I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Ugandan artist Kinobe at Chicago World Music Festival in 2010. Truly virtuosic at the nyatiti (also known as the krar and the semsemia), as well as the kalimba, kora and balafon, I have been incredibly inspired by his approach towards music and life. Here’s a video where he sings about the fisherman of Lake Victoria, the source of the White Nile.
On Saturday, Mina was invited to the MIT Media Lab to present the Nile Project at the Negma – a conference on social innovation in post revolution Egypt. We also were asked to organize the performance for the conference gala. So we invited a number of local Arab musicians as well as members from Debo Band, Boston’s Ethiopian hard hitting groove collective. Check out Debo’s Marie Abe (on accordion) learning Mohammed Abdel Wahab’s Al Nahr Al Khaled (the Eternal River) from Jamal Sinno (on quanun).
We love the music of Ayub Ogada. Based in the Lake Victoria Region of Kenya, he plays an instrument called the Nyatiti in Kenya and Uganda, also known as the Krar in Ethiopia and the Tamboura in Egypt. Instruments travel along water too! Enjoy….
The Nile Project is thrilled to be partnering with the branding company Wolff Olins. They’ve done incredible work with folks like the Tate Modern Museum, the London Olympics and the RED Campaign, and we’re excited to be moving our burgeoning initiative forward with their brilliant minds helping us along. Yay! Thank you WO!
Born in Khartoum, raised in Sudan, Yemen and Western Mass, Alsarah is one of our very favorite Nubian singers. This woman has a VOICE. And style. And did we mention she’s an ethnomusicologist?
She and her band the Nubatones came together out of a collective love for Nubian music and a genuine belief that Soul transcends all cultural and linguistic barriers. Indeed, indeed.
Have a listen……
Check out more at: http://www.alsarah.com/
Thank you for visiting. We’re building the website and will have it up for you very soon. Sign our email list to hear from us