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
…ral 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 were, humbled by the strength of the Batwa, before we had even witnessed their incredible singing and dancing. A young Batwa man grabs the…
Day 3: From Nairobi to Kigali to Kisoro Story
…nd, or Wales in Great Britian and has a population of 11.4 million. It’s econony was devasted by the genocide but is recovering; a major source of its recovery is the tourist industry, centred on the famed mountain gorillas. Uganda: Known as the ‘pearl of Africa’ – it too is covered with hills and lakes. Like Rwanda it has the mountain gorillas. It is a completely land locked country. It shares Lake Victoria with Kenya and Tanzania. Crossing the B…
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
…email from Jimmy. So I went and met Jimmy and Martyn at Jimmy’s office in London. We had a chat and I started I was more excited by the office supplies in that first meeting then Abubilla. I’d never been in a big office and I couldn’t believe they’d just leave pads of paper our and pens. All along there was a side idea about a project to Africa. I was very sceptical. I didn’t want it to be some holiday project. I have lots of friends who did the ‘…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 continued…. Story
…th wonderful dancing. Led by Munyaka Chimega, they danced in the style of Sengenya (which bears their name). Non-stop dancing, multiple songs and they didn’t want to stop (but we ran out of video!). Fantastic energetic dancers that we’ve only captured on video…. …and all the kids joined in… https://youtu.be/m0eG1EcIpNM The kids By now you know, we are surrounded by the children at every recording… here are a few more… We even had an audience hig…
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
…up is led by Nyerere wa Konde in the Mwenzele style. The group featured a wonderful percussion trio, with the Lungo (broken glass moved in a big bowl) and Ndema (2 brass rings played in ringing and muted tones) Mwenzele-Nyerere wa Konde Music Club Lungo (Bowl) and Ndema (rings) Zaire Ndindingwa The group is led by Fundi bin Kalale in the ndindingwa style. Wonderful percussionist using two shakers and a whistle (filimbi). https://youtu.be/cvpcF…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…e partnership of Ketebul and Abubilla): Kothbiro: Ayub Ogado. This is the song everyone remembers from the Constant Gardner. Written by the legendary Ayub Ogado. He opened the ‘meeting’ and this was his final song. The instrument you hear is the nyatiti (a lyre-like stringed instrument) which he played. Marina, Samba Mapangala: This is the song that Samba opened his piece with. He followed Ayub Ogado who played percussion throughout. There was a l…
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…t the rest. They also had chickens for eggs and meat. The water is pure so you don’t need to buy it. People are very friendly in the village and there is still honour and politeness. They respect their elders, always greet an older person and stand up when they walk nearby. Nick likes going back home to visit because it’s much simpler, clean and safe. He graduated from High School in 2006 from Mirogi Boys High School and then went to University at…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…nd what it takes to get to the Olympics. Both athletes will be running at London 2012. Most Kenyan runners come from the Rift Valley, in particular the town of Itan where there is a strong culture of running. The high altitude enables runners to develop and maintain high levels of fitness. Chela has worked on various documentaries, in particular the Water Project for Unicef and her current documentary on Kenyan runners. I talked to her about her i…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…to ‘overcome tribalism in the region and to promote peace and reconciliation among the local communities around Lake Turkana by giving them an opportunity for cross-cultural cooperation and exchange, both in the preparation and in the course of the Festival. During the three days Festival, representatives of the Rendille, El Molo, Pokot, Samburu, Turkana, Gabbra, Dassanech and Borana present their respective customs and living conditions, spectac…
Discovering music roots with SWP News
…r was also thwarted when my finger tips formed that kind of stuff you find on your heels if you don’t wear shoes. I grasped the next best thing: art that I have a passion for, rising to become one of the most read cartoonists in the region. But my enthusiasm for music remains intense. So when I am not drawing caricatures of politicians or throwing barbs at societal misfits, I try to be part of the forces that shall try shape a revamped local music…
More Ketebul voices…Steve reports from the field News
…ols 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 studio a short while after me, and Jimmy h…