This is our second day of recording and a full one. In this blog we report on the morning. We’ll give you a sense of the village, the groups, the kids and the ‘setup’…
The Village
This village was called Kibarani. We set up behind on larged thatched hut in an open field, filmed with cows (lots of mooing ended up on record), cow poo (lots of misteps), children, beautiful trees, chickens… but far off the main road, wonderful quiet and cool.
This is the goat pen to the right of the thatched hut where we recorded …
The Music Groups
Chechemeko Raha
We recorded Chechemeko Raha first thing in the morning of March 30th. Led by Bahri wa katana, the group sang and danced in the Chechemeko style. Wonderful, pounding percussion, a great horn called the Gunda and massive kicking dancing called the mabumbu-mbu. Beautiful singing and dancing from the women and gracious leadership from Bahri wa Katana…
Chechemeko raha
Bahri Wa Katana
The Gunda Player and High Kick Dancer
Two Lovely Women Dancers
Dancing in mabumbu-mbu style
One of the percussionists during break…
Two members rest before the performance…
Bahri wa katana and Tabu
4 the Mzinga
Our fourth group was called 4 the Mzinga, led by Alfonce Kazungu, singing 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 by 50-100 kids…
Behind the Scenes
We have good routines now:
We set up our little tent (right)
We set up mic stands
We set up mics
and while folks are setting up, Pato interviews the group leaders
That’s it. We’ll follow up with this afternoon’s action in the next blog…
Jimmy