Best of Singing Wells 2011 News
…corded over 150 songs from more than 25 local music groups and uploaded 36 videos of these performances to YouTube (so far). Every performance was unique and special – we loved them all – so picking just 10 songs for a ‘Best of’ album was not easy. Here are our final choices….it’s just a small reflection of what was an extraordinary year of recording music in East Africa. We hope you enjoy listening. Please get in touch and let us know what you th…
Why “Singing Wells”? News
…ging wells of the Samburu tribes people. The singing wells of the Samburu During the dry season, Samburu herdsmen (and boys) draw much needed water for their cattle from deep wells which they have dug in the parched river bed. As they pull water from these wells they begin to sing, a different song eminating from each well. The animals appear from the bush, seeming to recognise the unique song of their master. Once the animals have had their f…
A Year in Review March 2011 – March 2012 News
…, you will discover the Otacho Young Stars, with their modern take on the Orutu. But then watch the magic of the Nyatiti and Luo drums in two ‘magic minute’ sessions: The Kalenjin project, Great Rift Valley, Kenya: Scheduled for March 2012, we will be travelling to the Great Rift Valley to record the music of the Kalenjin tribes. The majority the world famous Kenyan athletes are from this tribe and we will be capturing the traditional musi…
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…
AMF receive grant to fund Batwa recordings News
We have just heard the good news that the Institute of International Education has approved a grant to support the Singing Wells trip to Uganda to record the music and dance of the Batwa people. We are delighted that our proposal was successful and that the IIE agreed with our rationale for taking the project to the Batwa to increase awareness of their unique music and dance traditions. In our proposal, we outlined our rationale as follows: “The…
Singing Wells Project News Update News
…OCTOBER 2011 NEWS: Here is the latest news and itinerary for Phase 4 – the Batwa and Luo music recording trip in November. Click on the image to download the PDF: …
Abubilla Music release fourth album News
The latest album from Abubilla Music has been released and there’s a launch party on 2nd October in Richmond when The Saturday Morning Canasta Club will play tracks to a (hopefully) admiring audience – more news about that to follow. Click on the cover for a sneak preview – the track ‘Breathe’ performed by the Singing Wells Project’s very own Andy Patterson……. Importantly, the album also includes the global remix of an origi…
AMF News Up-Date News
…There’s some exciting developments happening with all our projects and partners. Take a look at our news update here: …
May 2011 – Jimmy reports back on the pilot phase News
…more and more young Kenyan musicians base their work on more acoustic instruments while taking advantage of today’s modern recording equipment rather than being totally reliant on it to produce “robotic” stuff. There shall exist modern, contemporary music and traditional music. The latter is sometimes viewed as “backward” and is not at the frontline of entertainment in a country such as ours – in fact one must go to great lengths to access it. It…
Lake Turkana Cultural Festival 2011 News
…ed a perfect fit with the objectives of the Singing Wells project and the trustees were happy to approve a grant to cover the costs of travelling to the Festival with the new mobile recording equipment. The main purpose for the Festival, which is hosted by the German Embassy in Nairobi and the National Museums of Kenya, is to ‘overcome tribalism in the region and to promote peace and reconciliation among the local communities around Lake Turkana b…
Discovering music roots with SWP News
…more and more young Kenyan musicians base their work on more acoustic instruments while taking advantage of today’s modern recording equipment rather than being totally reliant on it to produce “robotic” stuff. There shall exist modern, contemporary music and traditional music. The latter is sometimes viewed as “backward” and is not at the frontline of entertainment in a country such as ours – in fact one must go to great lengths to access it. It…
£25K donation from Abubilla Music Foundation News
…om the The Abubilla Music Foundation of £25,000 has been allocated by the trustees to the Singing Wells project. This has meant that all expenditure on the development of the Ketebul Music website has been covered and we are now able to go ahead with the purchase of the all mobile recording equipment which will be needed for the village recording sessions. Our resident technical expert and sound engineer, Andy Patterson, has sourced everything we…
Ketebul Music website launched News
Great news to report today. Initial funds to the Singing Wells project have been used to complete our first objective and we are delighted to report on the launch of the new Ketebul Music website. When Abubilla Music and Ketebul Music first came together we decided the most pressing need was for a dynamic website which would show the work of the Ketebul artists in their full glory and we think we’ve succeeded in our goal. Take a good look around…
SWP Launch Day News
…in earnest from here. It’s particularly appropriate that we should launch today, as this week Kenya celebrates the 47th anniversary of independence, which was granted on 12th December 1963. And yesterday, I was very honoured to be a guest at a reception for Kenya National Day hosted by the High Commissioner in London, Mr Ephraim Ngare. It was a wonderful occasion, with a motivating speech from Mr Ngare about Kenya’s progress and the special relat…