MORE AT: www.rawmusicinternational.com

Orono is another 80 year old musical legend, but he plays a traditional Luo instrument called the nyatiti--an 8 stringed lyre played seated with both hands and your foot, which has bells and a metal block wrapped on it and taps against the frame of the lyre to keep the beat.  He plays in busa clubs (like almost all  traditional musicians). This is a field recording we made of him playing at a boisterous club deep in the bush near Maseno.  The audience participation, call and response, and serious nyatiti action give you a little taste of what this situation sounds like.  Just imagine you're drunk on warm fermented corn beer and you're right there...
www.rawmusicinterantional.com

Orono- Live Nyatiti Jam, Kenya

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From Raw Music's pilot episode in Kisumu, Kenya: The Luo blues legend goes to town on some very strange picking techniques on this song, the 4th in a series of 8 we recorded at his home in Manyatta B, Kisumu, Kenya, on December 31, 2010.  A great way to end 2010.  

Olima Anditi (Kenya)- Live at Home Track 4

MORE AT: www.rawmusicinternational.com

From Raw Music International's pilot episode in Kisumu, Kenya: Here is track 7/8 we recorded at the home of the blind Luo blues legend Olima Anditi on the morning of December 31, 2010.  After his morning smoke, the man went to work. This song is about Kevin, the young man who helps Olima with his daily activities.  It's a crowd favorite at the busaa club, and I kind of like the out-of-tune string on this version. Gives it an extra little funk. 
To download the Raw Music International Mixtape, featuring several songs by Olima, visit http://rawmusicinternational.bandcamp.com/
For more rare and excellent music, check out www.rawmusicinternational.com





Olima Anditi (Kenya/Luo Guitar)- Apoli

For more great music check out www.rawmusicinternational.com
We met Peter Logono in a busaa (Kenyan hombrew) club off the Busia road, the main road between Uganda and Kenya.He was playing a 9 string goat skin covered harp called the Adungu, along with a hand painted wash tub that served as a kick drum.He had escaped Turkana, one of Kenya's most embattled regions, a place completely destroyed by drought, cattle rustling, and tribal violence, and come south to make a living playing music for day-drinkers. Things weren't going well, and it showed on his face--I was shocked to find out he's 24, my age, when he easily looked 50.We recorded these songs at the busaa club and bought a few rounds for the crowd and the owners.They were Peter's first recordings, and as far as I can tell the first recordings of modern Adungu songs. Check the video link for a clip of Peter playing:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DyTJts9wjI  AND  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3IixfuSFBs
For more check www.rawmusicinternational.com


Peter Logono Lomoi - Ero Akol (Traditional song from Kenya's Turkana region)

Kisumu, Kenya's Conscious Youths are one of my favorite bands from the area. This environmentally-minded banger comes from their album "Colonial System" and is all about government hypocrisy and Nobel Prize winning Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai's call to replenish Kenya's overexploited trees. More about da Youths and Kisumu music at www.rawmusicinternational.com
Chorus Lyrics:
Conserve de trees
Plant more trees
That's what Wangari Maathai always a preach!


Conscious Youths - Conserve de Trees (Kenya Reggae)

This is a freestyle from our boy Dozze in Kisumu.  Ozzy Dan did the translation. Much more music at www.rawmusicinternational.com

0.01
My mum told me am a superstar
But how come for the five years I've been in this industry
I have never been seen

0.07
Open eyes do not mean you can see
Do not mean you can be seen

0.11
The Dj doesnt wanna play my song coz am underground
This girl doesnt like me coz am a broke ass

0.15
Bling bling swagger isn't art
Am the artist other people dont like
Coz i speak the truth

0.21
Not in a bad way, it aint beef,am sorry
Me hanging my mic? keep waiting

0.24
Mommy told me am a superstar, watch me!

0.27
For how long will they tell you an empty hand cannot be licked
Its ringworms not a big belly

0.31
They broke, got no money but they wanna get drunk
Am a G with no money
So dont call me G-money

Its my birthday, mum gave me a condom
She wants to be a normal grandma

0.38
Dont think am a phsyco, am a normal person
Its just that i like abnormal things

0.47
Full rasta, hunting the millions
You wont see me, dusk till dawn

Dozze! Yeah!!

Raw Music International: Dozze Freestyle (Kenya Hip Hop)

From Raw Music International: 

This is a very different take on the nyatiti (traditional 8-string Luo harp) from the one I just posted. Here, Orono plays in a much more intimate setting for a gathered crowd of 10 or so people.  The playing is much more intricate and nuanced than on the previous track, where he was jamming out for about 40 drunk and disorderly elderly Kenyan folk.   Every time you fall for a simple repetitive passage Orono switches it up while somehow keeping the rhythm. It seems that this ability to vamp on a simple riff while keeping the rhythm is what sets great nyatiti players apart.

