KWEChE

The Nyatiti, the eight-stringed plucked lyre from Kenya, is the mainstay of the Luo people’s traditional music, but has also shaped Kenyan popular music: the style of guitar playing in Benga is an adaptation of the Nyatiti playing technique, for example. The legendary Ayub Ogada popularized the instrument internationally, but back in Kenya a new crop of young musicians has taken up the instrument, from Makadem to Daniel Onyango and Rapasa Nyatrapasa Otieno (who even played with The Nile Project, a band which brought together musicians from different countries along the Nile). Otieno actually learned from Ogada, as well as from Nyatiti maestros living in the villages of Western Kenya, and in 2020 was accepted into the UK Sage Gateshead Artist in Residence, which is where he partially developed his 2021 album KWEChE. As something of a guardian of the Nyatiti tradition, Otieno first stayed pretty close to the Nyatiti canons, but on KWEChE he pushes the boundaries of convention, combining traditional melodies and ankle bells with gentle guitar and soulful vocals. A worthy successor of the great Ayub Ogada.