Day 5 (much later): The Micyingo Group – guitar and bass! Story
DAY 5 continued: Sunburned, exhausted, and ready to call it a day. Just in time to be shocked by the world’s best bassist.. We opened the ‘Hotel Studio’ for the Kisoro Hill Community who started with wonderful dance and song. But then, they switched gears and set up a smaller group of ‘bass’ and guitar and absolutely blew us away… They started as wonderful large group moving through a set of songs, including ‘Imparake Yagahinga’, the National Par…
Congratulations Singing Wells! News
…f a British Library World Collections Programme initiative. It was a great pleasure and it is wonderful to see these fruits of their expertise and enthusiasm. Janet Topp Fargion, Lead Curator World and Traditional Music, British Library website: http://www.bl.uk online gallery: http://sounds.bl.uk main catalogue: http://cadensa.bl.uk/cgi-bin/webcat…
Day 4 (later): Recording for ‘Influences’ with the Birara Dancers Story
…‘hotel studio:’ They could not help dancing through the sessions – so lovely. Later, of course, we’ll post these performances on our Map of East African Music. But give us a little time. We are still in the field… The Singing Wells Team…
Diamond Jubilee Pageant at Windsor Castle News
…om the Masai, Samburu, Luo, Kamba and Kikuyo tribes The Nairobi Chamber Chorus considered the topmost choir in Kenya today Cultural Pavilion At the entrance to Windsor Castle there will be a Cultural Pavilion which will contain a backdrop of graphic representations of all the countries that have had a role to play in the Queen’s reign. On the Kenya stand there will be Singing Wells DVDs freely available for guests. The DVD is from our ‘Best of…
News from the Batwa in Kisoro News
…ells. This helps the Batwa get more exposed and the people who do not know us will see us at least from these photos. This is an indication that Singing Wells can deliver, if Singing Wells can send photos that means even other things they can. This is the same group that came to Kisoro and gave us a lot of money last which made Batwa a nice food that time. This is Winyo, we shall always remember him for his passionate and his sweet soft voice. Win…
Kenya (Coast): Day 4 – the road back to Nairobi Story
…he villagers to working with him. They felt he completely respected their music. We used a lot of the car ride to build a big to do list of things we could do better. But it was important to also discuss the future. Q: So is this worth it guys? [This is a pretty relevant question 470 kilometres into a 800 kilometre journey back from the coast to Nairobi] TO: We have no choice. We have to do something and I don’t see anyone else doing what we’re do…
On the eve of our very first field recording trip….. Story
…and brought to life what the Singing Wells Project is all about. Let’s focus on the music. After all, it is all about the music and the concert that Tabu organised to celebrate the best in East African Music. This was the concert (actually Tabu called it a ‘meeting’ to celebrate the 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 ope…
Nick Abonyo (the ‘clapper-man’) News
…professionalism, equipment and teamwork of Ketebul and its mission. In the words of CNN, he says, “I like that we ‘go beyond borders’ to discover real music.” Nick’s favourite Singing Wells moment was the welcome we received at the home of Ogoyo Nengo in Rang’ala, Nyanza province. “She is a great artist and for her to welcome us to her home was a great honour. I felt so proud.” His worst moment was during the first day of recording on this trip to…
The Kalenjin & Kenya’s elite athletes News
…lagat Lebo (Chela) who is making a documentary for Custom House Education Trust about Kenya’s elite athletes. An interview with Chela Lebo Chela was born and raised in Kitale, Kenya. She works with the Content House Education Trust to archive the history and progress of Kenyan runners. Chela has been working on the documentary project for the past four years. The programme follows two main runners – David Rudisha who won the 800m in the Beij…
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
…t 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 music of their region as they prepare for Olympic gold at London 2012. To date, we have recorded roughly 150 songs, across 25 tribal groups, with roughly 20 high quality performance videos, and hundreds of hours of local interviews. All of this is gradually moving ‘on line’ in our Mu…
Sad News from Kenya News
…g 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 performance in Aluny. The news of his passing is painful indicator of how important The Singing Wells project is, in its aims to preserve music….
AMF receive grant to fund Batwa recordings News
…age. The SWP will literally put the Batwa back on the map as we add their music and dance to the ‘Discover the Music’ map on the Singing Wells website. We will make the recordings available to other NGOs and ethnomusicologists and we hope this will, in time, provide new opportunities and sources of income for the Batwa. In planning our visit, we have worked closely with UOBDU and the Forest Peoples Programme to ensure that the Bawta community rece…
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: …