02:36 GMT 31st August 2011
'Through music you can make really fundamental connections with other human beings on a massively deep level,' Hughes told NewsAfrica. 'Music brings a lot of hope and if you can pass messages, make people happy and have a dance then you' re doing something.'
The organisation was set up after Hughes travelled to Kenya in 2005 to research into the treatment ofHIV I Aids in the townships around Nairobi for her doctorate. Whilst trying to understand the motivation fuelling the sexual behaviour of young men and women, she discovered that it was not necessarily the voice of elders or the church that influenced them, but music sung by popular artists like Ukoo Flani Mau Mau.
She returned to the UK to persuade her friend Abraham to join her on her next expedition in order to see how they could promote the conscious message that she had tapped into.
Together they plunged headlong into Kenya's rich music scene and began to establish connections with traditional Luo and modem hip hop sounds. Their initial projects were soon complemented by the cross cultural exchange of beats and samples between London and Kenyanbased artists and producers.
Early efforts resulted in the popular record Demonocracy, which was put together by members ofUkoo Flani Mau Mau team. But the breakthrough came in 2009 when a group of UK musicians travelled to Nairobi to create some sort of a fusion sound with local artists.
'Everyone knows West African music, but most people wouldn't know what Kenyan music is, so we raised funds to see what our friends in the music industry in the UK could do with people in Kenya who have no access to decent recording studios but have great talent and ideas, Hughes, 32, told NewsAfrica.
The result of the musical collaboration was the Owiny Sigoma Band, which was picked up by UK OJ Gilles Peterson and his Brownswood Recordings label and, with the help of artists such as Damon Albarn, has placed Kenyan music firmly Art of Protest's Hughes and Abraham - putting Kenya on the world music map on the world music map.
'When we get the musicians together we just fund studio time and flights and give them the general idea that whatever you come up with we' ll cut it on a record and see where it goes,' said Hughes. 'Luckily with Owiny Sigoma, Gilles Peterson heard [their music] and loved it... and it took a life of its own.'
The band comprises Kenyans Joseph Nyamungo, singer and player of an eightstringed lyre known as the nyatiti, Charles Okoko, nyiduonge master or lead drummer, and from the UK Jesse Hackett (keys), his brother Louis (bass), Sam Lewis (guitar), Chris Morphitis (bouzouki Iguitar) and Tom Skinner (drums).
Playing in makeshift studios, it took some time for the group to conceptualise a format that would represent Luo music and the London progressive sound.
'They would show us melodic patterns of the nyatiti, but it wasn't until we jammed with them for two or three days that they actually starting singing the songs as well,' said Jesse Hackett.
'Then they asked us if we had any songs we wanted to show them as well and we started to open up and exchange ideas. It was very easy going and organic.'
By the end of the trip, a sound had been defined and the band took the name of the Owiny Sigoma, in memory ofNyamungu's late grandfather, and their music began to circulate around the UK music scene. Then, after finding its way to the ears of Peterson, the band found themselves back in Nairobi in May last year with a clearer goal, namely to cut an album for Peterson.
With a clearer sense of purpose, Owiny Sigoma recorded an eponymous album at the Kenyan National Theatre. Its un precendented success is testament to Art of Protest's ambitious but seemingly stab in the dark efforts.
Hughes is now planning Art of Protest's next venture with Kenyan based artists including Shifton Winyo, Mandugu Digital, Kama of Kalamashaka, MC Kah and Wenyeji and remixes of the Owiny Sigoma album for the African market.
'Art of Protest doesn't make any claims to grand ideas,' said Hughes. 'In fact we're just facilitators. It's the musicians who do most of the Art of Protest's work. We're just a platform for guiding and signposting.'
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