Exile

Geoffrey Oryema | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 14, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Real World
• ASIN: B000000HOA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,359 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #5 in Music > World Music > Africa > Uganda

Track Listings

1. Piny Runa Woko

2. Land of Anaka

3. Piri Wango Iya

4. Ye Ye Ye

5. Lacan Woto Kumu

6. Makambo

7. Jok Omako Nyako

8. Solitude

9. Lubanga

10. Exile

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mysterious and spiritual!, April 25, 1998

By 

T. Togwe "thembani" (Bulawayo, Zimbabwe) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exile (Audio CD)

A self cleansing project filled with Oryema's life story. Includes the haunting tracks like Makambo which talks of his exile from his native Uganda and Solitude a song of comfort to his widowed mother. Makambo and Solitude are featured in the Pure Moods collection and also in Zalman King's movie Red Shoe Diaries.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A haunting classic, May 16, 2004

By 

E. Karasik (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exile (Audio CD)

This is my all-time favorite CD of African popular music. The tracks are alternately infectious and uptempo, and deeply moody and sorrowful -- apparently informed by Mr. Oryema's heartsickness over the political turmoil in his homeland. The result is a consistently tasteful and affecting blend of cultural influences that has remained a top fave on my CD rack for many years. (I actually played it for my boyfriend, a musician, on our first date, and we've been together almost ten years -- he found it to be a revelation as well.) I haven't felt quite the same connection with Mr. Oryema's later work, but "Exile" is a gem.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, March 13, 2003

By 

Barbara J. Chaplin (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Exile (Audio CD)

I give it 5 stars for the thumb piano, the guitar, the vocals, and the melodies. This music is beautiful, soothing, and relaxing. However, behind the calm, the rhythms and patterns created by the instruments are complex and almost hypnotic.
This is not rock music; rather, I would call it a mix of sophisticated pop and traditional Eastern African music. This album may be a bit too 'Pure Moody' for some people; however, I don't particularily like new age music, but I like this: I feel the intricacy of the music rescues it and keeps it from being too bland. As well, the lyrics are hardly the stuff of easy-listening music, dealing as they do with the assassination of the composer's father, and Oryema's exile from his homeland.
Of course, the meaning of the songs is obscured from most of us in the West. Only one song is in English; the others are sung in Swahili or Acoli. The liner notes provide a summary in English of each song's meaning.
This is a beautiful cd. From experience playing it at work, most people like it on first hearing, and, due to its complexity, the music will continue to grow on you.