Ennanga Vision - Ennanga Vision (2017)

Deconstructed royal-court music from the forgotten kingdoms of the Buganda, reconstructed electronic wedding music, fluorescent pink African pop, crunched 8-bit drum machines and a 10-foot long monster xylophone are just a few of the many sounds of Ennanga Vision.

This post-modern African soundtrack follows London producer Jesse Hackett’s heady musical journey into the heart of Uganda - recording with chief collaborator, multi instrumentalist and singer Albert Ssempeke and featuring assorted vocal legends from the north of the country. The music blends a fully electronic sensibility with unusual, hand-crafted, African one-string fiddles, a 200-year-old harp and an enormous, group-played xylophone. It mixes traditional Ugandan folk songs and modern pop forms into a new PLASTIC ORGANIC VISION.

Hackett is influenced as much by the music of the African continent as he is by European electronic compositions and soundtrack scores. The sounds of hauntingly-dark vocoded vocals, crushed electronics, and poly-rhythmic drum machines sit alongside chiming African fiddles, rippling harps and children's laughter. He is a member of Owiny Sigoma band having sung on and co-written a lot of their work spanning three albums. He is also touring keyboard player for the Gorillaz and has released records on Stones Throw, Honest Jon’s and DEEK Recordings, to name a few.

Albert Ssempeke is the son of a prestigious royal court musician who played in the days of the old Buganda kingdom – one of more than twenty five musical siblings, Albert is simultaneously an educator, performer and preservationist of this intricate and complex traditional form of music. Here he plays over ten traditional Ugandan instruments including Amadinada (xylophone), Ngindidi (fiddle), Endongo (harp), Ennanga (flute) and many more.

Ennanga Vision featured guests include:

Otim Alpha, a Northern-Ugandan singing legend. Otim has written and recorded hundreds of popular songs in the Acholi community - an ex bare-knuckle boxer Otim also plays masterful Adongo harp and lived through the conflicts of the civil war in the north.

Twongweno, another northern king of Acholi wedding music circuit and big electronic pioneer within Uganda. He co-wrote album track Like a Football - an homage to the football legends he perhaps aspires to write specially commissioned pop songs for.

TRACKLIST:

01. Ennanga Vision - New Sunshine
02. Ennanga Vision - Otim's War
03. Ennanga Vision - Like a Football
04. Ennanga Vision - Essembi (Money)
05. Ennanga Vision - Killing Ghosts
06. Ennanga Vision - Happy Birthday Wonder (Acholi)
07. Ennanga Vision - Abbana Kange (Children of My Father)
08. Ennanga Vision - All This Blue
09. Ennanga Vision - Amadinda Eyeball
10. Ennanga Vision - Kampala Auto Chase
11. Ennanga Vision - Endongo Moogs
12. Ennanga Vision - Silimu (Aids)
13. Ennanga Vision - Jaja (Grandmother)