How to Map 2: The Map Outline News
…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 files which will mak…
Return of the Batwa @ Ketebul Music Studios Story
…essions. 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 a revelation this…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…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.be/XTfrBuyept0 https://youtu.be/viY2RgM0ZJE https://youtu.be/yv07MFvC7zQ https://youtu.be/4tQvFzqxbxA Kanindi Jazz Band The second group were the Kanindi Jazz Band, great dancers who also introduced us to our first Africa venture with the Vuvuzelas. They also had a wonderful Ten…
Day 3: Homa Bay and the Kochia Dancers Story
…9-M https://youtu.be/pwVlHnpw8Io https://youtu.be/B_M_OFRzDoU https://youtu.be/6AjxDKLPLkg https://youtu.be/2iGUcQRLRp4 Photo gallery Here is the chief drummer… Here is the coolest Kochia Dancer you will ever meet in Homa Bay: The band in full dance: One of the dancers plays the Tung’, the Luo horn: Note how beautiful the long head-dress is. After the dancing, we completed an influences session with Winyo and Jesse on guitar: And that concluded th…
Day 2: Focus on the Nyatiti, Orutu and DRUMS! Story
…my on Camera 2 filming Organda Joginda: Andy resting after setting up microphones: And Steve working as chief engineer on this session (Macbook Pro and two Motu audio interfaces on top of our trusted Pelicase, which acts as storage for all equipment, chair and table….in the back of the truck that will see us throughout Western Kenya: Finally, here’s Willie setting up a lapel mic for Okumu Korengo Thanks for listening. The Singing Wells Team 29th N…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…children’s rooms. There is a maze of inter-connected cubicles. Each is for one child. One wall is a photograph – floor to ceiling of the child. Another wall has a set of ‘facts.’ Name: Michele’. Age: 26 months. Favourite food: chips (they all loved chips the best). Favourite game: Chasing her brother down the hill. Last Memory: Seeing her Mother hacked to death. Cause of Death: Smashed against a wall. There are about two dozen cubicles. Two dozen…
Day 6: The Studio @ Traveller’s Rest Hotel, Kisoro Story
…inyo. Here, they put down their track. Not at all phased by the use of headphones and mics, they take everything in there stride, performing a number of takes as the song develops. We start by giving them a simple click to follow the beat but quickly realised that their tempos are far more subtle than this. Francis comes back to set the rhythm with their natural clapping and it suddenly all came together again. Once we have the female vocals recor…
Day 5 (much later): The Micyingo Group – guitar and bass! Story
…the shaker in his right hand – a tomato soup can that works as well as any we’ve seen. So, hats off to our wonderful guitarist and his fully home made guitar, with wire strings and frets. And a special thumbs up to the magic bass – a clay pot and a ‘beat boxer’ providing one of the coolest bass lines we’ve ever heard. Here they are in action… https://youtu.be/38uXVC1pEvQ https://youtu.be/-alDBT6_wJw https://youtu.be/5Zv_8A8LpRE We invited them…
Day 5: Recording the Mperwa Dancers Story
…ording area, keeping a close eye on Andy and Willie and enjoying listening to the live performance through their headphones……
Day 4 (later): Recording for ‘Influences’ with the Birara Dancers Story
…hing very new and often scary to the tribal artists. They have to wear headphones to hear other instruments we recorded earlier. They have to sing into a mic. Often they are asked not to clap. Often they are asked not to dance while they sing. We do it to focus on sound quality, but we are fully aware that we are putting these fantastic musicians into an alien environment. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. With the Birara Dancers over the…
Day 4: UOBDU and the Birara Dancers Story
…s, plus the generator. We tried to take the equipment up but were quickly done in my altitude and the slippery red mud of the region. Several young Batwa boys came down, grabbed our equipment and ran up the hill. One young boy picked a hand full of grass and made a little pillow. He put this on his head and then grabbed the generator, which two of us had moved maybe 400 metres, and popped it on his head. And then he ran up the hill. So, there we w…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…ical Pelicases with Apple Laptops, Motu Mixer, Hard Drive Back ups and Headphone Amps. With these, we can record 1 large session with 6-8 inputs, or two separate sessions with smaller groups. SW3 and AM2: These are two Pelicases, with Canon 5D, 7D and 60D camera/lenses and 12 32GB flash cards, plus multiple lenses to video the tribal dances. A major lesson from the March Pilot and Lake Turkana Cultural Festival was that we had under-estimated the…
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…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…water and spices. Some final shots at our last village. 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…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 – recording in the village of Kibarani Story
…g and dancing in the Koringongo style. They used the Marimba, a wooden xylophone. Wonderful lead vocals, very Islamic sound… 4 the Mzinga, featuring the Marimba …with lots of the children The Children Our routine is now established. We drive into a village and meet the musicians and begin setting up. We are about 10 folks and the musicians are another 10-15. We then start the first song and by the end of the session we are generally surrounded b…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…have been produced in LA. We asked him to do a song and he started singing one of his about a guy essentially asking a girl to be his… very urban hip hop and something you’d find in most major cities. Tabu suggested that his dad join him and in traditional voice act as the girl’s father warning her of the danger of seduction. Winyo joined to continue the warnings of the father. A short simple song, but suddenly absolutely magic, unique, and only s…