A Cork school and African tribe are banding together to raise vital funds

An African tribe and a Cork school have joined forces to record a Band Aid-style song which it is hoped will be supported by stars such as Bono and Bob Geldof.

The hands-across-the-world project aims to raise funds to educate the children of The Butterfly People, a colourful nomadic tribe in Northern Kenya renowned for its musical tradition.

The tribe has joined forces with a school in the West Cork town of Clonakilty to write and record a hit song for its Thorn Tree Project, a network of educational facilities and boarding schools to house and educate some 1,300 tribal children.

The first draft of the song is being recorded in the Timoleague Recording Studios tonight .

The draft will then be sent to Kenya, where tribespeople will record their contribution to the melody, which celebrates their nomadic tradition.

Officially known as the Samburu People, but dubbed the Butterfly People because of their colourful garments and jewellery, the tribe lives in one of the poorest, most marginalised regions of the world.

Although its nomadic pastoral way of life is thousands of years old, it is rapidly changing as tribespeople struggle to adapt to modern lifestyles.

Clonakilty’s Scoil na mBuachaillí was approached some months ago by West Cork resident Marilien Romme, a supporter of the 14-year-old Thorn Tree Project, which has just seen its first student graduate from university.

Ms Romme contacted the school after watching teachers and pupils performing a song composed by their school principal in Cork Opera House just before Christmas.

“It was serendipity,” she says, “because we were thinking about ways to fund-raise for the Project and the Samburu Children.

“Music is a very important part of their tradition,” Ms Romme said, adding that because they are nomadic, the tribespeople do not carry musical instruments, but make their music by clapping, stamping, and singing.

“We thought it would be interesting to compose and record a song.

“When we saw Scoil na mBuachaillí performing their own song ‘Home’ in the Opera House, we asked them and they immediately agreed to do it.”

More than 100 Irish children and up to 20 teachers and parents, as well as a large group of Samburu tribespeople, will perform on the final version of the song composed by principal Barth Harrington, which will be released in time for Christmas.

For more details on the Thorn Tree Project visit http://www.thorntreeproject.org/