AOTW - Ayub Ogada - En Mana Kuoyo
Don’t ask me what any of the words in the title mean. Actually you can ask one - AOTW. This means Album Of The Week and is an acronym I’ve lifted from Ben’s blog, Hello Internet. He actually usually does review one album every week and also has a very cool blog so check it out.. (Also congrats on the big engagement!) Despite my use of the acronym I have no intention of doing an album each week so don’t get your expectation too high.
The other words in the title are the artist (Ayub Ogada) and title (En Mana Kuoyo) of the aforementioned album. I have no idea what the album title means or any of the lyrics on the album, since it’s almost all in Swahili (I think). But the sound is awesome - the perfect album to chill out to. Imagine an African Nick Drake [*], and you’ll get an idea of the sweet sound of this guy’s voice, especially on the first track, Obiero. Most of the tracks have a backing of simple percussion and the traditional African stringed instrument, the nyatiti (which Ogada is a master of) as well as a variety of pipes and other subtle backing instruments. The general tone of the album is fairly uplifting, yet still in a relaxing chilled fashion. The most significant departure from this is the more sombre song Kothbiro, which is my favourite. In fact this is the song that inspired me to check out Ogada’s music, after hearing it featured prominently in the movie, The Constant Gardener [**], and more recently in a National Geographic documentary we watched on Africa. Overall this is a fantastic album and worth checking out if you want to listen to something a little different. I’m also listening to some similarly styled music from Samite of Uganda, which fuses African music with a bit of jazz and is slightly more Western influenced, but still good.
* - for those unfamiliar with Nick Drake, he was an excellent English singer-songwriter who made some albums in the early seventies before his suicide due to mental illness in 1974. Sad story, but excellent music. If you haven’t listened to Nick Drake then you are missing out.
** - The Constant Gardener is a very good movie from 2005 starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. An international thriller set mostly in Britain and Kenya - well worth getting the DVD and watching. Listen for the track Kothbiro throughout the movie and over the end credits.
Categories : Africa, music | 2 Comments
