AWUORO ASEMBO KOKISE!

 The late Ochieng' Kabaselleh wrote many songs but few are as intriguing as his dedication to his departed dad, titled "Wuora Ogolla Adoyo".  Recorded in the 90s, the song is emotional yet soothing, almost exploitatively poignant. I must have first listened to the song in the early 2000s soon after losing my own dad and personally identified with the agony, grief and the outpouring of emotion in the song. Sung in a mournful tone, with passion and raw emotion all over the lyrics, it's hard to listen to the song without being moved.

One thing that stands out the most is the phrase, "awuoro Asembo Kokise" (I'm astonished at or I detest Asembo Kokise) which evokes a deep feeling of anger and resentment over the small village in Siaya County from which his late father ailed. He wonders why - even how - they dared to bury his dead father in his absence. Ochieng' Kabaselleh never got to meet his father. The story goes that he had been raised by his mother. It was not until he was an adult that he started the journey to trace his father's whereabouts. His search eventually led him to Asembo Kokise where the fresh grave of his late father awaited him. He had been buried just a few days before Kabaselleh's arrival. In the aforementioned song, composed in his father's honour, he asks his departed father - as if he could hear him, "Couldn't you wait for me just a little longer, or is it my return that has chased you away?"

The Late Ochieng' Kabaselleh

''A wuod Asembo Kokise kamung'eyo Ramba. A wuoro Asembo Kokise eee eeeh. A wuoro Asembo Kokise eeeeeh" Kabaselleh sung mournfully and it's hard to not to sympathize with him. In the song he lists relatives he never got to meet - all dead and buried while he was away. He mentions Odigo koda Oracha,  Oyier wuon Ofinyo, Oleche koda Keo, Ogola wuod Adoyo thuon Ratego, Achola, Dwele, Kodongo Seme lang'o, Okinda koda Rage, Elijah Odhiambo, Adero wuon Kondo, Ojiwa koda Obwago, Ong'owo koda Wanjere and Rosa Auma.

"Liwa ya tata na ngai, bandeko!" Ochieng Kabaselleh wept in Lingala, a testament to his estrangement to his ethnic Luo identity. He dressed like a Congolese, spoke Lingala and played rumba music. He took a Congolse name "Kabaselleh" and deliberately spoke broken Swahili to further accentuate his assumed Congolese identity. There was little about him that was truly Kenyan, let alone Luo. He had grown up in Nairobi, a whole day's drive from the place his estranged father lived. He hung around Congolese and Swahili singers and laced his lyrics with Lingala words. At some point in the song he says, "Kufa kwako baba, shida kwetu. Sisi watoto yako.." loosely translating to "Your death oh father, is a problem to us. We your kids."

He concludes that his sorrow will live with him forever. He asks his new found family - the people of Asembo Kokise - to forgive him because after all "awoud Asembo Kokise eh eh (I'm a son of Asembo Kokise)" he sings repeatedly as if trying to win an argument. "Nyis JokAdoyo, JoK'Odhiambo duto mondo ong'won-na eh" (Ask the family of Adoyo and Odhiambo to forgive me) That's the least they could do for him. After all, he was their kin and he'd never leave them again.