Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…nging Wells Project and met the Ketebul team in the studios for a day . Day 1: 11.11.19, Flight to Nairobi: Jimmy and Andy, Founder and Sound Engineer of Abubilla Music respectively, set out to Nairobi on Saturday for Nairobi. All good with flights, visas, bags and customs and we were greated by Tabu Osusa. Checked into Fairview, had the obligatory fries in a chip basket and crashed. Day 2: 11.11.20 Day in Ketebul Studio: Jimmy and Andy meet the S…
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…rth certificate. It said December 15th. So my actual birth date is December 12, but my recorded birthday is December 15th, when my mum actually filled in the forms. Q: How did you get involved with Ketebul and Singing Wells? SK: I set out to be a graphic designer in multi-media. I was in college for Graphics Designs and met a lot of musicians there and started with music production, music software, starting with Fruity Loops. I remember the first…
Kenya (Coast): Day 3 – our final recording day Story
…MQA Muungano Kayamba The groups is led by Futuma Ali Mwacheruve, dancing and singing in the Kayamba style (which is also the name of the wonderful percussion). It was our first ‘harvest dance’ (Mavuno), which celebrated the harvest and the arrival of the new baby. Lots of ‘props’ including a baby doll, hay stack and lots of bowls of water and spices. Some final shots at our last village. Enjoy…. Winyo and the kids… That’s enough for now. There…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…n music. Bado’s music is great, propelled by his wonderful voice, but it’s American-sounding and could 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 cont…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…to right, Joyce, Alfred and Tabu. Joyce is from the Ford Foundation and supports Ketebul. Alfred helped introduce Ketebul and Abubilla This was an evening to represent everything Ketebul is about – bringing new East African artists to the world, but rooting them in the generations of music that came before. This seems a perfect send-off to record village music. We leave tomorrow at 9AM. Jimmy …
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…. 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 Kenyan musicians. Here are three examples of the audio from these sessions with video to follow: 1. Tiny Moses, Challenger and DJ, with the Ketebul Musicans, including Bishop and Winyo: 2. Jovah, with Jesse on Piano: 3. Francis Sembagare from Birara Dancers with Jesse f…
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…
Guy Morley – No Nation News
…Guy Morley is music programmer for the Big Chill festival – one of the highlights of the UK’s cultural calendar, and is the founder of No Nation, an independent arts programming, production and promotion company. No Nation has developed links across East Africa and has recently worked on a project for Sound and Music looking at the influence of early American country music in Africa. …
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
…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 and it is the first initiative to afford them a stake in the conservation and management of the National Park which was once their home. The Batwa love to sing and dance, and often do so spontaneo…
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…d and video engineers, complete the recording of 24-32 village groups and 4-5 new ‘Influences’ sessions. Phase Five: January-March 2012: Goal to complete an addition 3 CD’s, 3 DVD’s and a fuller archive of audio-video recordings and produce 5 ‘Influences’ songs. At the end of Phase Five, we will have developed two full on the ground audio-visual mobile recording units, trained ten Kenyan sound and video engineers in their use, recording over 50…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…the very limited general knowledge on the Lake Turkana region, the presentation of the cultural traditions makes the Festival a unique and fascinating experience for everyone involved.’ Steve’s objective is to record the music of all 10 performing groups. All the material will be taken back to the Ketebul Studios for archiving and editing for future use. We look forward to hearing back from the team about how they got on at the Festival so more n…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Pato News
… Pato’s reflections of Singing Wells – March 2011 Day 1: Meeting my new love [CANON 5D CAMERA] It’s Sunday March 27th 2011 and I am taking my sweet time getting to the studio knowing that I will find the engineers from Ketebul Music being briefed by Jimmy and Andy from Abubilla Music on the recording equipment that would be used in the field. Unfortunately it was only Steve from Ketebul Music and our director Tabu who had arrived. I was int…
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
…ed of me what “TV station” we were. I wanted to inform her we were from You-Got-Caught TV but instead volunteered the nature of our mission. She seemed relieved, skipping over to her ageing boyfriend to convey the “good news” – that we weren’t spying on them – in splattering Italian. Anyway, on our southern leg of the recordings, we booked into a fine hotel. Any field trip will come with its light moments. I never quite mentioned this to anyone, b…