As others have pointed out, Konono N°1 have certainly made liberal use of the African thumb piano otherwise known as the mbira, but that outfit’s musical endeavors have arguably been bogged down by 21st century pressures concerning audio fidelity. So it’s no surprise that an artist like Ekuka Morris Sirikiti — member of the Langi tribe from Lira, Northern Uganda — would receive tons of local kudos even after people had made home recordings of his radio broadcasts using less than ideal equipment. Basically, those home recordings were apparently all that existed to memorialize Ekuka’s talented finger twinklings, and the Nyege Nyege Tapes label did what they had to do in order to hasten global propagation!
The eponymously-titled Ekuka album — comprising 12 songs which span the 1976-2006 time frame — is out RIGHT NOW, and it’s basically a compilation of home recordings which Matt Colton daringly mastered and attempted to clean up as much as possible. Colton’s efforts were at least partially futile, however; because after all, you can only do so much when the source material comes from the output jack of a pineapple, and the recorder used is the device equivalent of a ham sandwich on rye. That said: the varying quality is doubtless part of Ekuka’s charm.
Buy the album on vinyl here and stream the whole thing now down below:
Ekuka tracklisting:
01. Pwan En Obalo Gum Waa
02. Aruba Iwi An - Dyere Adako Omako
03. Wilo Koti Me Kwalo Orango
04. Pwoc Bot Lira Dpi Miyo Pikipiki
05. Jo Ame Aparo Loc
06. Acoc Acoc Twol Iye Akayi
07. Omaro Cil Pacu
08. Kwon Otino Anyira
09. English Record
10. Peko Me Kin
11. In Balonyo For Ayine
12. pq - Ekuka Rework
More about: Ekuka Morris Sirikiti
