The Lost Tapes
Six years have passed, since the cross-cultural and cross-generational Owiny Sigoma Band released its thrilling third album "Nyanza" on Brownswood Recordings, presenting a collaborative project rooted in cultural exchange: "A coming together of traditional East African musical philosophies and a more electronically-inclined London sensibility," the release notes describe, a sound marked by "intricate percussive frameworks" and "impressive musical chemistry." Last week marked the release of the group's fourth album "The Lost Tapes", a ten track collection of "rough cuts, re-edits and rarities," but also a tribute to original Luo band member Charles Owoko, who sadly passed away in 2015, shortly after their third album's release.
"The project has always been a massive experiment," says Louis Hackett (bass), who took part in an exchange project in Kenya in 2009 with his brother Jesse Hackett (vox/keys) and school friend Tom Skinner (drums), where they were introduced to local musicians Joseph Nyamungu and the late Charles Owoko, both singers yet specialising in different Luo instruments. While Nyamungu excelled in playing the Nyatiti, a stringed lute popular in western Kenya, Owoko played the Nyiduonge drum. And so their collaboration took shape, gaining them critical acclaim, but also an increasingly deeper understanding of each other, as reflected in their emotive, ever-expanding musical creations. “There was never any agenda," Jesse notes. "It was always an open dialogue whereby things would be suggested and we would then all explore those ideas.”
"The Lost Tapes" is actually split into two halves, recorded in Uganda and completed in Kenya, with the latter half containing "a number of recordings that Charles Owoko completed towards the end of his life – music that both Jesse and Louis Hackett descrive as 'stirring but special' – both a reminder and celebration of the pivotal role [he] played in the band's growth." Building on mutual curiosity, trust and respect, "The Lost Tapes" also introduces two new instruments to the mix, featuring Ugandan musician Lawrence Okelo on the Amadinda xylophone and the Adungu, "an arched harp which varies between seven and ten strings, made from hollowed-out wood." In a nutshell, these tracks provide both an invigorating and a meditative experience, oddly comforting at times, warm and welcoming, growing deeper with each listen and revealing new elements to any concentrated listener's delight.
You can stream/buy the full album on Bandcamp and (re-)watch the 20-minute documentary to "Nyanza" below. Bless up!
More posts
Acoustic Appeal
Believe it or not, our very own Jewish Monkeys are back for more. After a long, forced hiatus – a common side-effect of the global pandemic – the raucous Tel Aviv outfit has just announced a quick visit to Germany, including three live shows, strictly unplugged!
On the heels of their latest album release arriving at the tail end of 2019, the group had scheduled an extended "Catastrophic Life" tour that tragically fell short due to international lockdown [...]
Yn Rio
There are certain albums that are so good, they're impossible to pass up. But then life happens and other releases pop up and, well, time. So when the opportunity recently presented itself, to review the latest album by Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18, we jumped at it. We popped the promo CD into our car's system and were teleported to Brazil for a good 30-something minutes. Thanks to autoplay and duly keeping our eyes to the 'autobahn' ahead, we must have listened to [...]
Behind The Mask
Friday is always a good day, not just because it's the gateway to another weekend, but also because it's the day new releases hit the airwaves. Our pick of the day is the viciously groovy, brand new offering by French collective The Selenites Band on Stereophonk. Drawing heavy inspiration from 1950s-1970s Ethiojazz as they pay tribute to the Ethiopian giants of the 'Golden Age', the group's musical influences also cover like-minded genres such as Krautrock, [...]
African Woman Abroad
We're not quite sure if there is a formula, saying the bigger the release, the less words necessary, but in the case of this brilliant reggae roots album by all female band Mwanamke Mwafrika, it seems to ring true. Originally released in 1982, the highly sought-after eight-track longplayer was reissued last year on London imprint Common Ground International and recently came to our attention, when a friend pulled the record with its bright yellow cover and [...]
The Panturas
Sounds from the sea, with no immediate access to a beach. Hailing from Jatinangor, a district located on the eastern outskirts of Bandung, smack in the middle of West Java, is the hypertalented Indonesian surf rock outfit The Panturas. The phenomenal four-piece was formed back in 2016, featuring Abyan Nabilio on vocals and guitar, Rizal Taufik on guitar, Surya Fikri on drums and Bagus Gogon on bass, when it released its debut single "Fisherman's Slut" and [...]
Beyond The Blue
As we tuned in to Jean Trouillet's recently aired new instalment of his regular "Globalwize" format on Greedio, we chanced upon a noteworthy collaboration by seasoned French producer Martin Nathan, aka Brain Damage, and iconic Jamaican deejay Manley Augustus Buchanan, better known as Big Youth. Surprised that this LP had gone under our radar, we read up on the release notes that revealed another story, one that we didn't want to let go unmentioned.
In March [...]
Two Tribes, Volume Two
The only thing we might complain about is that Tobi Kirsch and Ubbo Gronewold made us wait just a bit over two and half years to receive Volume Two of their "intercontinental journey in rhythm." Finally dropping two-day on Agogo Records is the highly anticipated follow-up to their 2019-released debut exploration of contemporary European artists incorporating African musical traditions in their work, building musical bridges instead of soundproof walls. "Two [...]
Pissourin
It's been a bit over a year since we first mentioned the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus on Greedy and expressed our joy about discovering the electronically enhanced post-rembetiko compositions of a certain Trio Tekke on "Strovilos", their 'whirlwind' of a fourth album. Today, we bring you the fourth album and resounding return of another Cyprus-based three-piece, coincidentally also led by musical mastermind Antonis Antoniou, who released his first [...]
Orayta X Shantel
A slightly belated 'Shana Tova' and 'gut Shabbes' to everyone enjoying the first few days of the year 5782! We sincerely hope it will be a better one. To celebrate the occasion, we have a brand new track by Israeli vocalist Victoria Hanna or rather a bouncing 'Kabbalistic' remix of a track from her 2018-released, self-entitled debut album, readied by Frankfurt's very own Stefan Hantel, better known under his resounding moniker Shantel.
Those who are familiar [...]
SHIRAN
In the summer of 2020, amidst a global pandemic, Tel Aviv-based singer SHIRAN unveiled "Glsah Sanaanea", the highly anticipated follow-up to her 2018-released self-entitled debut album on Batov Records. "Reinterpreting traditional Yemeni songs for a contemporary audience" in Arabic and Hebrew, both albums point to her own Yemenite heritage, "inspired by the many stories and experiences of her cherished and much-loved Grandmother who left Yemen in 1949 for [...]
Guruji
You may have heard the title track "Guruji" setting ears ablaze in our "Greedio X July '21" playlist on Spotify. If so, then you are well aware that the man himself, Kutiman, is back with another highly combustible two-tracker on Siyal Music . Adding to the mix is now the official B-side "Majan", taking a more "meditative" approach than its predecessor, yet equally resounding.
We last covered the prolific and infinitely versatile Israeli producer, aka Ophir [...]
Furto
Rio resident Vasconcelos Sentimento, aka Guilherme Esteves, is a "self-taught composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist" and self-proclaimed "amateur euphoric sound researcher," who just released his adventurous debut album on Far Out Recordings. "Furto" features "a mosaic of lo-fi breaks, cosmic ambient jazz and wonky chromatic funk," seemingly brought together in a beautiful whirl of DIY spontaneity and melodic curiosity. Though undoubtedly rooted in jazz, [...]