This Sound I Ride | From an ancient art form performed in Russia to frenetic euphoria out of Kenya

Picture by Marta Witkowska

In the second episode we discover William Basinski´s saxophone skills, join the Russian Group Phurpa in their Tibetan overtone chanting, travel to Colombia to enjoy Cerrero´s brilliant dub mix of folky Latin American elements, meet up with Mentrix and her fusion of Iranian and Western sounds and are just blown away by the bone-crushing-heaviness of Kenya´s own Duma.

Featured Artist: Duma

Our second featured artist is the brutal and overwhelming sound project Duma from Nairobi, Kenya. The two members Martin Khanja (aka Lord Spike Heart) and Sam Karugu evolved Duma from the Kenyan metal underground. Their sound is often described as grindcore but I m not sure if you can categorise this music at all.

For me actually, the power and the beauty of this sound mayhem are the unpredictability and euphoria that you can hear throughout the record. I listened to the whole album couple of times and it is just undescribable – like a bone-crushing-cleansing experience. The mix of brutal drums, harsh vocal noise by Lord Spike Heart, industrial elements, grindcore inspired guitars, and permanent speed changes are just glorious. Or as they describe it:

"A sinister sonic aggression of feral intensity with disregard for styles. Duma promises to impact the African metal scene, moving it into totally new, boundary-challenging experimental territories. Booom !"

Duma - Pembe 666

We got in touch with Sam and Martin to find out a little bit more about this thrilling project, their past and what is the story of the song "Sin Nature" that is played in the podcast. Enjoy the audio interviews with the two guys below.

Can you tell us a little bit about your musical background – how, where and when you started with music and how did you develop your artistic voice?