Ogoya Nengo

If Kenya was not in Africa, but in Europe, the songs called "dodo" would have long been inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List. This is because it is a unique genre that can only be sung by adult women - and which Europeans only discovered this year, thanks to the album that is currently being released on the renowned British label Honest Jon's. In the past, it brought, for example, projects inspired by Africa by Damon Albarn from the group Blur. At the Prague concert, the greatest living icon of the genre, the almost 80-year-old singer Ogoya Nengo with her all-female group, will christen the album.

The theme of her songs is life, death - and perhaps even Barack Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, not far from her home, on the shores of Lake Victoria. Dodo songs function in Kenyan society as a communication channel through which women reach out to the public. There is a place for satire, criticism and educational sermons in them. There are compositions criticizing the aggressiveness of the police, the injustice of judges or the intrigues of partners. Unlike the dances of the younger generation, the songs have a free, swinging rhythm, accompanied by a delicate pulse of rattles and other percussions next to the drum, the singing alternates between call and response, similar to American blues. The project is the result of many years of effort by the German musician of Czech origin, Sven Kacirk, who visited Kenya several times on his musical expeditions. On the album and in concert, the singers perform just as they do in front of an African audience, this is a truly authentic project in which raw spontaneity intertwines with feminine kindness and tenderness.