Tarajazz Group
…ical piano and music. He became interested in Jazz and created an African fusion of Taarab and Jazz about two years ago. The name of his band changed from Mansule to Tarajazz. He combined African rhythms such as Msewe and Kyaso (both from Zanzibar) with Singeli (a new tribal rhythm). Taarab came from early 1800’s as Egyptian music. In Zanzibar the Mother of Taarab, Siti Binti Saad, made Taarab more popular in the 1920’s to 1950’s. We spoke to Hass…
Chibite Group
…his sister Ndekwa and two daughters Grace and Leah. They played 4 songs: Dunia Nigahira Samamba: Streamlined. Malugaro: And a Magic Moment with Grace playing the Zeze (large stringed instrument). Throughout, they played stringed instruments, thumb pianos and drums – all four could play each instrument and sing. The instruments were: Zeze: The stringed instrument made from a gourd, which comes in three sizes Ilimba: A lamello…
Day Four: January 21 2019 Mwanza Story
…Magic Moment on a song Ndono. They then did a lot of dances with ‘modern’ music on speakers. https://youtu.be/uRfFn7ZgUrU Group 2: Camera: Camera, who has been performing since 1999, is from Nzega and from the Sukuma community, playing in the Kadete style. Camera plays the Kadete (like the Zeze from earlier and Orutu from Kenya). He is an extremely cool cat, who we actually discovered walking the streets with his instrument during the RECCE. We re…
Kochia Traditional Dancers Group
…dedicated themselves to entertaining guests at countless national celebrations and holidays, private events, as well as internationally as part of the Folklife Festival in the UK and in the USA at the Smithsonian Folk Festival. As well as this they are determined with their performance to preserve the incredible Ramogi dancing, a mainstay of traditional Luo culture. Ramogi was the patriarch of the Luo people, and this centuries-old dance is perfor…
Irimbene Cultural Dancers and Self-Help Group Group
… Irimbene Cultural Dancers and Self-help Group, formed in 2000 with 21 young men, and is led by Edward Kiogura. They play in the Authi style and are from the Ameru ethnic community, from the Irimbene Village, upper Kiungone Sublocation, Abogeta West Division. The group uses Mbere (shakers) worn by Bernard Nkonge, Ginfold Mbae, Amos Munthi and Fraras Ikunda. They also use a flute, Coro, which is performed by John Mwiti….
Ayub Ogada Group
…e spent the day at his home in Nyahera location, not far from Kisumu town, and conducted a long yet free of form type of interview. Although a Luo himself, Ayub had never learned how to play the nyatiti in a traditional setting. He picked it up later in his career and studied from a player/teacher at the national cultural centre of Bomas of Kenya in the 1980s. He remembers he had gone for 6 lessons (at a 100 shillings) only and then continued prac…
The Kalenjin of Kenya Album
…n. The album opens with Ben Kisinja on the Burkandit, recorded in Kapsokwony on the 5th March 2012. Also recorded in the same session were the Chebonet Group and the Teriet Band. We also have a short snippet of The Masirtaret – a performance that was sadly cut short by rainfall – one of the perils of recording outdoors. The Sila Dancers began the day in Sila, followed by the Lomut Traditional Dancers and the Lomuge Group. The day recording the P…
The Music of the Mijikenda Album
…. The ZigiDigi Cultural Troupe and Muungano Kayamba providing the music. The album also includes two ‘influences’ recordings – one including Ketebul artist Winyo with Nyerere Wa Konde and his son Mr Bado. The other is Winyo performing with members of the Zigi Digi Cultural Troupe, during the session in Sila. …
Buganda Music Ensemble Group
…g. “Mulirwana”: it means neighbour and the song is about people who don’t trust their neighbours and they believe that anyone that doesn’t trust their neighbours is a witch. “Ssewaswa”: This is about twins Wasswa and Kato, and praising twins. “Anamwinganga”: This was a piece composed by Albert’s father in 1945 and recorded in the 1960’s. It talks about who will attack the king. He has all the security and people are there to protect him so he shou…
1. Introducing the Naizungwe drums Story
…he is hoping to work alongside Haruna Walusimbi of Nile Beat Artists to reconstruct the performances directly from the recording he received from Peter Cooke. James tells us: “Nile Beat Artists is a semiprofessional group of musicians that include highly talented musicians. We will also add other musicians selected on the basis of high skill to avoid wastage of time. We will listen to the recordings together with the youths. Then we make sense of…
Day 7: Friday, February 24th, 2017 Story
…reservation role’ is more physical – she is working to preserve all the physical recordings of Tanzania musicians, many of which are rotting away on dusty reel to reel recordings. And that is it. We then rushed to the airport to depart to Nairobi for a weekend of recording at Ketebul Studios. And thus ends our first Field Visit to Tanzania. Enjoy the videos as we produce them. …
Day 6: Thursday, February 23rd, 2017 Story
…About a child going back to his village after a while and being accepted. Rushwa: about harvests, but also uses a metaphor of a broken chicken leg to say that even if love is broken, it will mend, the ‘girlfriend will come back.’ Rushwa Magic Moment 1: just vocals Magic Moment 2: percussion Malalanga: this is about being quiet because a performance is starting Magic Moment 3: Francis singing ‘Alelewani’ solo. Alelewani with full group Mikocheni M…
Day 4: Tuesday, February 21st, 2017 Story
…that most drums are now steel, because it takes a whole tree to make one drum and you can’t afford to keep cutting down trees in villages. He then told the story of another tree, the Mninga, which is a very rare tree out of which the best marimbas are made. He was in the market one time and found an old bed made out of Mninga. The wood was old and very dry which was perfect. He bought the bed for $15 and is now making a world class marimba. Behin…
Day 3: Monday, 2017 February 20th Story
…, others have arrived. Children are bigger, parents are older. It is very confusing. But I am very glad I did it and I’m so sad these traditions are dying away. These rites really help keep the village together and is part of our civilization.” There is a similar rite of passage for the boys in the village, but they go to the bush. The dance and celebration is very similar to what we saw. Here’s the beginning of the ‘hidden girl’: And here’s the e…
Day 2: Sunday, 2017 February 19th Story
…n “Influences” session. This gave the village children time to get to know us and understand our mission. By the end they were singing along to all the songs. In addition to being a professional musician, Leo also teaches music to school children so he is a natural with kids. On all the songs that he did, he had the whole village singing and laughing. We learned about the Bi Kidude and Unyago style. Throughout this trip we will encounter multiple…
Day 1: Saturday, 2017 February 18th Story
…lly we become surrounded by village children by the end of each field session and we celebrate that their voices create a lovely background in our recordings. We are also here to try to bring this music to new artists and audiences, to show how it can inspire and inform more contemporary artists. This is why we always bring ‘Influences Artists’ with us on each trip and this is why our nights are filled with ‘hotel’ recordings where our ‘Influences…