Geoffrey Oryema, a serene and original singer/songwriter of Uganda, and a man with a storied life and a deep commitment to human rights, has died in France at age 65, following a long struggle with cancer. International music fans came to know Oryema when Real World Records began releasing his music in 1990. By then, Oryema had been through a lot. Born in 1953, he grew up listening to traditional music, particularly the nanga harp, which his father played. Oryema was already an outspoken singer/songwriter in 1977 when his father—a member of Idi Amin’s cabinet—was assassinated. Fearing for his life, Oryema left Uganda in the trunk of a car and began a life in exile, first in Kenya and eventually in France.
Oryema’s first Real World release, Exile, offers a kind of summary of his life to that point, including a song honoring his father’s ancestral home, “Land of Anaka,” and a dedication to his widowed mother, “Solitude.” This was the first of two Oryema releases produced by Brian Eno, and it establishes the wistful, reflective tone that characterizes much of his work, quite in contrast to the more dance-oriented African music winning global recognition at the time.
The sounds of traditional instruments, including the nanga, weave in and out of his varied songs. But they share the soundscape with ambient electronics, ethereal vocal backing, and Oryema’s own acoustic guitar and plaintive lead voice. Singing in a variety of languages, including English, Oryema released seven albums and one EP between 1990 and 2010. He sang about the pain of missing home, the joy he recalled in Uganda before the rise of Amin, the struggles of exile, and many stories of discovery, sadness, hope and humanity he experienced along the way.
In July 2005, Oryema joined African stars including Youssou N’Dour, Angelique Kidjo, Tinariwen and Thomas Mapfumo in Cornwall for the historic Live 8: Africa Calling concert. In 2016, he returned to Uganda for the first time in 40 years and performed what turned out to be his only post-exile concert there.
