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A Global–Local Sound

KOKOROKO’s members have been on a mission. Like many of their peers in the flourishing London jazz scene, they weren’t opting to play only in jazz clubs, but in pubs, record shops, warehouses, arts venues and clubs, putting on their own shows and collaborating with promoters and DJs to create a different, more accessible feel to their nights. In the process, the band’s audience diversified. Following in the footsteps of those seminal Highlife groups playing in Soho in the 1940s and 1950s, KOKOROKO uses music as a space to build community.

This music is shaped by myriad influences. The band’s first few years were spent playing covers to study West African sounds – seeking tutelage from the likes of Dele Sosimi and Afla Sackey, two of the great custodians of West African music in the UK. They learnt the structures of Fela Kuti’s songs, Ebo Taylor’s approach to his horn sections and the foregrounding of rhythm before all else. The band continues these global–local currents in its own compositions, drawing from the distinct West African approaches to jazz and improvisation, as well as Gospel, Grime, Hip Hop, sound-system culture and more. KOKOROKO’s music is laced with the grit of the capital – a sound built in dialogue with dancing crowds and with huge speakers in mind.

Storytellers and Myth-busters

The band’s breakout hit was ‘Abusey Junction’, the closing track on the 2018 London jazz compilation album We Out Here. To date the track, with its sweet Palm Wine guitar licks, soaring horns and ethereal vocals, has been streamed online nearly 40 million times. Written by the band's former guitarist Oscar Jerome, it captures the sonic atmosphere of a Gambian neighbourhood at nightfall. Jerome, along with several other band members, had visited The Gambia in order to learn with a celebrated griot (or storyteller) family, and this song was a happy by-product of the trip.

‘Ti-de’ is a soft lullaby in a similar vein, taking its cue from a medley of old West African folk melodies. With soothing guitar riffs, gentle percussion and the now-signature tranquillising harmonies of Kinoshi, Seivwright and Maurice-Grey, the track is an invitation to remain present through changing times.

The upbeat atmosphere of ‘Uman’ arrives as an ode to black women. The song addresses the harmful myth of the ‘black superwoman’ – a trope that has roots in slavery. Maurice-Grey wrote the piece with her mother in mind. It builds on the themes she explores in her practice as a visual artist, which examine the misrepresentation of black women.

Although KOKOROKO’s music is for the most part instrumental, it’s intentional music – full of sentiment to convey the experiences of the band and, most importantly, their love for the music and desire to keep developing the sound for future generations. If you can connect with the warm, audacious strut of the horn section, languid vocal harmonies and lyrical guitar runs that dance over the steady, infectious bed of percussion and drums, then you can join the party.

^{Programme note © Teju Adeleye}
_{Teju Adeleye is a writer and radio producer based in London. She is the host of ‘Floating Roofs’ on NTS Radio, a monthly show exploring contemporary jazz.}