WOMAD

Geoffrey Oryema

From Uganda

Biography by Andy Morgan, July 2002:In view of the harrowing story of Geoffrey Oryema’s escape from his native Uganda in the boot of a car pursued by Idi Amin’s heavies after the assassination of his politician father, it was perhaps unsurprising that his first record, ‘Exile’, produced by Brian Eno and released on Real World in 1990, was bathed in a soulful mist of simple melancholy. It quickly made Oryema a star and he became known as the ‘Leonard Cohen of Africa’, which probably says more about the slapdash superficiality of the music media than about Oryema himself. He released ‘Beat The Border’ the follow up to ‘Exile’ in 1993 and consolidated an already enviable pan-European reputation as a singer and songwriter. Frustrated by the lack of ‘hits’ however, Oryema left Real World and his Normandy home for Paris in 1996 and recorded a duo with French pop star Alain Souchon called ‘Bye Bye Lady Dame’ which turned a cult ‘world music’ type of stardom into big time fame, in France at least. One of his songs ‘Yé Yé Yé’ became the theme tune for a much-loved French TV chat show called ‘Le Cercle de Minuit’ and he also wrote and performed the film score for ‘Un Indien Dans La Ville’. In 1999 Oryema went into the studio with British producer Rupert Hine, famed for his work with Underworld and The Brand New Heavies, to record ‘Spirit’, an album which mixed an unmistakable African soulfulness with richly layered rock songs delivered in French, English and Acholi, Oryema’s native Ugandan language. To those who balked at the radical ‘westernisation’ of his music Oryema offered no apologies, stating proudly that he grew up with English and US rock and saw no reason to hide their impact on his musical outlook. The exile returns and WOMAD is proud to greet him once again with open arms.Short biography 2002:Forced to flee his native Uganda in the seventies, Oryema has now spent two decades in Normandy, writing and performing his own hauntingly melodic music which blends the culture and traditions of Africa with the structures of Western pop.Biography supplied by Wrasse Records, June 2002:Geoffrey is looking for meaning in his music… his childhood world fell apart one day in 1977 when his father was brutally murdered on the orders of dictator Idi Amin. Up until that day, the young boy had enjoyed a privileged childhood befitting the son of Uganda's most respected police chief who later became the Minister for Natural Resources. Then came news of his father's death announced on public radio. Devastated and only 24-years old, Oryema had to be smuggled in the trunk of a car to the safety of a neighbouring country.He was in a place with no family or friends and began his wanderings, which saw him eventually making his way to Paris. In the early '80s, Paris was Africa central, at least as far as music went. But it was the Africa of the dancefloor, given a quick studio spit-and-polish with synthesizers and drum machines — all very far from the more introspective musicality of Oryema’s songs. However, he persisted, becoming influenced as much by rock & roll as anything else, eventually creating a shimmering kind of strongly rooted African pop which attracted the Real World label. He was paired with producer Brian Eno for Exile, which was very much the curate's egg — good in parts, especially Oryema's parts, but too atmospheric elsewhere. With that under his belt, he began to play the WOMAD international circuit of world music festivals, returning to the studio for 1993's Beat the Border, where his lush melodies and open-voiced singing created a lush whole. Four years later came the third album, Night To Night, which was decidedly more Western in its influences, melding Africa, Europe, and the U.S. into a whole without dilution of any of the strands. Now based in the French province of Normandy, he continues to live quietly, releasing his album Spirit in 2000.2000 biography:Forced to flee his native Uganda in the seventies, Oryema has now spent two decades in Normandy, producing music that blends the culture and traditions of Africa with the structures of Western pop. His songs are often introspective, and their themes include, naturally enough, reflections on the nature of exile: their melodic style gives them a universal appeal. Oryema was brought up in eastern Uganda, in a family of musicians, poets, and storytellers (although his father was also a politician). He learned to play the nanga (seven-string harp), flute and thumb piano, and founded his own theatre company in the seventies, mixing African theatre with Method techniques. In 1977, Oryema's father, who had by then become a minister in Idi Amin's government, died under mysterious circumstances in a car crash. Geoffrey fled the country and arrived, eventually, in France. In 1992 he was invited by WOMAD founder and artistic director Thomas Brooman to appear at a festival, and his success there led him to record an album for Real World Records, 'Exile', which was produced by Brian Eno. It remains a landmark recording, a true blend of African and western music, personal and intensely moving. Since then, Oryema has released two more albums on Real World: 1994's 'Beat the Border' and 'Night to Night', released earlier this year. Daniel Lanois was one of a team of producers on the record, and it is a mark of Oryema's quality that his sound is never swamped by Lanois's trademark atmospherics: the two combine to excellent effect on tracks such as 'Medieval Dream', which blends the ambience of a cathedral with a sonorous rock backing. Other collaborators on the album included Lokua Kanza, formerly a key part of Papa Wemba's band and one of Africa's finest arrangers.