Joseph Nyamungu and Charles Owoko bring the traditional Kenyan luo funk while London-based musicians’ Jesse Hackett (keys), Louis Hackett (bass), Sam Lewis (guitar), Chris Morphitis (bouzouki/guitar) and Tom Skinner (drums) bring the other bits.
The project was born in Nairobi and is now on its way to worldwide recognition, since being signed up to Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings. (GP said somewhere that Africa is the new Colombia O_O)
There’s a Theo Parrish remix to this song where he strips back the melodic content down to bare minimum and then builds one of his trademark twisted trips. We prefer the original here.
The band tells their story in this video. LOL @ Tom Skinner’s ‘muzungos’ description around 3.05.
Owiny Sigoma is out on Brownswood Monday 2 May 2011. Preview other tracks here.
