you put it. Then right-click on GBR_adm2 and select Open Attribute Table. This…
How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…ase, GBR_adm.zip. Open it up and take a look. What you will see is a crazy number of files, none of which your computer seems to really recognise. Don’t panic. What you’re seeing is just a few shapefiles (remember shapefiles? No? Let me jog your memory). As we’re looking at the shapefiles in the C: drive rather than in ArcMap itself, you can see the six individual files which make up the one shapefile. In fact, in this case you’re looking at 18 fi…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…ontinue to tell the story of one young man carrying a generator on his head 800 metres, with 400 metres elevation. We will get T shirts made. Francis Playing Kid Golf: Francis is the music leader of most of Kisoro Batwa, knowing all the clans – he is pretty much has the final say in who sings what song. He is also the lead dancer of his group. We will never forget Francis playing what we called ‘kid golf.’ He was carrying his big spear doing his d…