A message from Henry Neza at UOBDU News
…s visit to Kisoro there was an opportunity for some of the Batwa to experience life 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 th…
Sad News from Kenya News
…ear to all of those keeping track with the Singing Wells project. Some sad news. Okumu K’Orengo, one of the musicians we recorded in Kenya as part of the Singing Wells trip, had passed away. He was a master of the Nyatiti and performed for us in the village of Aluny, his final track on the day being a funeral dirge. We send our sympathies and condolences to his family and friends at this sad time. Here is an audio excerpt and video from his perfor…
AMF receive grant to fund Batwa recordings News
…t for the whole Batwa community. The immediate benefit will be a source of new income as each of the music groups will receive a gratuity payment for their performances. The lasting benefit will be the preservation, awareness and appreciation of the Batwa people and their cultural music heritage. The SWP will literally put the Batwa back on the map as we add their music and dance to the ‘Discover the Music’ map on the Singing Wells website. We wil…
Recording music & dance of the Batwa News
…fe. The United Organisation for Bawta Development (UOBDU) was founded in 2000 to address land problems and develop sustainable livelihoods. UOBDU has identified four key areas of support: land & housing; education and adult literacy; income generation and forest access & benefit-sharing. By way of example, the Batwa Cultural Trail is a new initiative launched by the Uganda Wildlife Authority and UOBDU. The trail will provide an income for Batwa an…
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…etter to ‘go to the music’ then try to bring all these talented musicians 900 kms to Nairobi. In addition, we confirmed that Ketebul absolutely has the right set of sound and video engineers to lead these sessions in the future – they have all now been fully trained and have already begun to record sessions on their own. They will be leading the November sessions. If you are interested in the Ketebul’s team’s views of the sessions click on any of…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…allow them to 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 n…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Pato News
…see the images my love was capturing. Day 2: Off to Malindi I was up by 5:00am in the morning, and was all showered and packed shortly after.I had breakfast and by 6:30 I was out of the house. Nairobi has serious traffic jams and to get somewhere on time one has to leave early. When I arrived at the studio Steve was already there and the rest of the team joined us later and as per Steve’s itinerary we left at 12:00 sharp hihihi. We split in two g…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Willie Bembe News
…and Jimmy is dancing all over the place as an African touch is added by Makadem, Winyo and Ayub Ogada. Andy is at the control desk being a magician after tearing down our studio so we can use the new equipment. Jimmy is an amazing song writer I realise. We say farewell and they are off to the airport with a promise to return. Willie Bembe 11 April 2011 Nairobi…
Discovering music roots with SWP News
…s lurked in the 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…
More Ketebul voices…Steve reports from the field News
…h a MacBook Pro laptop running on pro Tools 9, MOTU traveler interface, a 500mb external hard drive, and 2 ART headphone amps. There was also a 2 bags with mic and instrument cables, power extension cables, 8 pairs of headphones, mic stands, boom poles, 2 Rodes NT5 mics with dead cats (no animals were harmed in the acquisition of the dead cats!), 1 shure sm58 and 1 shure sm57 mic, and 2 AKG C414 mics. Patrick, our video guy, also made it to the st…
What we learned from the pilot phase News
…t need for what we are doing: the average age of the performers was about 60 and there were NO young adults or kids involved. This music, these traditions are dying fast. Moreover, on three different cases local young men from the villages approached us and said they also had some music for us to hear. In each case they were trying to imitate US artists from 50 Cent to Justin Timberlake. In no case did they build off their own musical traditions e…
Meet the team from Ketebul Music News
…nary team, with huge passion for Singing Wells. Our goal is not simply to ‘archive’ the traditional music of East Africa – it is about making it relevant to new generations and contemporary music. This is the right team to make it happen. Jimmy…
Testing the mobile recording equipment News
…eekend, they recorded Samba percussion on the streets of Sao Paulo for the new, global version of the Abubilla Music song, 71 Hours to Monday. Check out Jimmy’s blog on their progress: Quick report from Sao Paulo Next stop, Kenya. In March, Jimmy and Andy are taking the recording equipment to Nairobi, teaming up with Ketebul Music to fully test everything in the field in advance of the village tour in November. Tabu Osusa is putting together the i…
More on the launch of the Ketebul Music website News
…ittle note about our web design partners at N ebulo Strata who created the new Ketebul Music site for us. They’ve delivered a great site right on brief and within a tight budget which is a big bonus for the Singing Wells funds. Here are a few words from Wesley Burden about the challenge we gave them…… “Ketebul Music required a website design that delivered a strong sense of the colourful music of East Africa and the traditions that their non-profi…
Ketebul Music website launched News
Great news to report today. Initial funds to the Singing Wells project have been used to complete our first objective and we are delighted to report on the launch of the new Ketebul Music website. When Abubilla Music and Ketebul Music first came together we decided the most pressing need was for a dynamic website 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…
SWP Launch Day News
…positive about the Singing Wells project and the connection we are making between London and Nairobi through music. So a big thank you to the High Commission, particularly to Wanja Michuki, Principal Counsellor for Trade and Economic Affairs who was delightful to meet and very supportive of our project. And thanks also to Hills Balfour and the Kenya Tourist Board for taking me as their guest. Looking forward to updating you with more news as the…