Owiny Sigoma Band to Go on Tour in 2011

Following the release of their debut album, Owiny Sigoma Band, announce UK and European live dates this summer. The 7-piece group, made up of British and Kenyan musicians, will bring their gloriously hypnotic grooves to London, Amsterdam, Paris and Gent for a run of very special, intimate performances hosted by Gilles Peterson in June. The band will then return in July to headline the Worldwide Festival in Sète, France and appear at the Barbican’s Blaze Festival and the Shoreditch Festival in London.

Owiny Sigoma Band started in 2009 when a close-knit London-based collective of musicians made up of Jesse Hackett (keys), Louis Hackett (bass), Sam Lewis (guitar), Chris Morphitis (bouzouki/guitar) and Tom Skinner (drums) traveled to Kenya. There they met Joseph Nyamungu, a phenomenal nyatiti player/teacher whose scope of knowledge of traditional Luo music is unparalleled. The initial meeting was a huge success and led to a number of sessions with Joseph and Charles Owoko, a drummer specialising in traditional Luo rhythms. These sessions concluded with time in a downtown Nairobi studio where the sound developed into something unique, fresh and full of verve. The results are documented on the band’s self-titled album – a collection of gloriously loose Afro grooves symbolic of the true culture clash between the Luo and London.

2 June – Sugar Factory, Amsterdam, Holland
3 June – Vooruit, Gent, Belgium
5 June – Fleche D’Or, Paris, France
6 June – Café OTO, 18-22 Ashwin Street, Dalston, London E8 3DL, UK
9 July – Worldwide Festival, Sète, France
12 July – Blaze Festival, The Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS, UK
16 July – Shoreditch Festival, Shoreditch Park, London N1, UK