Much more at www.rawmusicinternational.com

Raw Music International: Orono Plays Nyatiti in a Quiet Spot (Kenya Traditional)

The Raw Music International crew had the glorious opportunity to meet and record Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band, a gang of really nice dudes living and shredding in the sunbaked flat lands of north-central Thailand.  They achieved considerable notoriety when a YouTube video they posted of a similar live jam went viral amongst music nerds worldwide.  A subsequent album on the great Innovative Leisure label upped their profile.  But back home in Thailand, they're unknown outside of their province, and they're bemused by the small stream of foreign visitors who make it up to Phetchabun.  They were gracious hosts, treating us to an unending stream of Thai whiskey and grilled squid from 7/11.  We spent three days with the crew and recorded hours of video and audio.  It's all coming soon. For now, here's a quick piece from an all-day jam.  

More info at www.rawmusicinternational.com.  

And please check out their bandcamp to buy their music and support the artists (also available on vinyl): 
https://khunnarin.bandcamp.com/releases

Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band - Live Sports Day Jam

From Raw Music International's pilot episode in Kisumu, Kenya:

Sire is one of the dopest tracks I've heard EVER, let alone in Kisumu.  LaFam, a massive producer, teams up with Alphabet and Brayo aka Soul Afriq in a Kisumu supergroup.  

Check the soundcloud for more jams and check www.RawMusicInternational.com for more about the show (a TV show dedicated to underground music around the world).  

L

RMI: Sire by LaFam, Alphabet, and Soul Afriq (Heavy Kenyan Hip Hop)

From Raw Music International's pilot episode in Kisumu, Kenya: 

This track is the intro to a mixtape by Kisumu rapper and Nairobi freestyle king Eli Sketch, one of the most creative and versatile rappers we met on the trip to Kenya. Many of the beats from this mixtape are done by our homie LaFam at Urban Music Studios.

Check out more of Sketch's tracks at http://www.reverbnation.com/elisketch

Get the Raw Muisc Mixtape, 17 underground classics, at http://rawmusicinternational.bandcamp.com/

To learn more about Raw Music International and hear more tracks/see exclusive videos hit <a href="http://www.RawMusicInternational.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.RawMusicInternational.com</a>
Raw Music is all about underground music scenes around the world. 

For more from Eli Sketch hit:
<a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/elisketch" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.reverbnation.com/elisketch</a>



RMI: Young Boy by Eli Sketch (Kenya Hip Hop)

MORE AT: www.rawmusicinternational.com

Mama Africa, heavy political rap from Nairobi by way of Kisumu's UFO, two young and promising freestyle champs with some serious consciousness to share. English lyrics:

Mama Africa by UFO

Chorus:
Through the pain through the rain through the gain
I salute you mama Africa
No tears no more just my mama

Verse 1:
Shikamoo (How are you?)
Mama Africa 
The only dark daughter of the earth
I write you this pun to release none of your wrath
But to share in your grief
Cause it’s just yesterday
In the 1950s
That you came from the chains of bondage
I pray for your quick relief
After your sis, Europe 
Treated you without honor
Your life, your sons
Congo and Sierra Leone
Started to fight for raw materials
And then blood diamonds
Brought mad iron rule
The Mugabes in Zimbabwe
Mobutu and Idi Amin
And I hope you know who gave them guns, mommy
The same people who swallowed Malcolm
And MLK
But that’s gone, anyway
Heard you sayin Barack is on his way
To slave master, USA
To let him know how we live
Ruthlessly 
like yesterday
Rwanda nearly shot himself 
With an AK
And Jamaica got tired 
Packed his bag and went away
So is Mauritania too
These things don’t change…
And oh, I need a new page

(Chorus)

Verse 2:

And that is all it is about now
Getting more paper
Black boys are doing what now?
Getting more paper
When was the last time someone tried to call you mama
Things are getting worse now have I told you mama?
Why you have to summon your son Garang (South Sudanese founder)
Brothers from another mother seem to me so dumb
Did they let you know Mandela’s free?
How young is he
Shit, 93?
Your kids are still slaves
They’re mining for export
Some selling themselves out 
They blabbing for passports (?)
Your daughters are still queens
But they’re dyin’ of AIDs
They’re worshiping still things like diamond rings
Still not moving
Still the guns shooting
Still the bloods oozing
Militaries ruling the people
I mean the big bros are bullying the little
I wish the food was as much as the guns

