Kisumu countryside sessions
What a day! Tabu, George, Patrick, Joseph, Agnieszka and Sven went to the country side of Kenya, very close to the Lake Victoria. Joseph is working on a research project about the history and the developement of Ohangla while Patrick is working on a film documentary about the same style.
First we met with a Nyatiti player called Joseph Oganga and everybody was truly fascinated by his playing and also by his personality. Listen to a short extract of the music, Oganda played for us.
Joseph Oganda
Later on Oganda joined us to visit one of his good friends at Aluny Village, who is also a great Nyatiti player. His name is Okumo Korengo. Sven asked him if he could play an instrumental nyatiti-take. After the recording Sven asked him to sing to of what he had just played. He was very confused because he had never recorded an overdub before…. But it was really great!
Then we all made a short stop at the home place of the grandmother of Barack Obama. Strange place. A lot of people around her tried to make some pictures or tried to talk to for at least a minute.
In the evening we went to the home place of Ogoya. Ogoya is an 80 years old Dodo-singer. She has performed in Brazil and in France.
The act of welcoming of Ogoya and her neighborhood was amazing. Everybody was dancing, singing or playing an instrument. It was simply a huge African party.
After the welcome ceremony we were invited to Ogaya´s hut to pray.
Then we did several recordings. And all of the recordings are great! First Ogoya sang acappella.
Ogoya Solo
Then she was accompanied by four ladies who were all about 80 years old.
After the recordings Ogoya invited us for dinner. We ate traditional Kenyan food and drank Coca Cola…..
