During my visit with the Mandinka people of The Gambia, I was very fortunate to see the complete process of making a drum, from the choosing of the wood to the finished article. Read More
At the end of May we flew out to the Gambia as part of a team with David Pott to be involved with a slave-trade reconciliation movement called “The Lifeline Expedition”. You can read the background to this work and the reports from the last 6 years here ♥ Some of you may have seen various reports on the television and in the newspapers re our time in The Gambia as it caused a lot of response both positive and negative.
…… and the rest of the story Read More
On my travels in 2000 I picked up this instrument called an Inanga. To be quite honest I call it a “canoe with strings” …. but really it is a lyre like instrument known as a trough zither.
Interested in more traditional Rwandese music? Then check out Cecile Kayirebwa’s album called Rwanda.
2/3rd Feb Malmesbury, UK, Rwanda recording
I had a great couple of days recording the latest CD project for Rwanda with Dave Bankhead. This is the 3rd recording that I have been involved in for Rwanda. The recordings have helped build reconciliatory steps between the Hutu’s and Tutsi’s since the genocide over 10 years ago.
Dave has now been out in Africa to record the vocals and got a great response from the people. They are looking forward to using the songs in a celebration of 10 years of peace in July in Kigali. You can check out these projects at www.weareone.org.uk
Ikinimba
Read Martin’s report of travels in Rwanda, July 2000 here. ♥
With the sound of beating drums and chanting voices all around, the small African compound had come to life, illuminated by the light of a new moon. As the heat of the day subsided, the cool breeze of the evening brought renewed energy into Mnase village life. Scraping, sliding sounds of dancing feet against the red ochre coloured earth floor, swished in time with the hourglass shaped percussive instruments, enticing everyone into the intoxicating rhythm. No one could keep still, even a feeding mother sitting cross-legged swayed in time, picking out vocal harmonies or answering sung phrases, seemingly oblivious to the clinging child at her breast.
As we sat entranced by the spontaneous nature of this musical explosion the day to day survival of these Tanzanian’s had been forgotten. Patiently waiting for the rains, their crops were slowly but surely withering under the brutal heat of an East African sun. Yet, there was hope in the air, and this evening it had come, as it often did, through the sound of the drum, coaxing us to dream of a new day. Read More
A vast continent that has at least 3000 distinct ethnic groups, (Nigeria alone has more than 370 recognised tribes) each with their own unique culture. Every time we visit, we come back changed by the breathtaking landscapes, the colourful people and the astounding musicality that holds the stories of this incredible land.
Looking out over the nearside aircraft wing, the first golden rays of daylight pierce the distant horizon, as the air steward announces in kiswahili of our impending landing in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. I have travelled with a team of 15 to help with a conference, musical concerts and takeing supplies to village schools. The tannoy system crackles into life again, “Karibu”, welcome to Kenya. Read More
Leaving Entebbe airport in Uganda behind us, the seemingly never-ending vastness of Lake Victoria below, our destination was a small African country, Rwanda. Tucked just south of Uganda, west of Tanzania, north of Burundi and east of Zaire, this beautiful green land of a thousand hills was the scene of a devastating genocide just six years ago. Between half a million to one million people were massacred and two million became refugees at a time when this country was considered one of the most Christian in Africa, 90% of the population called themselves either Roman Catholic or Protestant. Read More
