Abusey Junction
A seven-minute instrumental that began as a guitar riff in The Gambia.
Kokoroko, from We Out Here (2018)
Guitarist Oscar Jerome is credited as composer, per a search summary. Edgeworth told Clash that the song came from a recording of Oscar playing guitar out in Gambia, and Maurice-Grey told Afropop that he was sitting on the roof where they were staying, surrounded by balafon and kora players, his playing imitating the kora. Edgeworth said Abusey Junction is a real place and special. When Brownswood asked for a new recording, they reworked it, and it closes We Out Here. NME called it a meditative, free-flowing seven-minute instrumental, and the song won Track of the Year at the 2019 Worldwide Awards.
Maurice-Grey told OkayAfrica in 2019 that it has been hard to recreate that same vibe on a live stage. At Shepherd's Bush Empire on December 1, 2022 the crowd erupted at the first notes. Stream and view counts vary by source and date, from 20 million plays in 2019 to about 75 million streams in the official bio. We found no verified personnel for the recording, no setlist.fm count, and nothing on covers or samples.
On stage
- 2022-12-01, O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London Crowd erupted at the first notes.
Sources
- Kokoroko, the jazz group honouring Afrobeat, Clash
- Kokoroko: evolving the legacy of West African music, Afropop Worldwide
- Kokoroko interview, NME
- Live review: Kokoroko at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, When the Horn Blows (2022-12-05)