Geoffrey Oryema (16 April 1953 – 22 June 2018) was a

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

n musician. In 1977 after the murder of his father,

Erinayo Wilson Oryema Erinayo Wilson Oryema CPM (1 January 1917 – 16 February 1977) was Uganda's first African Inspector General of Police (1964–1971), Minister of Land, Mineral, and Water Resources (1971–1974) and Minister of Land, Housing and Physical Planni ...

, who was a cabinet minister in the government of

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

, he began his life in exile. At the age of 24, and at the height of Amin's power, Oryema was smuggled out of the country in the trunk of a car. He sang in the languages of his youth, Swahili and Acholi, the languages of his lost country, the "clear green land" of Uganda, and he also sang in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and French. Oryema earned his international reputation on the release of his second album, ''Beat the Border''. He had collaborated with Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno and others, and was backed by French musicians including Jean-Pierre Alarcen (guitar) and Patrick Buchmann (drums, percussion, backing vocals), touring with

WOMAD WOMAD ( ; World of Music, Arts and Dance) is an international arts festival. The central aim of WOMAD is to celebrate the world's many forms of music, arts and dance. History WOMAD was founded in 1980 by English rock musician Peter Gabriel, w ...

in Australia, the USA, Japan, Brazil and Europe. In 1994 the band performed at Woodstock 94 celebrating the 25th anniversary of the legendary festival. Gabriel's record label, Real World, helped with the first three of Oryema's albums, before his move to

Sony International Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

, a label established in

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, where Oryema had lived since his exile. In July 2005, he performed at the LIVE 8: Africa Calling concert in

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, and with

1 Giant Leap 1 Giant Leap is a British electronic music duo consisting of the two principal artists, Jamie Catto (Faithless founding member) and Duncan Bridgeman. Career Based in the UK, the two musicians set out to create a multimedia project that would ...

at the Live 8 Edinburgh concert. He resided in

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, France, until his death. His ashes were delivered to Anaka.

Discography

* '' Exile'' (1990) * '' Beat the Border'' (1993) * ''Night to Night'' (1996) * ''Spirit'' (2000) * ''The Odysseus/Best Of'' (2002) * ''Words'' (2004) * ''From The Heart'' (Released on Long Tale Recordings) (2010)

References

External links

Official Website

Long Tale Recordings

Yahoo! Music Biography

Biography

an interview by Opiyo Oloya
Biography at World Music Central
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oryema, Geoffrey 1953 births 2018 deaths Acholi people Ugandan musicians Real World Records artists Ugandan exiles Swahili-language singers People from Soroti District