Auma

On first listen Auma is deceivingly simple — the looping percussive patterns are mesmerizing, and Olith Ratego’s vocals are warm and soulful. But beneath its understated surface, jazz and drum & bass drummer Sven Kacirek creates a kaleidoscopic universe by layering and interweaving different rhythms and textures, which he creates with an array of Kenyan percussion and everyday objects. This depth is matched by Ratego’s incredible vocal capabilities, and his high pitched, call-and-response vocals typical of “dodo” music, a style of the Luo people from Western Kenya. Anchored by Kacirek’s bass marimba, the music is propelled by flourishes of Ratego’s five-stringed okodo (which, as a luthier, he built himself) and Kacirek’s electronic soundscapes.