Story Behind The Song

i traveled in kenya a few years ago. the samburo people, a masai tribe took my friends and me on a week long walk in a dried riverbed. i recorded the songs they were singing while we walked and i recorded the tribe dancing and singing when we stopped to rest. from what i could make out these songs were stories and the storyteller would start by chanting ?oje mama oje?. you can hear them on the loops and samples throughout the song. i heard the story of mamadou in west africa. Mamadou is a farmer and he is really poor. so poor that he decides to go and find a sorcerer that is supposed to live far inside the jungle. People say that this sorcerer can make diamonds and gold from nothing, appear and disappear like the wind, talk to the animals in the jungle, he can make you a rich man, if you can find him, if you can give him a live chicken or a sheep, if he is in a good mood that is and decides you deserve it. Mamadou grabs his last chicken and gets on his way. when he finds the sorcerer's hut, he pleads his case. he is in love with a beautiful girl but he can?t marry her, because he is poor. the sorcerer takes pity on him and decides to help him. he tells him to build a fire and goes back into his hut. The sorcerer comes back with a can of gasoline, pores it over the wood and sets it on fire. when the flames are nice and hot he takes the chicken and throws it in. the chicken burns up and mamadou is beside himself. ?what did you do this for! he cries. we could have eaten it or waited for it to lay eggs. now it's ruined!? ?well, says the sorcerer, i?m going to make some money for you now, a lot of it, and while i do, i want you to think about this, because, when i give you the money you could end up just like that chicken in the fire.

Song Description

Song inspired by the story of a Masai sorcerer in Kenya.

Lyrics

Oje mama oje, oje mama
Oje mama oje, oje mama oje

I went to see the sorcerer
They told me that he could
Make money in the forest
From blood and spells and wood
From blood and spells and wood

Oje mama oje

I found him by the marketplace
In a dimly lit Cafe
He?s the son of a king of a tigress of a snake
He?s as old as time, they say
He?s as old as time, they say


Bridge:


He said
So you need money, you wanna be rich, I see
You wanna be free, I understand
But I warn you, it?s not what you think it is
Be ware, it will burn in your hand


Oje mama oje


When I come out of the forest
The sunlight hit my face
My feet were barely on the ground
As if I?d been touched by grace


Oje mama oje