Bana Kadori - "Agwambo"

Bana Kadori - "Agwambo pt. 2" (Kanyo 2008)

Bana Kadori – Agwambo / Kanyo

I spent a couple hours earlier today discussing the current tumultuous situation in Kenya with Ian Eagleson and Alex Minoff. As members of the Kenyan-American group Extra Golden – not to mention being kind and informative individuals who have taken time out of their schedules to speak with me on multiple occasions – they have done much to spread the warm grooves of benga music to international ears. Joined by three Kenyan musicians – Opiyo Bilongo, Onyango Wuod Omari and Onyango Jagwasi – the band mixed the chiming guitars and steady rhythms of Luo benga with American boogie and light psych-rock.

In 2006, as Extra Golden embarked on their first tour across the U.S. (thanks in part to the help of a certain Presidential candidate’s office), Eagleson and Minoff were in need of an outlet to make available the solo recordings of band member Bilongo to sell on the road. So the Kanyo label was formed and KNO 001 became the debut domestic release of Opiyo Bilongo & Bilongo Golden Stars: What Do People Want? Now two years later, in the wake of Kenya’s tremendously unfortunate socio-political tensions, comes the second installment of the burgeoning imprint.

Despite Agwambo being one of their first domestically available albums, Kenya’s Bana Kadori is far from being a new band. They formed nearly thirty years ago in 1979 as the backing band for Ochieng Kabasseleh, a now legendary figure in benga music. As an individual entity, their music doesn’t stray too much from the modern renditions of the style, including the use of lyrical electric guitars, delicate but steady polyrhythm, and buoyant syncopated electric bass lines. What does separate the veteran group from the pack is their lush vocal harmonies, which carry the tunes into a welcoming and breezy soul territory. Add in a penchant for intertwining Congolese rumba and warm, elegant horn lines that – for lack of a better comparison – remind me of Paul Desmond’s tone, and you have a benga band brimming with individualism and charm.

Poignant to a frustrating degree, Agwambo was recorded in the Fall of 2007 as a dedication to Raila “Agwambo” Odinga, the Kenyan Orange Democratic Movement presidential candidate who appeared to be the victor of the late December elections before questionable vote tallies abruptly swung the election to incumbent President Mwai Kibaki and in turn sparked nationwide civil unrest and violence. In fact, overtop the smooth dance groove laced with a sweet-swinging alto saxophone of “Agwambo pt. 1”, the frontman of Bana Kadori first praises “The People’s President” in Luo before breaking into English. “He is a true revolutionary who has brought liberation in Kenya…” states the singer in hesitant but articulate English, “He is now at the forefront for the struggle for the third liberation, the people’s right to a responsible government, free of corruption, free of tribalism, free of inequitable distribution of the national pay… he has a plan to eradicate insecurity in the streets of Kenya; he has a plan for gender equality so that men and women alike will be included in our national building; he has a plan to bring Kenya to the glory we all wish for; vote Raila ‘Agwambo’ Odinga for president, because he is the people’s president.” I have no intentions of making a political stance being as my aim here – like that of Eagleson and Minoff – is strictly ethnomusicological, but that is certainly a tough sell to argue.

“Agwambo pt. 2” keeps the same groove of it’s prior section, but at a more upbeat pace. Along with “Ochot Mayaka”, the Afro-Carribean rumba influence is all too apparent, lilting each track into a pleasantly fluid swing. Later in the album, on tracks like “Auma” and “Judy”, the sophisticated vocal harmonics take the spotlight while the chiming electric guitar falls into an almost counterpoint. “Doc Odotte”, which features more of a lead singer and group response, resembles the approaches of 60s American soul music in construction, but still very much East African in vocal tone and pacing.

Recorded with Eagleson and Minoff’s Nyathi Otenga Flying Studios – in a basement in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania of all places – Agwambo has a warm, welcoming vibe throughout. Both the band and the session’s engineers did an excellent job of giving the album a timeless feel as it is tough to pinpoint a specific timetable by recording quality alone. While it is certainly a shame that such a heartfelt album was released in a period of depressive turmoil in Kenya, it does give us international listeners a chance at directly support the country’s musicians. As the label’s mission statement clearly pronounces: “Kanyo always works directly with the artists and their families and, in the tradition of independent labels, strives for transparent accounting and generous profit sharing.” We discussed this at length today, and both Eagleson and Minoff exclaimed they are working fervently at making albums available on their website (probably digitally to maximize return and minimize extra coast) in the near future so the bands that are currently unable to perform in their home country will still receive income to help support their families.