The inaugural release for Nairobi label From Cool Waters is a
feverish amalgam of traditional Kenyan currents and moody, minimalist
electronics. Emerging from the confluence of three special talents,
PALAGOMA links esteemed 83-year-old folk artist Ogoya Nengo with dodo
singer/songwriter and luthier Olith Ratego and experimental German
drummer/producer Sven Kacirek.
Within the album’s daydreaming folktronica, the trio embed messages
of love, pain, and courage, cooking up an electroacoustic synergy
unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. It’s a thrilling debut
outing for a new imprint faithfully recontextualising Kenya’s rich
musical heritage with what Kacirek describes as a “contemporary
approach”.
Having first met over a decade ago, Ratego and Kacirek formed the duo
ODD OKODDO in 2018 and have since performed at events all over the
world, including the influential Nyege Nyege Festival.
Coincidentally, Nairobi-based Kacirek — who has been working with
East African culture for nearly 20 years – recorded and produced the
forthcoming Nyege Nyege album for xylophone ensemble Nakibembe
Embaire Group. This year, the Ugandan label will publish Kacirek’s
children’s book about colonialism, featuring stories by Kacirek and
Kenyan storyteller Wangari Grace.
Kacirek is also no stranger to Oyoya Nengo (which means "the most
precious and expensive singer in the region” in the Dholuo language).
The pair initially crossed paths in 2009 as part of the former’s
field recording project, The Kenya Sessions; Kacirek went on to co-
produce and record Nengo’s captivating 2014 debut LP for Honest
Jon’s, Rang'ala.
Nengo credits Kacirek for helping to launch her career. “That is why
I like Sven, because Sven lift me up. I took him like my son, and
Sven took me like his mother,” she says. What’s more, as neighbours in
Kenya, Ratego and Nengo live just three minutes apart by motorbike, and
have known each other for “a very long time”. These close bonds are
the creative glue that holds PALAGOMA together.
Speaking of foundations, Kacirek provides an experimental electronic
backdrop built mostly around the modular Buchla synth, exploring “new
territory” with an instrument that, he says, “took a few years” to
figure out. The magic of PALAGOMA lies in the tension between the
vocals and sparse production; on the hypnotic Umanyo, dry bass thuds
and rattling hi-hats cushion an honest song about trying – andfailing – to succeed. This contrast creates an electric buzz that
keeps the record in motion.
Meanwhile, tracks like Bara – the album’s zippy first single –
highlight the call-and-response patterns of dodo, a singing and dance
tradition of the Luo community in western Kenya. Yet as we hear at
various turns on PALAGOMA, the groove soon turns mechanical, tying
itself to the present with an industrial techno pulse.
A noted mallet percussionist, Kacirek also weaves woody marimba into
the fabric of PALAGOMA, where tempo shifts add a splash of drama. On
Yore Yore, the pace suddenly picks up, tearing through a head-
spinning clash of earthy and metal beats that lend urgency to
Ratego’s intimate admission: ”Nobody knows me well. They think I am a
woman, but I am a man”.
Ratego’s sharp vocal presence remains the album’s focus throughout,
with his Dholuo-sung, self-styled “dodo blues” offering a “loose”,
slowed-down spin on the custom. Knowledge of dodo – traditionally
performed by women at weddings and other communal gatherings – was
passed down to Ratego by his mother, and he is committed to keeping
the style alive (while subverting tradition by taking on the singing
himself). “It's good to know your culture, where you come from, what
our elder fathers used to do”, he states.
Likewise, Ogoya Nengo – born Anastasia Oluoch in 1943 – discovered her
affinity for dodo as a young girl. Still, her international breakthrough
didn’t come until her ‘70s, when she played European festivals such as Le
Guess Who? with the Dodo Women’s Group – featuring three fellow female
singers in their ‘60s and ‘70s, and two male drummers.
And Nengo continues to light up the international stage with her new
collaborators in tow. Last summer, the trio road-tested the new
material at Berlin’s DURCHLÜFTEN festival, playing a much-needed
sunny day at the open-air Humboldt Forum following two weeks of solid
rain – a stunning testament both to the power of PALAGOMA and the
cracking chemistry of this collaborative three-piece.
Release date: 2026-06-05
PALAGOMA
The inaugural release for Nairobi label From Cool Waters is a
feverish amalgam of traditional Kenyan currents and moody, minimalist
electronics. Emerging from the confluence of three special talents,
PALAGOMA links es...
