Biography
Ayub Ogada (1956 - 2019) was a Kenyan musician who played the niatiti (an eight-stringed lyre, a characteristic instrument of Luo people) music, and his mnyatitiusic included many natural sounds. He also starred in Oscar-winning film "Beyond Africa" (1985).
Ogada was born in 1956 in Mombasa, Kenya. He was a descendant of the Luo people of Nyanza, Kenya and was influenced by the musical heritage of his tribe through his parents who were also musicians. From his school years in Kenya, Ayub played various instruments in both traditional and contemporary music. In 1979, after leaving school, he co-founded "African Heritage", merging traditional music with the sounds of rock that Uganda and his colleagues regularly listened to on the radio.
In 1986, he traveled to London holding a Luo nyatiti and spent some time playing music in the streets and subways of London. In 1988 he was asked to play at the Peter Gabriel WOMAD Festival in Cornwall. There he impressed Gabriel And he was invited to participate in a recording at Real World Studios. In 1993, he recorded his first album En Mana Kuoyo (Just Sand) and toured with Peter Gabriel and WOMAD. In 2007 he released the album "Tanguru" and returned to Kenya, a well-known and internationally recognized musician. He continued to record and give concerts in Kenya and other African countries. He died on February 1, 2019, at the age of 63.