Live drums carry “Dembe Dembe”, stacked by Nyonjo into a heavy, rolling groove. He played and recorded every one of them himself, then kept the production organic so each hit has its full weight. His voice comes in for a few chanted phrases and a couple of quick rap lines, with the drums staying out in front.
Kampala knows him better as Niina MC, a longtime member of the Nilotika Cultural Ensemble, a community arts group whose recordings mix Nyabingi drumming with reggae. He was also one of the seven Kampala voices on Cypher Kabaka, the 2024 album made with the production team Ancient Astronauts. As Nyonjo he puts the drums first, playing, programming and producing every part of his debut album Ebisoko alone.
He named the album after the Luganda word for idioms and sayings, because he treats rhythm as a language of its own, in the tradition of the African drums long used to pass messages. Most of the record is instrumental, with Ugandan rhythms carrying the stories while he folds in hip-hop, Afro-groove and dancehall.
Switchstance Recordings released “Dembe Dembe” on 18 September as the first single from Ebisoko, due in spring 2027. The German label already has history with him: it released the Nilotika Cultural Ensemble’s Nyabingi Resurrection in 2021, then Cypher Kabaka’s joint album with Ancient Astronauts in 2024.
Hear “Dembe Dembe” HERE