Ayub Ogada

Who is Ayub Ogada?

Ayub Ogada is a musician from Kenya. Ogada was born in Mombasa and is one of the Luo people of Western Kenya.

He received his first exposure to Western culture early on. When he was six, his parents, toured the college circuit in the U.S. Ogada then returned to Kenya with his parents, and was educated in a Catholic school and then an English boarding school.

After finishing school, he co-founded the African Heritage Band in 1979 and played kit drums, bass and percussion for many years. The group fused traditional music with the sounds of rock and soul that Ogada and bandmates heard regularly on the radio. The singer also performs on the traditional east African stringed instrument, the nyatiti; he is also highly accomplished djembe player.

In 1986, he decided to take his talents abroad. Armed with his nyatiti, he went to the U.K., and played on the streets for money. After the better part of a year, he was approached and asked to play at Peter Gabriel's WOMAD festival. In 1993, he recorded his first album, En Mana Kuoyo, on Peter Gabriel's Real World label. He toured extensively with WOMAD.

From 1997 to 2000 Ayub Ogada has worked in a project with musicians from Mari Boine band Roger Ludvigsen, Gjermund Silset and Helge A. Norbakken and musician/producer Giovanni Amighetti for several live concerts and release of some recordings as Salimie and Mudmo Gi Ta.