Te-Kwaro Alango-Ekuku

It wasn’t until Nyege Nyege Tapes shared the fruits of their deep dive into the radio recordings of Langi griot Ekuka Morris Sirikiti in 2018 that Ekuka finally got to hear his own music again after all these years; the recordings had fortunately been captured by keen radio listeners and, living frugally in northern Uganda, Sirikiti didn’t even own a device on which he could listen to them, even if he had purposefully recorded them. Inspired by the memories the music triggered, Ekuka finally stepped into a studio to properly record his first album and this is the delightful result. His old songs get new life, trading in the distortion and radio static of the spontaneously collected originals for a quality production. The songs are simple, mainly carried by the buzzing ostinato of his lukeme (thumb piano) and his agile voice, sometimes peppered with body percussion. The songs tell colourful stories, including ‘TEC ME OT JOK’ about a local witch doctor, with humour, pathos and rhythmic precision. Another absolute gem from Nyege Nyege.