ALL ARTISTSAfrica > Kenya, United Kingdom > Owiny Sigoma Band
// Owiny Sigoma Band
© DR
Luo – London links
“What I heard when I first played Owiny Sigoma Band on the radio was a phat, wayward dance record with African leanings and it just felt completely right,” explains Radio 1 DJ and Brownswood label owner Gilles Peterson, who jumped at the chance to sign the group after being handed a recording of the incredible ‘Doyoi Nyajo Nam’. While the rich musical traditions of West Africa have been well exposed in Europe, despite occasional appearances by Ayub Ogada or Obama favourites Extra Golden both the folkloric and more contemporary benga music of Kenya’s Luo people has until now been largely overlooked, something this project seeks to address.
My ears were opened to this heavy and hypnotic music by a YouTube clip of two elders of the tradition playing for what appears to be a crowd of dignitaries around a hotel swimming pool. Despite the incongruous surroundings of the Nairobi Inter Continental, nothing could dilute the rhythmic power and raw soul of this music. On an eight-string lyre, known as the nyatiti, Joseph Nyamungu plays a cavernous and metallic locked groove while Charles Owoko weaves intricate yet hardcore percussive rhythms. It was these two musical heavyweights that a group of friends from London (keyboardist Jesse Hackett, bassist Louis Hackett, guitarist Sam Lewis, bouzouki player Chris Morphitis, and drummer Tom Skinner) encountered back in early 2009 when they travelled to Nairobi with Art of Protest, a project aimed at raising awareness of Kenya’s ancient to modern musical traditions.
According to organisers it was a loose arrangement with no specific agenda other than to bring the musicians together, exchange ideas and enjoy the results. The first thing that had to be done though was to find a studio that could house a twelve-piece band. It’s a sign of the times that most studios in Nairobi now cater for hip-hop and electronic production, and while this is a vital part of Kenya’s modern culture, this project would ultimately show how relevant the music of the Luo remains.
After a disorientating night on the local cane drink, celebrating Obama’s inauguration in the Eastlands area of Nairobi, the London musicians gained their bearings at the National Theatre, where the traditions of the Luo are upheld through workshops with all ages of the community. “That was the point when it hit me where we were, the whole creative environment - just a really relaxed easy going creative place,” recalls Jesse Hackett, who regular listeners to Gilles Peterson’s show will know for his work under the moniker Elmore Judd, alongside Tom and Chris who also took care of production duties on the album.
The sessions that followed would be very much flavoured by the setting and rather than diluting the ancient power and roots of the music, the fusion of London and Luo would create a powerful message that speaks to both Kenya and the outside. For the London players the loose yet seriously funky grooves of the Luo brought out something fresh in their own playing. “They've got a different approach to how the drums should sound and the bass should sound – it’s like they’ve been listening to a bunch of Arthur Russell and Liquid Liquid records,” suggests Gilles Peterson about Skinner and Hackett’s rhythm section. “Those characteristics alongside the nyatiti, the vocals and the cow’s horn, lend it these unique properties that you don’t hear in any other African music and make it exciting. But, fundamentally, the reason that it works for me is that it’s drum and bass heavy … rhythmically heavy.”
Although Tom Skinner has been used to playing the African rhythms as part of the FELA! stage show, working alongside Owoko was unlike anything else he had experienced. “It was amazing,” he enthuses. “Charles plays a set of these drums he’d made himself. They just sit on the floor and he plays them with sticks creating this very melodic sound and that mixed with the nyatiti, it’s just incredibly powerful.” The creative interactions were in fact revealing to both sets of musicians as Joseph Nyamungu is keen to explain: “Working with musicians from London was a marvellous experience that saw the diversity of music displayed between Africa and Western music. We learned a lot from them.”
Owiny Sigoma Band // Album Teaser by Brownswood
As Louis Hackett explains, the Kenyans were also really open to new musical ideas. “We brought a couple of songs of ours to them (including the superb ‘Wires’) and they were really interested in that, asking us ‘what about your music?” And it’s this openness and inquisitiveness that ultimately makes this LP stand out from other similar projects that are often weighed down by the concept rather than letting the creative intuition flow.
With Damon Albarn turning up to add an organ lick to ‘Odero Lwar’ and mixes of ‘Wires’ by Theo Parrish, this project looks like giving healthy exposure to this much overlooked music, something the band are committed to tackling. “What’s nice about this project is that there isn’t a lot of documentation about this music out there,” concludes Chris Morphitis. “That whole part of Africa has not really received the attention it deserves.” Look out for the live shows in the summer.
Owiny Sigoma Band is out now on Brownswood Recordings
More on Mondomix:
Andy Thomas
// ALSO
- Wires
- Pernett
- 80s World Music Classics
- Art Melody's futuristic African hip hop
- Kenyan Connections, Extra Golden
- Joe Bataan & James Pants live at Cargo 11 June plus dates in Leeds and Birmingham
- Quantic and his Combo Barbaro album launch tour starts Friday 5 June at the ICA
- Oliver Mtukudzi, Oliver Mtukudzi - African Soul Rebel
- Tony Allen, Afrobeat ace
// ALL OWINY SIGOMA BAND'S INTERVIEWS
Luo – London links
04/05/2011
// DISCOGRAPHY
|
|
Owiny Sigoma Band (Album)// LINKS
RELATED ARTISTS
>> Fra Fra
>> Mahmoud Ahmed
>> Aka Moon
>> The Great Nordic Band
>> Ba Cissoko
REPORTS
// POST A COMMENT
Security code
Nickname *
Your comment (2000 char. max) *
>> comment it on the forum>>
Les blogs
Mondomix
Puglia Sounds
It will be the window of Puglia Sounds in France and in all Europe. This blog will show all the i...
AFRO by SOUL
Africa is the future and the future is now…as the prophecy unfolds Eric Soul is as always ahead o...
The Center for Black Music
The Center for Black Music in Salvador, Bahia, and the International Exhibition of Black Music in...
Charlie Gillett
Charlie Gillett was one of the UK's leading World Music journalists. For years he presented a wee...
Mondomix - The essential online resource for worldwide music and culture. Music, cinema, literature, society, travel, events, reports, artists. Experience the world with Mondomix.
