Ayub Ogada

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Ayub Ogada
Birth nameJob Seda
Born1956 (1956)
Mombasa, Kenya
Died (aged 63)
Genres
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, musician, actor
Years active1979–2019
LabelsReal World Records
Long Tale Recordings
Websiteayubogada.com

Job Seda (1956 – 1 February 2019),[1] better known as Ayub Ogada, was a Kenyan singer. He was a singer favoring the nyatiti (an eight-stringed lyre with its origins credited to the Luo, a tribe in Nyanza Kenya) as his characteristic instrument. His music is known to have a natural feel to it, having songs of birds, the calls of animals and the sounds of children playing in the background.[2]

Ayub Ogada was also an actor landing major roles in films including the Academy Award-winning Out of Africa (1985) and Kitchen Toto (1987).

Biography

Ayub Ogada was born in 1956 in Mombasa, Kenya. He is a descendant of the Luo people of Nyanza Kenya and was influenced by their musical heritage by his parents who were musicians. They performed Luo music to Kenyan and US audiences. Ayub’s experience of travelling with his parents to the US and his exposure to both western and African cultures had a profound effect on his music and outlook.[3]

While at school in Kenya, Ayub played various instruments in bands and embraced both traditional and modern music. In 1979, after leaving school, he co-founded the African Heritage Band, fusing traditional music with the sounds of rock and soul that Ogada and his bandmates heard regularly on the radio.

In 1986, Ayub set his sights on the

WOMAD Festival in Cornwall
. His breakthrough came there. Perchance a band cancelled and Ayub’s ten-minute slot stretched to a full set. Among the won over fans that day was Peter Gabriel himself.

Ayub was invited to take part in one of the recording weeks at Peter Gabriel’s

Richard MacPhail.[4]
In 1993, he recorded his first album En Mana Kuoyo (Just Sand) at the studio and he toured extensively with Peter Gabriel and WOMAD.

In 1998, Ayub started working with

Roman Colosseum for FAO and recording the Tanguru album[5]
for Intuition.

Ayub’s music is on the soundtracks of films such as

Charlie Boorman’s BBC series' Long Way Round and Long Way Down as well as NBC's short-lived action drama series, The Philanthropist
.

Ayub has also acted under his birth name, Job Seda. He played Robert Redford's Maasai warrior assistant in Out of Africa (1985) and also starred in The Kitchen Toto (1987).[6]

"Kothbiro", was included in a sequence, and in the soundtrack of the Mexican film "La Habitación Azul", 2002. This song also features as one of the tracks in the 2012 Documentary Feature by Ron Fricke "Samsara".[7]

In July 2005, Ayub Ogada performed at the Live 8 concert Eden Project as the opening act with his band, Union Nowhere. They released the album Tanguru in 2007, the year Ayub moved back to Kenya.

In 2012, the English musician

Queen Elizabeth II's diamond jubilee song which was played by the Commonwealth band and Gary Barlow and Andrew Lloyd Webber directed it.[8]

Following Ayub's death in 2019, producer and composer Trevor Warren compiled and produced the album Omera: The Further Adventures of Trevor Warren with Ayub Ogada from unused recordings, mostly made during the sessions for Kodhi. A double album, it includes performances from Hossam Ramzy, Dudley Phillips, Toby Shippey and Marco Megido. Disc two contains 're-imaginings' of various pieces by Count Dubulah / Dub Colossus, Peter Chilvers, Trevor Warren, Bernard O'Neill, and Oren Kaplan.[9]

He is credited on the Kanye West album Ye as a co-songwriter of the track "Yikes".

He died in February 2019, at the age of 63.[10]

Discography

Main article: Ayub Ogada discography

Albums

  • 1993: En Mana Kuoyo
  • 1998: Tanguru
  • 2015: Kodhi: Trevor Warren's Adventures with Ayub Ogada
  • 2022: Omera: The Further Adventures of Trevor Warren with Ayub Ogada

Singles

  • 2005: "Dicholo"
  • 1993: "Koth Biro" was featured on the soundtrack of the movie The Constant Gardener, which was a political thriller shot in Kenyan location.[11]

See also

  • Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania

References

  1. ^ Victor Otieno. "Legendary musician Ayub Ogada dies at 63". Nation.co.ke. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  2. ^ Matiko, Sinda (2022-09-09). "Ayub Ogada, traditional musician who was never recognised at home". Nation. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  3. ^ "Biography". Ayubogada.com.
  4. ^ Mark (2018-02-01). "Interview with Richard Macphail – My Book Of Genesis". The Evil Jam. Retrieved 2021-06-21.
  5. ^ "Tanguru". Itunes.apple.com. 8 March 2007.
  6. ^ Matiko, Sinda (2020-07-05). "Remembering Ayub Ogada, man who loved his 'nyatiti'". Nation. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  7. ^ Samsara (2011) - IMDb, retrieved 2021-08-31
  8. ^ Matiko, Sinda (2022-02-27). "Ayub Ogada, Sauti Sol among most-streamed artistes abroad". Nation. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
  9. ^ "Omera - Ayub Ogada". Ayub Ogada. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  10. ^ "Legendary musician Ayub Ogada passes on". Nairobinews.nation.co.ke. 2019-02-02. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  11. ^ Mullan, Oran (1993-05-16). "Track of the Day: 'Kothbiro' by Ayub Ogada". Real World Records. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
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