Ye Ye Ye

eoffrey Oryema is an internationally renowned Ugandan musician. At the age of 24, at the height of Idi Amin’s power, Oryema was smuggled across the Ugandan border in the trunk of a car, following the death of his father, a prominent government minister, beginning a life in exile. Today his songs keep alive the languages of his youth – Swahili and Acholi and return to the lost country – the ‘clear green land’ of Uganda.Oryema earned his international reputation following the release of his second album, Beat the Border. He has collaborated with, amongst others, Peter Gabriel. Gabriel’s record label, Real World, helped with the first three of Oryema’s albums, until his move to Sony International, a label established in France where Oryema resides since his exile. Besides his two native languagues mentioned earlier, he also sings in English and French. On July, 2005 he performed at the LIVE 8: Africa Calling concert in Cornwall, and with 1 Giant Leap at the Live 8 Edinburgh concert. The event was dubbed “Africa Calling”, but was also known as “LIVE 8: Africa Calling” or “Africa Calling: LIVE 8 at the Eden Project”. The event was initiated in response to the criticism of the absence of African artists in the other nine concerts. It was organised by Peter Gabriel, and at first was not part of the Live 8 events. Gabriel later contacted Bob Geldof, one of the main organisers of Live 8, and the Africa Calling concert became part of the Live 8 event. The concert was aired live on the BBC’s interactive/digital network. A DVD of 130 minutes of Live8: Africa Calling was released on October 25, 2005.

YE YE YE
Lagila was a brave and notorious warrior, a once-feared figure who waged war, terrorising neighbouring villages. One day, to evereybody’s surprise, Lagila’s traditional war gear and ornaments were found on top of a hill, unattended and stained with blood : ‘Who killed lagila? / Who killed lagila? / Oyuru killed lagila / Oyuru killed lagila.’
Geoffrey Oreyma vocals, acoustic guitar, shaker, backing vocals.
David Bottrill bass and drums.
Peter Gabriel fake organ.

Geoffrey Oryema – Ye Ye Ye

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Comments

parvez 16-06-2006, 07:40

good song. more importantly, a good cause…keeping his native languages alive through singing. lovely!

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parvez 17-06-2006, 16:51

makambo. another good one! one doesn’t really need to know the lyrics and their meaning to appreciate a song that renders such a lovely, enchanting music. but surely, the touching story behind the song enhanced its appeal a great deal.

thank you, mr. marcel.

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Webmaster 17-06-2006, 17:06

Youre welcome Parvez. I am just trying to look around in the world whats happening, and with my own limitations I publish things that grip me. I read the story of Geoffrey Oryema and heard the song Mokambo when we were in Zimbabwe and it touched me deeply. As you probably know Zimbabwe is a political roaring country and the people are very poor. Perhaps you can imagine what the combination Zimbabwe-Mokambo did to me when we stayed there in 2003…..

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esje 20-06-2006, 16:59

he got nice music
xx

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Geoffrey Oryema - Makambo | Maza 's Weblog 19-02-2009, 19:10

[...] a quiet, contemplative side to African music, and it is from this lineage that Geoffrey Oryema’s music emerges. Although his musical roots lie in Uganda, his work has been inspired by a myriad of [...]

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