BaraBara.fm [v.3] – A Journey into the Sound of Kenya

Again we had to get up very early in the morning. We went to a very small village, very close to Kwale. We met with a traditional sengenya group. One of the most important instruments of Sengeya groups is the kayamba, which is a kind of big shaker. Using your thumbs you hit the instrument hard to create strong sounds on top of the conventional shaker sound. It is amazing to listen to eight kayamba players who are all playing the same score over and over again and again.

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The instruments that were used by the ensemble are very similar to the ones, the band of Mbui and Mbutch used on March 22nd. For example both groups played very melodic rhythms on a 4-piece drumkit but the sengenya group in Kwale played everything much slower and much more relaxed. In comparison to this band the orchestra of Mbui was really a “high-energy-senenya group”. ^{chapao drums}
In the last weeks many of the recording sessions have corresponded to the same sample. First of all the band played about three or four songs they had prepared for the session. Of course some of these introductory songs were really great but all of the meetings and recording sessions became even more interesting after the first part was done. It was very interesting to see how different bands reacted to some of Sven´s requests to play a song in a different way, in a different tempo or without one of these time keeping instruments.
From this point the exchange was always more intense and in our opinion many of the results were very unique.
In Kwale Sven had a talk about the meaning and the sense of some of the traditional songs and finally an old woman began to sing a song that she usually saves for funerals and other truly sad situations. It only took a few seconds for to be accompanied by 6 other women.
^{funeral song}

related post

• Last seen at
• 1st recording at Kisumu
• Busy Days in Malindi
• Who
• About

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 28th, 2009 at 16:09 and is filed under Kenya East: Coast Region - Indian Ocean, Original Kenyan Sounds, Pictures, Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.