Day 5 (PM): The ‘Togetherness Group’ from Kanyabukunga Story
…hich include a Batwa song called ‘Abagyeni Beza’ which is in praise of visitors to the community, telling them that they are beautiful. A lovely song for us to hear! https://youtu.be/MIxv2AOZ7XU https://youtu.be/iYuE_b8lzF8 https://youtu.be/bApTXsrdZ3A https://youtu.be/nh9LxM8OrfE https://youtu.be/CPJ5H7XvdT0 https://youtu.be/qQK5NiF7aSk ‘Abagyeni Beza’ https://youtu.be/7i3F5hPSPg8 The afternoon session wraps up at about 5pm. We say our farewe…
Day 5: Recording the Mperwa Dancers Story
…doing. These young boys enjoy exclusive access to the sound recording 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
…s good, because it rained a lot. https://youtu.be/c1XBVlNQL6E We continued to use this ‘hotel studio’ to record our ‘Influences’ sessions. A word on what we mean. We have multiple goals at Singing Wells. The first is to preserve the vast musical heritage of East Africa, capturing the diversity of music and dance throughout the region. Most of the music is ‘trapped’ in remote villages – everyday in 100’s of villages across East Africa wonderful per…
Day 4: UOBDU and the Birara Dancers Story
…s the green hills – here’s one that we effectively drove completely around to get to the village. This is one of the many views of Lake Chou – 15 of our 23 kilometre drive which took us around the whole lake. Our second introduction to ‘Batwa Fitness’ was on arrival at the village. The road stopped and we were told we’d need to take our equipment ‘up the hill’ another 1,500 metres to the top. It was at least 500 metre rise in elevation. We told yo…
Day 1 & 2: Preparing to leave for Kisoro, Uganda Story
…serve the musical legacy of East Africa; we are trying to make it relevant to today’s artists. Our ‘Influences’ sessions seek to demonstrate the extraordinary power of this tribal music in relation to today’s music. Chief Sound Engineer: Commands the audio team and is in charge of input for all sessions and for completing all finished audio for that day. Assistant Engineer: In charge of set up/breakdown of set and assisting Chief Sound Engineer on…
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…he full performance, in video and audio way. Going forward, we should work to use our second studio to capture individual sounds. On the video side, we need a main crew focused on the performance and a secondary crew focused on Selling Wells, archiving the stories of the music and the artists. TO: The pilot was a success and proved we were right – take the studio to the talent not the other way around. This trip also confirmed that this mission is…
Kenya (Coast): Day 2 continued…. Story
…The Group prepares for their performance… Sengenya The most energetic group by far, brought the house down, with 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…
Interview with Fifty Cows – fixer for Singing Wells News
…war. He is well known throughout the Kalenjin tribes because of his radio shows. Fifty Cows really enjoyed hearing the traditional music on this trip. He felt comfortable with the Merekwet and Pokot tribes we visited although he said it brought back memories of the fighting in his youth. He wants to use music to bring peace to the tribes. His dream is to arrange a concert on the Merekwet and Pokot boarder where singers and dancers from both tribes…
Day 1: The very first field recording day for Singing Wells Story
…s. We must also work to make the songs, the heritage, the culture relevant to today’s artists. Part of that mission then is to help create an East African musical identity to rival the South and West African successes. We had a taste of what this could be on March 29th in Sati, when Winyo joined Bado and his father, Nyerere wa Konde, to do a new song. Bado participates in his dad’s group, but separately records his own music. Bado’s music is great…
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…Nick’s second Singing Wells field recording trip where he is learning how to use the mobile recording equipment whilst also acting as photographer. He is now officially in charge of the ‘clapperboard’ – a role he is relishing. All about Nick Nick was born in 1988 in the village of Mirogi at the Mirogi Mission Hospital. He is Luo and unlike most of the younger engineers and artists at Ketebul, was raised in a rural village. He grew up in Kanya…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…er 2011. She is interested in using traditional music from the Kalenjin tribes for her documentary about Kenyan runners. She says that other film makers have not been able to find the traditional music to use in their movies about Kenya which seems a shame. Posted by Kathy 5th March 2012 …
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…. The reaction of the groups and villagers confirmed that it is far better 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 inte…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…traditional costumes, arts and crafts, dances and music to each other and to visitors. Combined with the stunning geographical characteristics and 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 Kete…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Pato News
…e her name [CANON 5D CAMERA] Jimmy kept a close eye on her and he asked me to stop drooling all over the place because she belonged to him and only him. The second car was delivered and Maddo, chairman for Ketebul Music would be the pilot for the V.I.P car. He had to leave because he had to drop the owner of the car and left me with his car, but not without detailed instructions on how to handle it and with a stern warning: don’t visit your girl…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Willie Bembe News
…ies our grandfathers told us which got distorted over time. The safest way to store them was in the music which was passed down from generation to generation. Another five years and all this would be gone since the present generation is not really interested in learning there music. This is because it’s not packaged in a way that would interest them. DAY 4 Have caught on on how to set up the equipment and under the Andy’s guidance do the recording…
Discovering music roots with SWP News
…m mid last century and offer them in easy to read, listen and view mediums to today’s audiences, young and old, we were trying to fulfill our dreams of preserving our music heritage for prosterity. We have so far produced two packages and are currently working on three others simultaneously. Of course the world cannot live in the past and must move on, but there is no future without a past. Countries that have rich music industries and whose music…