Music Starts To Appear

We finally get to our destination and set up the gear. There are several cars in the car park with diplomatic plates on them. Alan is hosting a lunch for some of his friends, some of the most politically powerful in the country it seems, UN ambassadors and all. I feel again I am in a slightly surreal world.

Soon we are testing equipment, discussing the best way to utilise the good but limited mic set-up, strumming and plucking and so gradually music starts to appear. We are on our way.

So for the first week we set up a routine like this: a drive through Nairobi traffic to Alan’s, set the gear up (we can’t leave anything here as it’s outside and Alan had been robbed recently) and work till dusk. Then break it all down again and go home. It’s fairly tiring. Songs start appearing however, or at least the basic nyatiti and guitar tracks.