- Rian Treanor teams up with Acholi fiddler Ocen James for an album of mind-bending electronic music.
- A month-long residency at Nyege Nyege's Boutique Studio in Kampala in 2018 left an indelible mark on Rotterham producer Rian Treanor. Hearing and observing East African producers working in the studio resulted in his frenetic, singeli-inspired album File Under UK Metaplasm from 2020. But even before then, during the residency, Treanor started making music music alongside fiddler Ocen James, a virtuoso of the one-stringed violin rigi rigi and a leading figure in Acholitronix—a movement that aims to modernize traditional Northern Ugandan Acholi music by marrying acoustic instruments with electronic beats.
Acholi isn't the name of a genre, but of a people living mainly in the Northern part of Uganda. Acholitronix (or electro Acholi, as it's also known) artists, like genre originator Otim Alpha, base their music around larakaraka wedding songs and polyrhythms, and reinterpret these traditions using basic computer software. The result is not very far from singeli, which is an extremely fast dance music style that feels kitschy and refreshing at the same time.
Saccades is a part of the process of bringing Acholitronix to the outside world, following the path of other Nyege Nyege Tapes releases, and a potential next step in the genre's evolution. While the music by Otim Alpha is infectious—made for dance parties—James and Treanor take a more experimental approach, closer to the Unsound and Le Guess Who? tradition of avant-garde electronic music.
It's evident from the very start. The rigi rigi, in James' hands, is transformed into a remarkably versatile instrument with seemingly endless possibilities. Sometimes it sounds like a violin, and other times—like "Tiyo Ki"—it's almost indistinguishable from synthesised sounds. James incorporates Western extended violin techniques, like scratching tones and unorthodox bowing, to make animal-like squeals in the opening tracks "Bunga Bule" and "As It Happens." Treanor, to work with James, created a special instrument, using physical modelling techniques. The digital instrument emulates a'dungu—an arched harp—and other Ugandan instruments, mainly drums.
"The Dead Center," with its loop-like fiddle part, is both foreign and eerily familiar to a Western ear, reminding me of Appalachian and Central European folk musics, with their focus on dance and transgression, but nevertheless stays faithful to Acholi music. "Nassaccades", the only fiddleless track on the album evokes on one hand Greg Fox's sonic experiments and Mohammad Reza Mortazavi virtuosity and rhythmic imagination on the other.
The most captivating moments on the album are those when both musicians listen to each other closely and intuitively react to minute changes. That's the case with "Rigi Rigi," the most straightforward, danceable track on Saccades. Instruments sound as Treanor and James engage in a call-and-response duel. "Casascade" brings James playing over a steady drone, his fiddle immerses into delicate lamentation. Just when you think it's a perfect ending for this enchanting album, they attack with the Farmers Manual remix of "Remo Rom." It's a cacophonic frenzy and the only track with vocals on the otherwise instrumental album, bringing the music closer to Nyege Nyege staples like Metal Preyers and making an ideal epilogue to Saccades, as unexpected and exceptional interlude in the career of two one-of-a-kind artists.
Tracklist01. Bunga Bule
02. As It Happens
03. The Dead Centre
04. Agoya
05. Memory Pressure
06. aasaccade
07. Rigi Rigi
08. Tiyo ki
09. Casascade
10. Remo Rom (Farmers Manual Remix)