the band in heaven plays my favorite song

This song came on the radio in my truck a couple of weeks ago and I was immediately struck by its subdued strength. After the first minute of afro-Fripp noodling, the song locks into a groove where the singer and lead guitar converse via call and response, creating an easygoing but solid rhythm. Along with the entrancing benga beat, I also picked up something melancholy in the vocals. In reading about the band, I found out the singer had become sick and was recounting his experience in going back to his village, where he was nursed by his parents. The people in his village collected money in his name, but ended up spending it on beer rather than giving it to his family. The singer, Otieno Jagwasi has since passed away, and knowledge of that only adds to the haunting quality of this song. The beauty and resignation in this song remind me tangentially of Eddie Hazel's memorial to his mother, Maggot Brain; another musical transcendence of grief into calm.


Extra Golden - Ilando Gima Onge