Influences - Exile, by Geoffrey Oryema (1990)

The title of Geoffrey Oryema's debut album and the music reflected his life over the course of previous decades.

Third world artists are criticised when they borrow sound from Europe. Yet, western artists like Paul Simon are praised for digging deep into the rich cultures of Africa. This is a double standard that is no longer acceptable to many of us.

-Geoffrey Oryema

I've written about a few of that small group of albums and artists that served as my introduction to African music. Including Juluka and King Sunny Ade, both of whom I first ran across in the mid-Eighties. The Nineties brought some of the better-known compilations from Zimbabwe and South Africa (Only The Poor Man Feel It, Zimbabwe Frontline), a collection of Thomas Mapfumo's hits, and Oliver Mtukudzi's Tuku Music.

And Geoffrey Oryema's first album - Exile. I still have the CD, as is the case with the two albums that followed. All three on Real World Records, the label co-founded by Peter Gabriel, in 1989. Exile was one of the label's first releases, in 1990. Oryema released four more albums on various labels after his stretch with Real World.

For no particular reason - it just happened that way - it's been a very long time since I heard the album. Going back to it, with limited means for playing CDs these days, it was easier just to look it up on YouTube. Yes, the times they have a-changed.

As I gave it a whirl, it all came back to me. I'd listened to it quite a lot back when. The first thing that struck me was how sparse most of the songs were.

The liner notes (those were the days) confirmed that not a lot of instruments were used. Many were traditional instruments from Oryema's home land of Uganda, including the lukememe, a thumb piano, and a seven-stringed instrument called a nanga. Otherwise, it's mostly guitar here and there, and percussion, and a bit of synthesizer on one track ("Land of Anaka"). This, courtesy of Brian Eno, who co-produced the album. Gabriel chips in a bit, mostly with vocals, and something called "fake organ."

Exile isn't an album title Oryema pulled from the air, but rather had a lot to do with his life over the course of the previous decade and a half. Growing up in privileged circumstances, his father was a high-ranking official in Idi Amin's goverment. This came to an abrupt end in 1977, when his father was assassinated by government forces. Oryema left the country very quickly, in the trunk of a car bound for neighboring Kenya.

After listening to the album a few times, after so many years (decades?) away from it, I gave it a last spin as I finished this piece, trying to figure out which tracks stood out. And came to the conclusion that they all do. The aforementioned "Land of Anaka" perhaps just a wee bit more than any of the others and so I've highlighted it here.

Oryema passed in 2018. Real World Records noted his passing here. Bannin Eyre, at Afropop Worldwide, made note of it here.