Undo

I wasn’t going to get caught listening to this at full blast, so I pulled out my headphones and lay on the bed. This decision I reached from mere bias but I am not a biased listener  

   (winking)when the songs are good.

The first song read like a classic and deserved a try. Ainunu is the album’s cover song. The album has 5 songs( Ainunu 1&2, Peace by steven ogwang, Who is my neighbour, sunday morning by Sheba Namara and  Malaria.) Ainunu 1 contains the elements that bring out the album title ‘Nkaguma nkareeba' (I Wish I Could See).   What catches me is the flute and it continues to enthrall through out, this is a song to forget with, to dream with. I am not sure yet whether I still like it or not...but I could do with the flute blowing

 If you want to kind-of-like this song, You will have to scale yourself to the level of ‘let me just listen first-there is nothing here except the flute that tries to blend to the drums. Okay, the words are the everyday chant you will hear in a small town family for the rest of the year. Maybe this simplicity is the missing link, maybe you actually don’t have to think about it-this is a happy-sad song taking you through years of toil and achievement.

The rhapsodic repetitions and the continual relating of things story-telling like perhaps reflects growing up in a culturally rich background. One of moonlit story telling singing nights. Yet it sounds quite out of place where others have rendered the same music in a more ear appeasing way.

If I were to decide on a second song it would be Ainunu 2 (6:12 minutes) It is much longer means you get to listen to the flute longer. Of course the General makes up the chant in the background, artistically he achieved much better words than some fella who sings about biology on certain big occasions around town. In this case, this is the kind of song he is personally relieving his experiences.

Next song, What! I think I chose the wrong song-’Malaria’. This song progressively  and continually stung at me, this wasn’t working. This is the kind of song Ministry of Health sends to UBC-radio for strictly Red channel community programs sensitizing malaria. It’s a quite factual song inspired perhaps by knowing what a bout of malaria takes one through. Here he gives some figures and a testimonial of suffering wrecked by malaria and I ain't interested until am sick.

You will not want to listen to “who is my neighbour” unless  you are enjoying your kindergarten classes of recent. It’s a song sang by the whole family and we get all these voices dragging onto this thread of musical togetherness. It reminded me of those out of tune family renditions of ‘oh happy day’ with me and my croaky voice struggling not to cough due to throat strain.

The other songs I didn’t listen to and I suggest you don’t.... Hey by the way, if you are still wondering what this is about, This is about the General Tumwine's new album. here is a sample...but on second thought spare some money and support an upcoming star. I am still listening to the flute....

This is what the world is reading,and a fella is looking. There are some listed names Rushdie, Theroux, Garcia Marquez, Tarun, Updike.