Blog
Background to Our Songs: 71 Hours to Monday, Global Remix
Written by Jimmy
71 Hours to Monday, Global Remix, is the final song off our fourth album, King Henry’s Tears.
Why We Love this Song: Okay, before we even give you background, we have to tell you that we really love this song and video. Why? First, we are using it as part of our fund-raising for the Singing Wells Project, which is working to preserve the rich cultural heritage of East Africa. We’d love you to get involved – click here for more information. Second, it features our partners from Ketebul music, including Winyo, Makadem and Bishop. To find out more about their music, please click here. Third, the song hints at our projects going on in Sao Paolo as part of the Abubilla Music foundation, featuring the wonderful Campo Limpo Samba drum group. But we really just like this version of the song, especially the last four minutes or so. Here’s the video:
Lyrics: Singer hates job. Lives for weekends. Dreads her Mondays. Simples. All about the singer speaking of her weekends, ‘I need to live it well, I need to convince myself, it’s worth going around again.’
Music: Well, where to begin… the video sort of says it all. Everyone who sees it says the same thing, “by the end, you really want to steep yourself more in the African music it features.” Mission Accomplished. But we will take a second to talk about recording the music. Mike and I went to Sao Paolo to record Simba drums. We talked to Flavio Pimenta, founder of Menenos do Morumbi, and he recommended his mates in Campo Limpo. We headed our there, set up a recording session in the middle of the park and asked all of them to drum along to a mix of 71 Hours to Monday in their headphones. Very fun, but they tended to listen for about 30 seconds and then just go off in their own direction dancing and playing. Can’t blame them really. Jimmy and Andy then spent time in London adding strings. Andy and Jimmy then went to Kenya to record the tribes of Malidi. Before we went Ketebul hosted a party with Winyo and Ayub Ogado singing. We met Ayub and he seemed interested in the Singing Wells Project. When we came back to Nairobi we spent a day in the studio with Bishop, Winyo and Madadem adding vocals and new bass line. Ayub joined us and added a new line with his Nyatiti. We had a fantastic 7 hours with all of them adding track after track. We then returned to London with our opera singer who sang the strings part and copied some of the African voices so it sounded like everyone was in the same room. we then re-did Louise’s vocals and let her also sing along to the African voices. We then mixed ’til we dropped.
Recommendations: please listen to the tribal music we feature on the Singing Wells website. And please listen to Winyo and Makadem’s music – all on the Ketebul Site. We will be co-producing Winyo’s brilliant new album, so watch this space! And we keep referring to Ayub Ogado (who appears courtesy of Real World Music), as the legendary Ayub Ogado and here’s why:
That’s it.
Jimmy