Ebikokyo East Africa tour: A mix of riddles and electronica

On 13 November, Nairobians were taken on an electrifying journey when Ugandan Afro-fusion artists Suzan Kerunen and Aloysious Migadde teamed up with DJ and producer Faizal Ddamba Mostrixx to bring this unusual yet fascinating combination to life.

The concert, which took place at Alliance Française, was part of the artists' East African tour to promote the five-track Ebikokyo (Riddles) EP. The tour began in Sudan on 24 October and moved on to Ethiopia on 30 October and Burundi on 9 November, before finishing in Kenya.

“The main purpose of the tour apart from presenting the EP was to conduct workshops with local musicians,” Migadde, who believes that the music of Africans should always feature elements of traditional music, said. “We had a smooth session with musicians in Burundi and Ethiopia, but the biggest challenge was in Sudan.

"You see, music in Sudan is very different from the rest of Eastern Africa. The rhythm and language are different. So it was challenging to get all our sounds to synchronise, but we managed. But I would say that the local artists have a long way to go in terms of stage performance techniques.”

In Nairobi, he stood on the left of the stage where he played the rhythm guitar. After demonstrating his elegant and intricate fingerpicking style, he proved that he was also an excellent drum player. Still, his strength is in playing the akogo (thumb piano), the indingidi (tube fiddle) and the embukuli (flute). 

“The guitar is my favourite instrument. However, my first instrument was the adungu in secondary school,” he said.

Standing centre stage was the lead vocalist of the group, Kerunen, who in Ebikokyo employs the riddles and melodies of Uganda's various tribes.

“All the songs are Ugandan riddles," she says. "Riddles have been used to pass down information and teaching orally for decades. We realised that many people neither know nor remember these riddles, especially those in the urban areas. We thought Ebikokyo would be the perfect medium to remind them.”

Kerunen is also the founder of the Pearl Rhythm Foundation and festival, which strives to promote Uganda's traditional sounds.

“There are Ugandan artists who value their culture and are practising it, and some have managed to take it abroad. That makes me happy because looking back, the reason why the Pearl Rhythm Foundation was created was that I feared the next generation might never know about their roots. There are 85 dialects in Uganda, and each carries unique elements that are yet to be 'discovered'."

And Faizal Mostrixx encourages upcoming musicians “to reconnect and renew their authentic music".

"The music scene is changing thanks to technology, and that's mainly why many young people dismiss their cultural music, but that is wrong. What they should do is adapt to it. It is possible,” he says.

Ebikokyo was recorded over a year and will be released in March 2020 on all major platforms including iTunes, Spotify, Deezer, Amazon and Bandcamp. The trio agrees that the hardest part about creating the EP was mixing each other's sounds without losing their musical identity.  

"We also wanted to advocate for women empowerment. That’s why we composed two songs about women: 'Mintingili' (Mother of the Stunted One) and 'AgadaYil Kuwade' (Scratch Each Other's Back)," Kerunen said.