After 5 exciting days at the countryside of Nyanza we now have the time to review the results. We sat down at the swimming pool of Kisumu Hotel to listen to all of the recordings Sven did and to arrange and edit all of the foto and film material. That’s a nice
way of working! At three o’clock we took a well deserved break and decided to take a closer look at Lake Victoria, which is only a few minutes away from the Kisumu Hotel where we are staying. In front of the hotel you can see several men with bicycles hanging around. We asked two of them to take us to the lake. This was our first ride on a bicycle taxi, which is a common transportation vehicle in Kisumu. You can see women with heavy shopping bags or men coming back from work on the bycicle racks. The drivers pedal like mad getting them up the hill, for only 20 shilling (which is about 20 Cents).
So we arrived at Kiboko Beach and paid of course much more just to overcome our quiter dash of exploitation. The Lake Victoria area is a wonderful place to relax. We sat down under a huge palm and ordered two of these delicious Kenyan mango juices.
Later on we met some children playing there. They were singing wonderful children’s songs and of course Sven asked them if he could record their singing. Instead of paying a fee we offered sweets which were well received by these four cute children.
Listen to the song a 5 years old girl from Kisumu sang to us:
The last evening was very nice, but the night was definitely too short.
We were on the road to South Nyanza in the late evening. It was very dark and nothing was to be seen, so Agnieszka asked our companions: “I wonder how the people find home?” and scored a coup. They all doubled up laughing for ages and mentioned the joke on the next day again and again.
After quite a long drive on a road that was not really drivable (just barabara!) we arrived at Sero. There it turned out, that the hotel we had in mind was fully booked – and notabene it was quite late and we were in the middle of nowhere, at least in our perception. So we decided first to have a beer, while Sven and Tabu went to another place to figure out another possibility to stay overnight. A beer succeeded a beer and we talked about everything under the sun. The discussion went from politics in general to Kenya’s president Kibaki and his wife, to the capabilities of women in leadership, to the loss of culture in the younger generation and many other topics. It was so inspiring and warmhearted at the same time.
Finally we found a very cheap hotel in the already mentioned middle of nowhere. The rooms were simple but clean. At two o clock in the night it began to rain. The rain pattered on our corrugated iron roof so loudly, that we thought the Armageddon is drawing near.
At three o clock the rain stopped and we felt asleep again. Just under two hours later the owner of the hotel began to do his morning routine and the laundry just beside our room. And at half past five somebody started to listen to some Ohangla music at full volume….
After breakfast and tons of coffee we met with Onguko. Many years ago Onguko was one of the best and highly esteemed drummers of the whole Nyanza region but alcohol made a human wreck out of him. He was trembling the whole time. Finally Onguko sang two of his favourite traditional songs.
Onguko
Onguko has never played on an album so far. The recording we did today is his first recording that will be published.
Today we went on a two-day-trip (see pictures on the left) to the south of Lake Victoria. In the late afternoon we arrived at Rongo Village, a small township. There we met with a traditional Bul-Ensemble. It took less than fifteen minutes until the whole neighborhood joined the session.
The ensemble played great but it was even better to see how more than 5 old women began to dance to the music that has been played in the red dust of Rongo Village.
What a day! Tabu, George, Patrick, Joseph, Agnieszka and Sven went to the country side of Kenya, very close to the Lake Victoria. Joseph is working on a research project about the history and the developement of Ohangla while Patrick is working on a film documentary about the same style.
First we met with a Nyatiti player called Joseph Oganga and everybody was truly fascinated by his playing and also by his personality. Listen to a short extract of the music, Oganda played for us.
Joseph Oganda
Later on Oganda joined us to visit one of his good friends at Aluny Village, who is also a great Nyatiti player. His name is Okumo Korengo. Sven asked him if he could play an instrumental nyatiti-take. After the recording Sven asked him to sing to of what he had just played. He was very confused because he had never recorded an overdub before…. But it was really great!
Then we all made a short stop at the home place of the grandmother of Barack Obama. Strange place. A lot of people around her tried to make some pictures or tried to talk to for at least a minute.
In the evening we went to the home place of Ogoya. Ogoya is an 80 years old Dodo-singer. She has performed in Brazil and in France.
The act of welcoming of Ogoya and her neighborhood was amazing. Everybody was dancing, singing or playing an instrument. It was simply a huge African party.
After the welcome ceremony we were invited to Ogaya´s hut to pray.
Then we did several recordings. And all of the recordings are great! First Ogoya sang acappella.
Ogoya Solo
Then she was accompanied by four ladies who were all about 80 years old.
After the recordings Ogoya invited us for dinner. We ate traditional Kenyan food and drank Coca Cola…..
Today we went to the home place of Jack Nyadundo (see pictures on the left) which is in the hills very close to Kisumu. Jack Nyadundo is one of the pioneeers of Ohangla, a kenyan music style that is mostly be played by a percussion band, a keyboard player and a singer. Currently Ohangla is the big thing at all of the hip clubs of Kisumu.
Tonight Sven will play one of the two upcoming concerts at the Goethe-Institut Nairobi. The second will be on April 4th, after the trips to Nyanza and to the Coast. We are looking forward to seeing how the people will react on it.
Sven has set up his equipment at the auditorium and is rehearsing for the concert. He has already met with a young Nyatiti player from Nairobi called Ratai and finally Sven and Ratai did the first recording for the barabara-project.
First Recording/Ratai
I was busy working on the barabara-website. Now we are all going to the finissage of an exhibition that took place at the Goethe-Institut: ‘It’s a pity that we only exist in the future’. Our friend DJ Andi Teichmann came from Berlin to play one of his amazing sets at the opening.
The party is taking place at a bar close to the institute, a publication accompanying the exhibition will be launched, djs are going to play music, I’m curious to see how and where the people party.
The 1st working day @ Goethe-Institut right in the centre of Nairobi. A lot of huge business buildings, shopping malls, small shops and restaurants make you first feel, like in many other metropolitan cities.
At the Goethe-Institut we meet the very nice people working here: Marie, Katharina, Barbara, Irene, Peter, Anne, Julia, Patrick, James, Judy, Esther and Johannes. Today there are many excellent german speeking Africans at the Institut: German teachers from South Africa to Camerun, from Mozambique to Cote d’Ivoire who are having a teachers training seminar.
We had lunch with Johannes at a Swahili restaurant called the Kingfisher (Koinange Street) and one of these excellent coffees at Java, a local coffee house where the busy CBD crowd hangs out. Sven spent the afternoon at the National Theatre and met some of the local musicians. We stay for supper at the terrace of Kengeles (also Koinange Street) and call it a day.
Today in the morning at 7 o’clock the voyage started at the Hamburg Airport. Our friend Carla took us there. At the counter we were charged a huge amount for excess baggage by Lufthansa – so be sure to have only 20 K with you or take an other airline! I forgot my jacket at the airport check, while they made trouble because of my big Sony FX-1 video camera. I like airports but there is always a lot of stress there. Now we are having a stop over at Zurich Airport on the way to Nairobi.
We started to track the journey here. So maybe it’s not so special and interesting, but for the curious ones, you might see the Zurich airport area here.
At three o’clock we took a well deserved break and decided to take a closer look at Lake Victoria, which is only a few minutes away from the Kisumu Hotel where we are staying. In front of the hotel you can see several men with bicycles hanging around. We asked two of them to take us to the lake. This was our first ride on a bicycle taxi, which is a common transportation vehicle in Kisumu. You can see women with heavy shopping bags or men coming back from work on the bycicle racks. The drivers pedal like mad getting them up the hill, for only 20 shilling (which is about 20 Cents).
