Fleeing Uganda to begin life as a political refugee in France in 1977, Geoffrey Oryema soon laid aside his work as an actor and playwright and took up a music career instead. Geoffrey rapidly made a name for himself on the music scene thanks to his haunting vocals and his tragic ballads, which he accompanied himself on the lukémé (thumb piano). Geoffrey's career would really take off in earnest, however, after he appeared at the famous "Nelson Mandela" concert at Wembley Stadium in London. Geoffrey's impressive performance brought him to the attention of record companies and he soon found himself in the studio recording his debut album, "Exile", produced by Brian Eno and released on Peter Gabriel's "Real World" label. Needless to say, mainstream success followed and Geoffrey"s song "Yé yé yé" was even used as the theme tune for a prime time French TV show (on France 2).

While "Exile" was responsible for catapulting Geoffrey to fame, the album would prove to be a major burden later in his career. The Ugandan star actually went on to record two other albums after "Exile", but for the general public Geoffrey Oryema was irrevocably linked to his debut. (A painfully ironic twist given that Geoffrey had recorded "Exile" as a form of psychotherapy, hoping the album would rid him of his old nightmares). Today, Geoffrey's back in the music news, determined to reveal another side to himself. Leaving his refugee days behind him, the singer puts across a message of hope and reconciliation on his latest album "Spirit" (released on Musisoft on January 17th), mixing Western rock influences with his native Atcholi*. We caught up with Geoffrey the day before his concert at La Cigale on March 11th and asked him a few questions about his new album.
Geoffrey, how would you describe the essence of your new album?
My last albums corresponded to a particular period in my life, a period which I've left behind for good now. It's true that a lot of people are still really focused on "Exile" and haven't moved on to listen to my other work. That album was directly linked to my time as a refugee, which was a very bleak time for me … a time when I really needed to talk, to get my grief out in the open and purge myself. The album revolved around what life was like for me when I first arrived in France. In the beginning things were really tough - in fact, at the time I felt like it was the end of the world. I didn't know how I was going to get through it at all. You know, you turn up in a new country, you start living in an immigrant hostel and you suddenly find yourself a political refugee. Life was pretty tough … And that's what I vented on "Exile", all those feelings of grief and hardship.
But today I feel that period of my life's way behind me now. "Spirit" is an album which says, "Look, Geoffrey, the refugee who sang all those sad melancholic songs, has changed. He's become reconciled to life. This is the new Geoffrey!" And that's why I wanted to have this image of a Masai warrior - this very fierce, determined-looking guy - on the album cover. It's a way of saying "Look, I'm OK now. I've made a fresh start. This is no longer a refugee, a sad, defeated man talking to you. All that's over now". Having said that, however, there are actually a couple of songs on the new album which seem a bit sad - the song I dedicated to my brother, for example, who died in '89. But for me the tribute to my brother is not a sad song. It's happy and positive. I see it as a way of saying goodbye to my brother and reminding myself that his spirit is still with me. I guess "Spirit" is what you'd call a mature album. It's taken me a long time to get where I am today … And I think you can hear this maturity in the music as well as the songwriting on the new album.
Which track would you say best sums up your new album as a whole?
A song called "Spirit of My Father". I think that since my father's murder, this is the probably the first time I've been able to get the necessary distance from things and look at what happened objectively. My father spent a lot of his life working really hard for the Ugandan government. He was a very successful man - and the simple reason behind his murder was that he had become extremely popular. In fact, there were some people in Uganda who even thought it was possible he could become a future president. I think about that a lot these days, it's like in some ways I'm meant to follow in his footsteps. And I spend a lot of time analysing my own success. You know, the higher I go, the more I feel I have these great responsibilities on my shoulders. At the same time, I feel happy and at peace, because I know my father's spirit is watching over me and protecting me. And it's this spirit which runs through the new album - that and all those mystery stories and supernatural tales people told me when I was a kid. This is basically the reason why I didn't want to come back and do another album like "Exile". I wanted to make a radical break and change the subject completely. I wanted the sprits to be the thread running through my new album.

Rhythmically speaking, the new album seems to be a lot more upbeat and lively than your previous work …
Before we went into pre-production, Rupert Hine, the producer and I sat down and decided that this album should be a more up-tempo work, the kind of album people could actually dance to. After all, I think I spent enough time singing about sadness and unhappiness on my last albums - it's time to get out on the dancefloor now! Anyway, after we'd talked about this, Rupert suggested adding a bit of groove to the album. When he listened to my cover of the Talking Heads song "Listening Wind", he immediately thought of the Talking Heads album "Remain In Light" and he said "OK, we're not going to copy this, but this is the sort of direction we should try and go in." And I must say, I'm extremely happy with the result!

Atcholi* - Ugandan language and culture

Interview: Soeuf Elbadawi
Translation: Julie Street