Northern Uganda: Day 4 – night recording at Fort Murchison Story
…at that would be like for the children as Oramba drifts into the shadows only to fly out of the darkness at different points of the circle? So, we vow to do more nighttime recording. Maybe with mosquito netting. Cieng Dwong Tonight’s group was fantastic, especially given the full day of travel. They had about 15 bul (drums) and 2 drummers and a smallish ndara (xylophone). Their lead male singer was about 6 foot five and commanded the whole group a…
Northern Uganda: Day 2 – from Gulu to Acet Story
…as also called Ribbe Ber, but this was the drum group – males drummers mostly, with female dancers. All young adults and extremely cool. The group included two dancers that were the best we ‘ve seen and the rhythms of the Gwara (galabash) was over-whelming. They performed: Dongo Lobo Auma Woto Mobile Aparo Wota. Most of these were courtship dances with wonderful drama between the boy and girl dancers. https://youtu.be/bpmEEIUwm68 https://youtu.be/…
Day 5: Recording the Marakwet Story
…ch would be filled with thirty or so stalls. Then more empty roads and lovely hillsides. We travelled this way for another 80kms or so. Finally, at one hillside, there was a flat area and we stopped and 50 Cows announced ‘we’re here.’ We tried to find a recording site out of the burning sun but failed. We wanted the lovely 360 views and sacrificed shade for our art. The Music Groups Kasagat Traditional Dancers The first group was the Kas agat Trad…
Day 2: Nairobi to Kitale & an interview with Pato Story
…udio recording and renting out PA equipment for DJs. His focus was relatively typical for young Kenyans at the time – Hip Hop inspired by US rappers. He joined Ketebul Music in 2006 and built up the video department there. While there, he was exposed to the Spotlight Series. He began to really love tribal music and so when we started developing the Singing Wells project he jumped on it, keen to head up the video recording department . We asked him…
Day 1: In Nairobi, packing and talking to Tabu Story
…ofessionally trained.” The tribes are generally pastoralists so traditionally they move around quite a bit and will not have heavy, big instruments. They will only have instruments they can easily carry although it’s amazing the amount sound they can produce. ” We asked Tabu about the role of harmony in African music: ” Ethical harmonies are different from traditionally trained harmonies. When the missionaries came to East Africa they changed the…
Victoria’s reflections on the music of the Batwa Story
…they have come to Kisoro to see the mountain gorillas and are, quite possibly, completely unaware that the privilege of seeing them in their mountain habitat is at the expense of the Batwa people who they are now enjoying listening to. This is the view from the Traveller’s Rest Hotel with the Virunga mountains in the distance – still the home of the mountain gorillas but not the Batwa…. We record Francis and his lead vocalists again, plus 2 groups…
Day 4: Discovery of the Young Stars… Story
…tu.be/-fgeskbFbow Jose Kokeyo Jose is a fantastic benga player. Interestingly, as a young student in the early ’60s he went to university in Moscow. So he and Jimmy had a great time talking Russian the whole time as the others looked on slightly mystified. He played five tracks and you have a pretty good idea of the roots of Bob Dylan… https://youtu.be/iRQlHbyzoKM https://youtu.be/9Qx_vs2Uw-U https://youtu.be/bmFyePat-VY https://youtu.be/HRXyT1czw…
Day 3: Homa Bay and the Kochia Dancers Story
…against the lake – we’re surrounded by camels and pelicans, which is frankly a bit off putting. The pelicans are big enough to fly us away, but luckily we don’t smell like fish. We smell like a lot of other things by this time – there aren’t a lot of opportunities to wash and you’ll notice a lot shots of us in the same Singing Wells t-shirt – but luckily not yet fish. Fish would turn their noses at us. Our set, below, with recording equipment set…
From Kisoro to Nairobi to Lake Victoria Story
…at the slaughter started here. This is an urban centre filled with incredibly friendly Rwandans. And yet, when the President’s plane was shot down on 6th April 1994, the slaughter began. Roadblocks were set up and maids turned against their employers, friends turned against friends, neighbour against neighbour. One machete at a time. Hutus grabbed Hutus out of Tutsi families and forced them to slaughter every family member. Mothers were forced to…
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…be clear, that was the first time I’d been out of Europe and I was definitely nervous. The first night in the hotel, I practically curled myself up in the corner with a chair barring the door! I’m from the North and came south in 2001 and spend four years at Uni, one year of which was in industry. After graduation, I worked as technical engineer and got more into engineering the audio side of sounds, vs. the technical side. Someone I had been work…
Kathy’s reflections on her Singing Wells experience News
…ly about the driving in his blogs. The country side was beautiful with mostly farm land, small villages and quite hilly. I feel I had the best job on the trip because I got to interview all the groups about where they were from, what their clothing and adornment meant, what songs they sang and what they meant. I took advice from Victoria and spent quite a bit of time getting to know the people in the groups as well as the people in the Singing Wel…
Interview with Fifty Cows – fixer for Singing Wells News
…ir songs are about how to live a good life and be honourable. They are mainly from the 1950’s and 60’s and sound a bit like the Beatles. He doesn’t have recordings of older tribal music. He is the first Kalenjin to ever be a radio presenter. He also presents talk radio programs where people can discuss their opinions about politics and tribal conflicts. The radio is listened to by many across the Kalenjin tribes. Every hut will have a radio and wh…
Reflections on the pilot phase by Willie Bembe News
…rding Winyo by the sea shore is a particular favorite. Alas…Jimmy is suddenly the guy with the funniest jokes and everyone is laughing their hearts out. I still think Andy belongs to a cult where they keep beards like the one jesus did. I ask him about it and he growls at me to back off….says he’s got powers and can bite my head off. In the African culture, having magical powers is very possible….so I retreat to think about what he said from a dis…
What we learned from the pilot phase News
…vember. Far more time on Fusion: The Singing Wells concepts works brilliantly. We can really bring these traditions alive. We did not spend enough time, though, in the villages, letting contemporary artists work on jointly created music. When we did, on days 1 and 3, the results were great. So we’ll bring more Ketebul artists to the field and will spend more time on new material. Be Far Clearer on Output and ‘The Throat to Choke’ for each: We all…