Owiny Sigoma Band explore the birthplace of Luo music in Kenya’s Nyanza Province
- Text by Alex King
As Owiny Sigoma Band were driving up a dirt road, deep into the Kenyan countryside their three British members had no idea what to expect. They’d received cryptic text messages about needing to buy a bull for sacrifice, which only heightened a sense they were out of their depth. But for the band’s Kenyan members Joseph and Charles, this was a homecoming. They were heading to Charles’ home village of Siaya to play at a 12-hour sunrise-to-sunset nyatiti soundclash with local bands, fuelled by copious amounts of Changaa, a turbo-charged Kenyan moonshine.
In late 2014, Owiny Sigoma Band travelled to Kenya to record their third album Nyanza and their journey to the roots of Luo music culture is captured in the documentary of the same name – premiering in full on Huck.
Owiny Sigoma is a unique collaboration between two Kenyans: nyatiti master Joseph Nyamungu and Luo percussionist Charles Owoko (who tragically passed away after the band’s journey to Kenya); and three London-based musicians: Tom Skinner on drums, Jesse Hackett on vox/keys and his brother Louis Hackett on bass. Coming together across cultural, language and generational barriers, their music fuses rhythms, sounds and approaches from Kenya and the UK with a raw and organic flavour.
Nyanza is their most ambitious project yet. After hitting Nairobi – Kenya’s pulsing capital where Owiny was born – they took their mobile recording studio on the road. Along the way, they scooped up diverse influences that all found their way on to the album alongside the traditional Luo sounds of the region, including juju, shangaan electro, dub, techno, and 80s synth pop. But they hit a peak with their arrival at Siaya, where they played a once-in-a-lifetime gig alongside local nyatiti crews, competing to push the energy higher and higher – to play the longest and be the loudest.
Nyanza by Owiny Sigoma Band is out now on Brownswood.
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