RSSNakibembe Embaire Group & Naoyuki Uchida [extended]
- Nakibembe Embaire Group [Nyege Nyege Tapes, 2023] A
- Phantom Keys [Nyege Nyege Tapes, 2025] A−
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Consumer Guide Reviews:
Nakibembe Embaire Group: Nakibembe Embaire Group [Nyege Nyege Tapes, 2023]
I assume it's the rocker in me who finds himself preferring this more purely Ugandan document of the embaire, the ancient instrument the Nakibembe Embaire Group have made it their purpose to honor and revive. Without Naoyuki Uchida's complementary, dubwise commentary, the rhythms they coax up from their log in the ground are unrelenting and even hectic, hence—dare I say it?—evoking a far more deeply rooted version of the noisy, aggressive release arena-rock bands were once supposed to generate. A brand new way to get your ya-yas on. A
Phantom Keys [Nyege Nyege Tapes, 2025]
Recorded in Tokyo at the masterminding behest of a Japanese dubmaster named Uchida, this is the slightly fancier recent recording of the last champions of the Ugandan embaire, a log balafon sunk into the earth so as to add resonance to note clusters that conceptually evoke a giant echoing xylophone. Less driving and some might say easier to take even as it inspires shouts and hoots from a live audience, it's clearly some kind of treasure no matter how pure or impure—who knows whether such sounds will ever be preserved for posterity again. A−