Grandmaster Masese

Grandmaster Masese was a young human rights advocate, scholar, author, and musician living in Nairobi, Kenya. He was also one of only a few people in the world who play the obokano, the unique eight stringed lyre of the Gusii people of Western Kenya. As a committed cultural activist, Grandmaster Masese enthusiastically worked to preserve and celebrate Gusii culture, but rather than doing so through an ethnomusicology lens he brought old traditions back to life with his creative, forward thinking approach. On this album, released on Dagoretti Records, Grandmaster Masese worked with a cast of international musicians to meld the obkano’s unique buzzing, rhythmic bass heavy sounds and traditional Gusii whistling with synths, percussions, and bass. It’s a dizzying, trancey tribute to the young visionary who contributed so much to Kenya’s cultural landscape.