Nyatiti player to represent Kenya at UK residency

Otieno is among the eight artists that will take part in a 10-day fellowship and a two-week tour between mid-October and mid-November.

The other participating musicians are Louise Bichan (Scotland ), Melisa Yildirim (Turkey), Barbora Xu (Czech Republic), Luna Silva (France), Kaviraj Singh (UK), Katariin Raska (Estonia) and Arsen Petrosyan (Armenia).

During the resdiency, the fellows will create new collaborative works, explore and develop strategies for social and environmental engagement and receive professional development from a team of industry experts.

“Making Tracks uses music as a form of cultural diplomacy and aims to inspire and empower fellows to use their music for wider social and environmental benefit,” reads the website.

The participants will then showcase their music and new collaborative works to a wide array of UK audiences, mainly through concerts at 10 of the country’s leading venues, alongside workshops at migrant centres and local music education hubs.

Otieno, who is also traditional music teacher, was a OneBeat fellow in the US in 2017. OnBeat brings together emerging musicians from around the world to collaboratively create original work and to develop a global network of civically engaged music initiatives. 

He also took part in the Nile Project African Tour in 2016. The project ran from 2014 to 2017 and featured musicians from the 11 countries sharing the Nile River. The artists performed at concerts and led workshops in Africa, Europe and the US.

The Making Tracks residency programme has previously hosted musician Monika Njava and the Toko Telo band, both from Madagascar.