Chorus

Verse 3:
Back with a pen with ink
But also back with pain to think
How come you used to give me milk and honey
Nowadays I’m sick of starving
I want you back ma
So through with the songs 
When I’m sick feed me with your hugs
When I cry wipe my tears
Wipe my fears
Tell me you’re here
The only one with the power of love
Not the love of power
Mrs. Third World 
The mother of the tame and the wild
The slaves in the land
Never keep your head in the ground
Even if you live below the poverty line
Be strong and afford a smile
Cause when you’re rich in your soul
And your tears will be reaching us all
Like showers of blessing
And leading the flock
Let’s return to the days of the weather and medicinemen
Before releasing a speicmen from the laboratory
Before they call us monkeys in stories
And to use slavery to depict a tragic history
Back to the weasels and the smoke signals 
And oh, my pen has faded
I need to put some ink in it…

Through the pain through the rain through the gain
I salute you Mama Africa
No tears no more just my mama

Verse 4:

All the ink in the world couldn’t spell it all
All the tongues and the lips couldn’t tell it all
We workin our way up though the pace is slow
Are these dictator presidents ever going to let it go
Somalia is a young girl, her legs still feeble
And the media got it twisted
They think she’s crippled
She can walk on her own 
Along with Liberia
It’s not a war going on 
It’s all in Nigeria
The people are poor
The infants starving
Let your tears be the rain
The thirst is burning
The Sahara is growing
I’m not taking off my Saharas (desert boots)
This is not a safari, it’s suffering
Better the life of hunting and gathering
Oh, I’ve been with Kenya
Don’t you think she’s grown?
She’s grown big and there’s a saying
She has recited: 
“Forever Kenya
Forever Africa
Forever you and me”



UFO - Mama Africa (Underground Political Kenyan Hip Hop, English Translation in Description)

MORE AT: www.rawmusicinternational.com

Raw Music International presents Lyn Jay, a hardcore underground female rapper from Kisumu, Kenya. Balancing her rap career with the challenges of single motherhood, Lyn Jay brings a righteous fury and honesty you don't often hear. This track, Ni Kubaya (It's Dangerous) is a warning to women about AIDs. Produced by LaFam at Urban Music, this is the underground at its most raw.
Lyrics (English trans by Ozzy Dan)

Ni Kubaya, by Lyn Jay

Chorus:
Talk to me
Speak to me
Open your heart 
Let’s walk together
It’s dangerous 
Guard your life
It can kill you

Sometimes being “cunny” (cunning) with life helps
Instead of being notorious and end up crying
(???)
Your life is left in shit but you’re still proud of it
It’s dangerous 
Life is not the way people hype it up to be
Because good things come and go
He’s a great guy
And he’ll flirt with you
You bring yourself 
He says “Come in peace”
Enjoy, you came, 
But know you’ll go in pieces
You thought he was in
And celebrated your win
You entered a muddy spot
I’m surprised, you have been caught today
You think you’ve got him
When you it’s you that’s been got

Ni kubaya (it’s dangerous) man

Chorus

I’ve seen you from a distance
Like “Vision 2030” (Kenya development plan)
And this time if you don’t believe me
Just know you’ve run out of luck
(?????)
These are not the times to give
You f___ off
Hope you’ve changed your gear
And taken a stand
Put a speed regulator on yourself
Ladies make sure you’re “guarded”
If you’re ever horny
And those who want a little something
Should get a middle finger
You don’t get these things by mere luck
Don’t mind them
Some of them just love circus games
It’s like getting infected from watching too much TV
Or some idiot trying to soil your CV
Ignore stupid flirty stories 
That say you got goodies and booties
And that you should put them to work
They’re just for pissing and also a little fun
Ignore that guy
Don’t let him confuse you

Chorus

It’s dangerous 
Guard your life
It can end abruptly
Your friends remain as you fade away
Day in day out 
More enemies than friends
When I speak the truth
It’s like an insult to others
When I’m quiet
They say I’m ignoring them
Cheap politics is like the constitution debate (Kenya’s new constitution)
When you walk around your hood you have to watch your back
Because behind you someone is hunting
My advice is to adjust your side mirrors
One on each side 
You become like Jesus (symbol of the cross)
Between Jesus and Peter
You will not be seen (“And he passed between them and they did not see him”, Bible quote)
You are compared to what you preach
Treat them like VIPs
Cause to them it’s like a disease
Life can overburden you
Know it’s dangerous
Sorry my queen

Chorus




Lyn Jay - Ni Kubaya (Kenyan Female Rap Jam)

Raw Music International is a new TV show about deep underground music scenes all over the world. We're currently filming our pilot episode in Kisumu, Kenya, which is where these tracks come from.  For video, photos, and writing, check our official page at www.rawmusicinternational.com and our blog at www.rawmusicinternational.com/blog1

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