Geoffrey Oryema, The Legacy, A True Heritage of the Acholi People of Uganda.
What were you doing 40 years ago?
May be you were still in school, may be at Makerere university or you were just still somewhere in the village. I was not yet born; I’m very sure most of you reading this were still imaginary creatures. My 60-year-old mother says she was just a shy nursing student in Kabale having completed high school from Sacred Heart Girls School Gulu.
It feels like a life time ago, yes indeed, for it’s a generation ago.
Those times in the 1970’s are known as the dark days of Uganda- soldiers of our country’s most barbaric and fascist president Idi Amin ruthlessly terrorized Ugandans and ruled the country under martial law. Any one perceived to be a political threat was thrown in jail or disappeared and many families fled the country into exile to escape the atrocities of the dictatorship.
That was four decades ago, and Geoffrey Oryema was one of those Ugandans escaping Uganda to Kenya after Amin had ordered the murder of his father Uganda’s first African Inspector General of Police and was by the time of his assassination the Minister of Lands and Housing Mr Erinayo Oryema. The Amin government has been accused of a systematic mass killing of people especially from the Acholi and Lango tribes as he sought to stay in power at all costs, resulting in extensive human rights violations.
The wanton murder of Erinayo Oryema, Interior minister Oboth-Ofumbi and Uganda’s Arch Bishop Janan Luwum would send shock waves across the global Christian world, highlighting the atrocities and impunity of Amin and would mark a sustained pace in the struggle for the liberation of Uganda.
Oryema then only 24 years like other Ugandans learned of the devastating news of his father’s death through public radio and escaped to exile in Kenya. His music loving father is said to have been one of the greatest nanga players in the whole of Acholi and affectionately introduced him to traditional musical instruments like the Lukeme (thumb piano) and Adungu.
Coupled with his training at the National Theater as a professional music performer, the young Oryema now with no family and friends would find his way to Paris France where he was granted asylum and resides to date.
New to the big city, he started off with odd jobs to survive and would pick up his newly found love, a guitar and play music in his free time in the new lonely land. This new musical journey would span decades and make him wander around the world, never forgetting his roots at any point.
The Home coming: They say there is no place like home and that a man can see the whole world and live in many places out well, but always comes back to the place they call home.
For Geoffrey Oryema travelling from France 9,000 km back to Uganda where he has always dreamed of the green savanna and dead sand in place of the family hut, Anaka must be the definition of home coming.
Oryema says his musical journey has always been about discovering himself and the world he has wandered and lived in.
In 1996, Oryema speaking to the writer Dr Opiyo Oloya, he stated: — “You need to go further beyond expectation. My idea of being an artist is first and foremost to explore the world between roots and modern music. It is a search for an identity, a musical identity.”
Oryema returned to Uganda on Thursday after four decades abroad and spoke to Northern Wire at Entebbe Airport and stating “I am so glad to be back in the Pearl of Africa and this is a new beginning for me, I am shedding tears of joy.” A reference to the roots perhaps.
Now, our local music stars in Uganda tend to be ephemeral because we live in the age of the ‘cultural revolution’ and many folks in the music game are striving to keep pace with this ‘new’ era. Hence bubble gum songs are common yet good authentic Ugandan music is becoming rare and many musicians are missing the point when making real ‘music.’
Afrigo Band the longest lasting musical group in the history of Uganda has persisted for the last 41 years and is arguably Uganda’s biggest music asset because of appreciating the roots. While contemporary mainstream artists like Jose Chameleon are well known today in the music arena, the legend Geoffrey Oryema cuts in-between the two as Uganda’s most recognized and successful Musician internationally. He has achieved much that another great Ugandan musician like Joel Sebunjo or the unique British born Ugandan singer Micheal Kiwanuka will achieve in this generation.
For instance, one popular artist Bebe Cool when talking about his big achievements has always thrown the line “I performed at Mandela’s birthday in South Africa.” That was a great honor for Bebe, and indeed much respect to Big Size for the achievement. And this is why I say Oryema is in another category from another generation; Nelson Mandela called out Geoffrey Oryema in 1994 long before Bebe had recorded a track in his career.
He first performed at the WOMAD festival in 1989 at Wembley Stadium in an Apatheid protest concert, and again at Mandela’s birthday in the year of his release celebration with Grammy winning legend Peter Gabriel who signed him to his record label Real World and featured on his first album- Exile.
In the 1980s they composed and performed ‘Biko’ in solidarity with the Apartheid struggle, and Mandela once recognized and honored them.
Also, long before Pastor George Okudi had known that there was a certain Kora award- and congrats to Okudi for bringing Uganda those two historic awards in 2003; Geoffrey Oryema was the first Ugandan musician ever to be nominated for the Kora award in 1996 for best male category.
Best known for the song Land of Anaka, Oryema has come of age during Uganda’s roughest years and grew up in these different worlds embracing the true meaning of freedom, liberty and human rights. He has over the years blended social issues into his music yet used traditional African folk songs as the platforms for both protest and entertainment.
He has celebrated the Acholi culture, advocated for women rights, children’s rights and was very vocal about the two decade LRA conflict that at one point set him on colliding paths with the current regime.
Although revered as one of Uganda’s greatest musicians, he is rarely acknowledged, let alone honored, in his homeland. First to start with, he is more known to the older generation of Ugandans. His songs were on the regular hit selection on Radio Uganda back in the day but most especially with the advent of Gulu’s first FM radio station Radio Freedom 88.8 MHz in 1999; and then Radio Mega 102 FM in 2002.
He had most of the first recorded traditional Luo radio hits on radio before the Lucky Bosmic Otim, Leo Pa Layeng and 2Pees of this world.
Most of his songs have depicted the plight of child soldiers (yeyeye), workers like teachers (lapwony), soldiers (solitude) and policemen (See me Lakayana, spirit of my father), advocated for better standards of living (Umoja), peace (Makambo) etc…
His studio albums include Exile (1990), Beat the Border — my favorite (1993), Night to Night (1996), Spirit (2000), The African Odysseus/Best Of Geoffrey Oryema (2002), Words (2004) and From The Heart (2010).
Geoffrey Oryema has also recorded sound tracks for successful movies like Bedazzled, Dangerous Ground (Ice Cube), Bopha! (Danny Glover) and Tears of the Sun (Bruce Wills).
He has recorded with the global music brand Sony International and performed at the LIVE 8: Africa Calling concert in Cornwall, and with 1 Giant Leap at the Live 8 Edinburgh concert in July 2005 alongside the Bonos of this world.
He sings in Luo, Zulu, Swahili, Luganda, English and French.
The legend Geoffrey Oreyma performed at Lohana Academy in Kampala courtesy of the Bayimba music festival in December 2016, for the first time since 1977.
“Every traveler has a home of his own, and he learns to appreciate it the more from his wandering.” ― Charles Dickens
