Furaha Wenye Gita & Usiende Ukalale

OLV004: George Mukabi: Furaha Wenye Gita LP + digital

OLV005: Usiende Ukalale (Don't Sleep): Omutibo From Rural Kenya LP + digital

We are pleased two announce the release of two long term projects, in collaboration with Raw Music International and Mississippi Records. These albums are dedicated to the Omutibo acoustic guitar style, created by George Mukabi who hailed from the Luhya speaking Kisa Region of western Kenya. Furaha Wenye Gita is a collection of songs by George Mukabi, from the late 1950s up until the year of his death in 1963, and an extensive oral history by his family and peers, and lyrics in Swahili and English. We are attempting to preserve a full discography of Mukabi, and the digital version features 25 of his original songs, as well as a tribute by Peter Akwabi, and a cover by his son, Johnstone Ouko Mukabi. More information and the full album can be found here and on our Bandcamp page.

Usiende Ukalale (Don't Sleep): Omutibo From Rural Kenya is a compilation of modern recordings of Omutibo guitarists, recorded by Cyrus Moussavi of Raw Music International in Kenya in 2016. Documenting the origins and evolution of the style, from George Mukabi to the new generation, and recorded on location in homes and yards along the River Yala, this is an album of revival and preservation. Featuring recordings of, and interviews with, Fanuel Amimo, Shem Tube, Jimmy Bongo, Johnstone Ouko Mukabi, Zachariah Omufumbwa, Sukuma Bin Ongaro, Omari Machio and Johanias Kiunya, as well as full lyrics in Luhya and English, and photographs by Cyrus Moussavi. More information and the full album can be found here and on our Bandcamp page.

A Child Is Not A Cloth

Monday, September 18th in Portland, Oregon:

Olvido Records and Mississippi Records presents a night with Cyrus Moussavi, a filmmaker and journalist with Raw Music International. Cyrus will present 3 films followed by an on-stage interview conducted by Olvido Records founder Gordon Ashworth.

This is also a record release party for 3 LPs featuring the artists in the film:

George Mukabi "Furaha Wenye Gita" LP

Various Artists "Usiende Ukalale (Don't Sleep): Omutibo From Rural Kenya" LP

Olima Anditi "Where Else Would I Be?" LP

The following films by Cyrus Moussavi will be featured at the screening:

A Child Is Not A Cloth
In 1963, on the eve of independence, the great Kenyan guitarist George Mukabi was murdered. A generation of guitarists picked up his Omutibo style, and rode it to regional fame. "A Child Is Not a Cloth" is a journey into Mukabi's past and a document of Omutibo as it sounds today, five decades after its invention. A film of faces, hands, family, warmth, intergenerational memory, and stunning music from Shem Tube, Fanuel Amimo, Sukuma bin Ongaro and Johnstone Mukabi, the son of George.

Uptown is Covered in Mud
From Ulaanbaatar to the mountains of far western Mongolia, a document of the musical currents that flow between town and country.

Olima Anditi: Where Else Would I Be?
Olima has no fixed address. The old blind guitarist travels the trade routes along Lake Victoria, playing late-nite bars and homebrew clubs.

At the Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland, Oregon. 7:30 PM

Advance Tickets: https://hollywoodtheatre.org/booking/tickets/1-314477/

*There will be an after-party at The Know with Michael Hurley and DJ's Liz Harris, Scott Simmons, Karen Antunes and Hisham Mayet! 

Country Music of Western Kenya: 45's from the archive of Shem Tupe

Rare recordings of rural Kenyan guitar music from the archive of legendary guitarist, singer and songwriter Shem Tupe. In the late 1960s, Shem Tupe, Justo Osala and Enos Okola formed Abana Ba Nasery (Nursery Boys), a trio characterized by cascading dual-guitar melodies and vocal harmonies in a pure Luhya style. These songs have been digitized and restored directly from Shem's personal collection of 45's, and have never before been issued outside of Kenya. This release includes a PDF with liner notes and photos by Cyrus Moussavi, who traveled to Bunyore, Kenya in 2016 to meet, interview and record Shem Tupe. 100% of proceeds from this release will go to Shem Tupe and Enos Okola, the surviving members of Abana Ba Nasery.
Co-released by Raw Music International: rawmusicinternational.com

The cassette and digital versions can be purchased at olvidorecords.bandcamp.com and streamed at olvidorecords.com

Kostas Bezos and the White Birds

The first-ever compilation of χαβάγιες ("havagies"), the nearly forgotten Hawaiian-influenced music of 1930s Greece, focused on the compositions of Kostas Bezos and his ensemble White Birds. A world-class slide guitarist, political cartoonist and sleepless Bohemian, Kostas Bezos created some of the most unique music of any era: surrealist guitar portraits blending Athens and Honolulu, haunting tropical serenades, wild acoustic orchestras, and heartbreaking steel guitar duets. Incredibly, this is the same musician responsible for the legendary "Kostis" rebetika recordings (see A. Kostis "The Jail's a Fine School" [OLV-002 / MRP-098]). Here, we present an entirely other side of his musical genius, absurd humor, and multi-dimensional legacy, and a rare document of a brief yet fruitful musical movement.

LP version includes a 32-page booklet with extensive notes by Tony Klein and Dimitris Kourtis, many rare photographs, lyrics, obituaries and a bonus CD containing 18 additional tracks. Restored and mastered from original 78s by Michael Graves, this release is limited to 1,000 copies. Digital version includes all 32 songs and a PDF of the booklet.

Co-released by Olvido Records (OLV-002) and Mississippi Records (MRP-098) on January 30th, 2017.

Release page with streaming audio at Olvido Records website.

Digital download available at Olvido Records Bandcamp.

A. Kostis "The Jail's a Fine School"

“Kostis” was the most enigmatic of all Greek rebetika artists. 12 songs of truly unique guitar duets and black-humor lyrics chronicling the hash dens, prison culture and pickpockets of old Athens. Recorded under a pseudonym for export to the Greeks living in America, research has uncovered the musician, journalist and cartoonist Kostas Bezos as the figure lurking behind the Kostis name, with ties to the famous singer Tetos Demetriades. Renowned for his slide guitar playing in Hawaiian-influenced orchestras throughout the 1930s, the Kostis recordings reveal an entirely different underworld of the macabre and illicit. The use of guitar in these now-classic rebetika songs display a virtuosity of finger-picked Near-Eastern modes and unusual tunings at the dawn of rebetika, when the bouzouki was yet to become supreme.

Presented in pristine audio quality mastered from original 78 rpm discs by Michael Graves, “The Jail’s a Fine School” stands as an important document of an enduring mystery in Greek music, and a high standard for what was once a truly subversive art form.

LP version includes a 28 page booklet with extensive notes and research by Tony Klein (“Greek Rhapsody,” “Mortika”) and Dimitris Kourtis, full lyrics in Greek and English, and several previously unpublished photographs. Digital version includes a PDF of the full booklet.

Co-released by Olvido Records and Mississippi Records on September 17, 2015. OLV-001 / MRP-097. Vinyl version available wherever fine records are sold.

Release page with streaming audio at Olvido Records website.

Digital download available at Olvido Records Bandcamp.