Gulu City Anthems cover

Gulu City Anthems

Released

The music of the Acholi people from Northern Uganda used to be the central feature at weddings, but when Christian missionaries all but banned it, musicians became so rare that paying a full band for a  wedding became prohibitively expensive. In the early 2000s local producer Leo Palayeng and folk singer Otim Alpha began fusing traditional Acholi instrumentation with electronic elements, and recreated the dizzying, polyrhythmic beats and repetitive, call-and-response vocals of traditional music. Thanks to their music - compiled in Gulu City Anthems - the electro Acholi scene is now flourishing, and music is again part of everyday life. 

Megan Iacobini de Fazio

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