Album Review: Ok Oyot System

A truly global concern, Extra Golden is made up of Otieno Jagwasi and Onyango Wuod Oamir of the Kenyan-based benga band, Orchestra Extra Solar Africa, Ian Eagleson from Washington D.C. rockers Golden and Alex Minoff from Weird War.

The musicians met as a result of Eagleson's doctoral research on Kenyan music; Otieno had been assisting him in documenting benga, a guitar-heavy form of dance music that has been popular in Kenya since the 1960s. The music on offer here is more specifically a style of benga played by the Luo people, a community based around the shores of Lake Victoria in Kenya's Nyanza Province.

The title of the album derives from the Luo phrase "ok oyot", which translates as "it's not easy". It's a phrase often used by Luo singers as an exclamation in their performances, but one which became especially pertinent throughout the creation of Ok-Oyot System. Tragically, Otieno succumbed to liver failure shortly after the album was completed, and his community's shameful reaction to his illness is something that is addressed on the opening track of the album, Ilando Gima Onge (locals had begun collections in Otieno's name but used the money to buy beer for themselves). Singing in Luo, Otieno claims, "Friends are many, but when I am sick they just disappear".

While the opening track is deeply personal, the group addresses more universal worries on the remaining five tracks. Osama Rach tackles the war on terror, with Otieno singing, "I am asking President Bush and Osama / Why do you have to kill innocent people when you just want to kill each other?" Later, Eagleson and Minoff share English vocal duties on Tussin And Fightin', a message to the youth about the perils of drugs. A message especially relevant since the pair only narrowly avoided arrest by the Kenyan Criminal Investigation Department for possession of bhangi sticks.

Whether sung in English or Luo, the message Ok-Oyot System provides is delivered in the most earnest way: life is often not easy. Nonetheless, despite the struggles experienced by its creators, Ok-Oyot System is an album that could easily have ended up as a musical and cultural clash, but instead - due to the connection between the musicians - is an honest, unfeigned and incredibly relevant piece of work.