Language:

Luo Swahili

Genre:

Accoustic afropop Traditional folkmusic

Instrument:

Female vocals Guitar

Biography

Suzzana Owiyo is a vocalist and guitarist from Kenya, of Luo descent.
The Luo are Kenya’s largest non-Bantu ethnic group. The approximately 4.2 million Luo settled in the far west around Lake Victoria, living off farming and fishing.Being articulate and civil-minded they were prominent in the struggle for independence.
Suzzana Owiyo is in fact one of Kenya’s most popular singers, known also for her strong social conscience.
She grew up in a family of 14. As a young girl, she was inspired by her grandfather who was a popular nyatiti (lyre of the Luo people of Kenya) player in his time. Suzzana realised that this instrument would be her calling. Later she replaced the nyatiti with a box guitar.
Suzzana honed her singing skills and won several accolades in the national music festivals while still at secondary school. In 1996 she joined Sally Oyugi as a vocalist. The following year she joined the Extra Kimwa Band, (formerly known as Extra Bongo Band) as a vocalist and the band played at the Kimwa Grand Hotel.
Suzzana’s voice is compelling and powerful. Her recordings contain both guitar-led riffs as well as traditional instruments. Her music combines the style of Luo pop, which has been popular around lake Victoria since the late 1960s, and the cosmopolitan influence of Kenya’s vibrant music scene.
Suzzana is constantly played by local FM radio stations. Her music is also featured on BBC World Service radio programmes.
Her presence and charisma, as well as her music won her a nomination for the Kora Award, and in 2003 she won a prize at the Kisima Music Awards for the “Most Promising Female Artist”. Apart from touring West Africa and Europe, and working on her second album, Suzzana Owiyo does charity concerts to support street children in Kisumu. In the media Suzzana Owiyo has been called the “Tracy Chapman of Kenya”.

MAMA AFRICA  
ARC Records

The charm with which the songs are performed, plus Suzzanas Owiyo's beautiful and powerful voice is what first and foremost strikes you with this Kenyan singer's debut CD. 12 songs with a playing time of 1 hour is what we are offered here, all songs writtenl by Suzzana Owiyo herself.
The style is close to afropop, not unlike what Angelique Kidjo was doing in the beginning of her career. Owiyo has a stronger focus on an accoustic sound picture, though. Even if she has had her biggest hit with the opening track here, "Kisumu 100", a catchy popsong in Luo, with a full synth/band arrangement. The song is even found in 2 different versions, and is the CD's best song. But there is more: "Mama Africa" is an accoustic guitarbased song in Swahili, where Suzzanas Owiyo's powerful, but also sensitive voice stands nicely out. The same can be said about "Vyie", again in Luo, in folque music tradition. As a whole I find that the traditionally based songs are the best, even if there are examples of the opposite; "Kisumu 100" is already mentioned. Also the reggae inspired "Lek ne Wounda" works well.
Otherwise it's a little up and down. The production on the Kenyan AI(T?) is not really good enough, the synthesizer really sounds like a synthesizer, and there could have been put more effort into creating more exiting arrangements. But in total Suzzanas Owiyo's "Mama Africa" does come out pretty nice, she stands as an artist with a great potential. Arranged with less, or more sophisticated, synth and more traditional instruments this can become dynamite!

Relevant artists:
Angelique Kidjo
Miriam Makeba
Sally Nyolo
Daby Toure
Mradi Group

Startpage    Artists, search    Articles and interviews    Links   

Design: Idar Lind
English: Katherine Stewart-Kreisman
Swahili: Francis Chagula (francis.chagula@malvik.kommune.no)
Swahili: Habiba Rajabu (habiba@online.no)
Flags: 3Dflags.com

This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here.