You may not have heard of poet and rapper Mugoda Gordons alias Wake and probably not a fan of poetry in the first place; well, he is one of the young minds that have crossed paths with the Pearl Rhythm engineered Stage Coach and has after that performed at many stages that have included festivals and unplugged shows.
Well, after years of live performances, the rapper in September came of age when he released his debut EP Mwana Weika.
The six track album majorly done in Lugwere is a mixture of the poet’s different bodies of work, fusing rap, spoken work and storytelling on the same record.
Wake is not new to the message he preaches on the album, from songs about being a proud Ugandans and a Mugwere on songs like Musaiza Weka, he talks about his homeplace Pallisa and the values that were instilled in them while growing up.
Musaiza Weka which features Undercover Brothers’ vocalist Timothy Kirya on the hook is a fusion of Uganda’s ethno sounds, the blues from the coffee and sugarcane plantations in the times of slavery.
But other songs are more down to a Ugandan good feel that invites one to dance, a song like Yaina which features Ann Nassanga alias Afrie on the chorus is an ear friendly song that one will easily find themselves dancing to.
Wake’s most popular song among those that attend live sessions across the festival circuit is Abantu Beira, initially produced as part of the last Stage Coach compilation album.
The album is heavy on instruments such as the Adungu that create an original sound that is neither here nor there, part of it reflects most of the Ugandans indegenious sounds such as traditional drums, shakers or even the thumb piano.
Generally the album is a sign that after Stage Coach, Jude Mugerwa and Suzan Kerunen continued to influence the articulate rapper.
Namugwere is the opening song on the album, a surprising pick that features another artiste that is closely associated with the Stage Coach, Zoey the Storyteller; she not a gimmick, she indeed tells stories with all the right effects on sound.
Her kind of art and placing on the album as the introduction, she and Wake set the precedent of what the album is about, one that’s fearless and one that is proudly and unapologetically indegenous in all ways.