Amazing Grace Children's Choir Music Video
The video of the kids at Amazing Grace singing the song "Oh Mama" is now available to download in the Lahash media section. The song was written by Ezbon and Lasu, and recorded by Tim Bata. It's part of a 6 song album that will be sold here at the Lahash website soon- with proceeds going to support the kids in Uganda and Sudan.

I didn't know that I'd be shooting a music video when I arrived at the orphanage this past November. But Ezbon and the staff there were eager to create a video that would be shown to the Kampala TV audience, and help spread the word about their new album.
So we ended up spending most of the time there in Adjumani filming for this video. It was a pretty tough experience! Most of the younger kids aren't fluent in English, and I'm not fluent in Arabic. So we had to move the kids around through an interpreter. They had been practicing some moves in the months before we came, so luckily I didn't have to create the dance moves. We didn't have a CD player, so we rigged up a big boombox with a cassette deck and had that running juice off of a car battery. It worked pretty well! Until I got home and tried to edit the video - CD and tape music run at slightly different speeds - which made it challenging to sync up the voices and images.

We of course had style differences and completely different approaches to music and filmmaking. Ezbon actually wanted me to make 6 music videos while we were there! And I had to keep in mind that it was going to be shown in Kampala, so it was a more laid back style. We tried to think of some creative shots - at one point I sat on a motorcycle and we drove around the kids. We decided to drive over to the Nile one day and shoot some scenes there at a fishing lodge. The kids loved the excursion, and we got some of the best footage at that spot.

So now the video is up and available to view. Hope you enjoy seeing the kids perform. And thanks so much to everyone who helped sponsor this music project. The video and CDs and tapes will be a great income generating project for the orphanage, and the kids are really proud of being able to share their story and voices with others in Uganda, Sudan, and the rest of the world. They will be performing for churches and conferences in the upcoming months!