Katokye - Obuhangwa bwa Banyankore na Bahororo

Описание: Album available at:
https://nyegenyegetapes.bandcamp.com/...

Performed at weddings, parties, political meetings, or even while grazing cattle, Ekyevugo is a style of praise singing often performed in Western Uganda. Reciting in one breath series of long sentences, gluing words together to create a dense and continuous flow of lyrics, the performer draws on myths and history while evoking cattle as a sign of beauty and wealth to praise members of the audience and the quality of the moment lived together. Acknowledging the praises, the audience concludes each flow with a short and vocal ‘eee’ during which the reciter quickly catches breath to draw strength and fire the next verse. For Nyege Nyege 2023, Ekyevugo will sound its dense stream of praises along the river Nile.

When he was still a young boy, Katokye left school to dedicate himself to the art of singing traditional songs of the Banyankole people of Western Uganda. Moving from one performance to the next, Katokye continuously roamed his homeland for several decades to refine his art and, now in his mid-50s, he is today probably the most popular and talented traditional singer in his region. Specialising in the style of ekyeshongoro, which literally means 'song' in his mother tongue, Katokye improvises disarticulated short poetic sentences conveying morsels of impressions, like a long series of Japanese haiku. Backed up by one or several singers who improvise on his verses, Katokye overlaps his voice with theirs to provide a continuous vocal flow that could well stretch beyond 20 minutes, transforming the moment into a long meditative experience.

Video Shoot by Vincent Moon