A few month’s ago, I received an email from someone called Graeme Green inviting me to contribute to an article he was working.
The article aimed to celebrate African music and musicians and my task was to name my favourite African music album.
My nomination went to Mp’eddembe by Afrigo Band and her is why
“My favourite band of all time is the Afrigo Band from Uganda. Their music genre is a mix of jazz and rumba. The main reason I’d pick this album is for the song Olumbe Lwobwavu, which means ‘poverty is a disease’. The song outlines the structural and systemic issues that the poor face, such as climate change. The poor are powerless and socially and financially excluded. They can’t access bank loans easily due to lack of assets that can be given as collateral at the bank and can’t hold on to their spouses because they can’t provide for them. In a nutshell, the odds are stacked against the poor. The song is taken from the 1994 album Mp’eddembe, which means ‘give peace of mind’. I like the rest of the album but this song stands out to me due to its message.”
Graeme has done a fantastic job and to find out who else made on it on his list follow this link curious_animal”>http://www.curiousanimal.com/african-albums/ via @curious_animal