Kodhi: Trevor Warren's Adventures with Ayub Ogada

In the late 80s Ayub Ogada was one of the great ‘discoveries’ of WOMAD. His 1993 album En Mana Kuoyo has stood the test of time as one of the finest examples of Kenyan Luo-influenced music. On Khodi, Ogada returns with his nyatiti (a plucked, eight-stringed lyre), and teams up with experimental jazz guitarist Trevor Warren and Kenyan singer-guitarist Isaac Gem. They are supported by percussion and bass guitar. It lives up to its title: there is a wonderful sense of this being an adventure, a mostly impromptu session. The recordings were made over a two-week period on a portable recording unit in various locations in Nairobi City and National Park. Underneath the music on some tracks is the gentle sound of birdlife. The vocal interplay between Ogada and Isaac Gem is affectionate, good-humoured and largely sounds spontaneous. Musically the three dazzle – but with great restraint. Warren's subdued and crystalline electric guitar drifts in and out of the melodies on some of the tracks; on others his acoustic guitar subtly accompanies the repeated lines of the nyatiti. Overall it's a sublime and joyous listening experience.