Nakibembe Embaire Group: how an entire village contributed to one of 2023’s best albums
Nestled in Uganda’s remote Busoga kingdom resides the small village of Nakibembe. Therein lies one of the last remaining troupes who still play the Embaire, an immense xylophone made up of around 25 large wooden slabs that allow the whole village to partake in musical performance. Only in Nakibembe, it just so happens the troupe are led by a trio of avant-gardists who are perhaps inadvertently creating a unique wail that lies somewhere between drone music and trip-hop.
Their self-titled album, released on the ever-impressive Nyege Nyege Tapes label, is a variation of the Embaire’s unique sound that perfectly showcases the wild collision of ancient musical tradition and urban sounds from around the world. Both elements have filtered into their sparse call and response structures that allow for an array of polyrhythmic instrumentation to build the beating into a swell. The result is an evocative and hypnotic melee like nothing you’ve ever heard before.
And thankfully, the record hopefully ensures that you will hear it again. Village’s Embaire pits were being filled in all over a modernising Uganda, placing the communal tradition in a precarious position. Until one village vowed to fire it into the future, they achieved this with stunning effect, rendering a record that could easily be spun in a club anywhere around the world.
The instrument typifies what music is all about: bringing people together and turning reality into a dance for a while. With that very tenet in mind, the Nakibembe Embaire Group decided not to close quarters when they got the chance to record their work. They welcomed forward-thinking producers and an array of other musicians from an array of African genres.
This synergy imbues the record with something universally collective. It is this very facet that is mused over on the final track, ‘133’, which sees Ican Harem captivate listeners with a monologue about similarities between Ugandan and Indonesia folk, culture’s world apart bound by communal sound of polyrhythms and triplets designed to entrance.
It’s a record that shows the reinvigorated defiance of cultural traditions, which are proving galvanised by coming together when they could otherwise be lost. The fact that the record is a pioneering feat that captures the sound of an almost monolithic past colliding with the presentiment of a future plagued by uncertainty in the face of climate change and the resultant refugee crisis depleting these ancient villages means that the music’s significance is not psychosomatic, nebulous or ascertained after the fact, but a glimpse into the hereafter.
The output is a bold invocation of a future that is likely to affect a billion people directly. Yet, it offers a glimmer of glistening hope from this glum situation. The Embaire is not lost to modern movement; if anything, it is strengthened.
You can listen to the album below.
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