AKISA -Luo Bargaining bloc

Mar ni kweyo wiya

(Your love cooled my mind)

Mar ni yido jok koma

(Your love pulls outs all my demons)

Erawani Erawani

(Our love, our love)

Kere laki yomocwinya

(You tooth gap makes me happy)

In aye ma irwate kweda

(You fit me so well)

In aye ma ingeyo lok koma

(You know all about me)

Lubanga ocwali mi kweyo cwinyi

(God set you to sooth my heart)

Rapudo x3

(Elegant, Elegant, Elegant) x3

Am ready for your loving.

Tell me , if you want me like money.

Icwinya kany

(in my heart)

you stuck like tattoo.

Tell me you’re not letting go go go

Your lovex2

Got me feeling like kiddo.

Pe ituk kweda x2

(Don't play with me)

Cause am gonna end it up.

This is a factual message so lyrical interpretation is not welcome. In Kenya we spiritually believe Lubanga is our original ancestor and he has no father. In our spiritual lands they just say, Lubanga is God. Luo Kenya need a spiritual reawakening. First things first. Now that I have translated the song. Let me give you a few hard truths. First Out of these ONE LUO project songs, this is the first time we are encountering a song about a living person with a living true love story. Even though I am a fan of stories with happy endings, I will not guarantee that this is a happy ending. Secondly what you do with these hard truths is up to you. With that caveat out of the way, let us get started.

In the beginning.

Akisa was born Lakisa Fortunate Aber in our mother land Acholi land of UG. Akisa is the second born. Akisa has an older 21-year-old brother and a younger brother Aquinas who is 12 years old.

Akisa was born into a family of three that evolved into a single parent family with all the challenges of single parenthood in modern African set up. Akisa was then raised together with the uncle Kilima Stephen Ojara, who is the mom’s immediate follower. When Akisa was in Form Two the uncle upgraded the role in Akisa life, taking care of all needs. The mother was still working in the south of Uganda. As the dad was now absent due to cultural challenges, the uncle became the father figure and Akisa subconsciously sees him as the father.

Akisa muscial life is full of true stories. For example, her stray in music can be explained that she really loved singing. But there is a true story to it. Akisa “father” was involved in some movie making. More specifically Films and Band business. This movie had a part of singing a cover song, “Heal the world.” Akisa did the singing here so well. She was just 15 years old. A toddling in the music industry in Africa.

There followed the song of “Me and my Friend” in the story City of Destiny. In 2022 Akisa did a tribute for his father Stephen, when his father passed on. This was a heart wrenching tribute and remains the high point of her musical career.

In 2024, Akisa did a song titled Mar Wa Ni (our Love). However behind the scenes Mamega the ONE LUO project was scheming for her. When the proposal was put to her , she readily agreed after discussing it with her mother who was now home with health challenges.

The trip to Kisumu to take part in the project was the first time she was not only in Kenya but Kisumu. It was also the first time she was meeting a sea of her brethren who left UG 800 years ago. Every time she mentioned that she is Acholi from UG some sort of love and appreciation enveloped the space. It is as if they said, “this is a somebody right here that we love very much.”

Then working with fellow upstarts in the project also made her relax. Everybody was learning and everybody was seeking the same support. It was a true recording retreat that can only yield positive things as we can now see.

After the project she did not even travel to visit Nairobi because mom needed her attention back in Gulu, Uganda. However the experience made her yearn for more to at least mingle with the distant brethren in Kenya.

Challenges

Akisa had no qualms about leaving home for the project despite the dangers that lurk awaiting unsuspecting women. Akisa says that such dangers come with the territory of the entertainment industry. It is all over the world. Predatory men all target this industry because both female and male sex victims are never in short supply. And they use even women to target both boys and young women. They could be women being used to trap young girls but these sorts of women have lost all forms morals. Akisa story strikes a chord with UK stories that have reached legal authorities. It is from such that you hear Kenyan women are running brothels in Sussex. Never the men. The male ones hunt the industry for self gratification. But in terms of modern-day slavery and human trafficking, it is always the women who hunt for exploitation.

Akisa says, “Like crossing a road one must have all their wits to survive whether in Kampala, Kisumu, Nairobi, or Soho central London. In fact London may be safer”

I asked her if she would leave home for a total stranger, she replied, “Yes I may be desperate for success but I am not that gullible. I only accepted the ONE LUO project because the names of the people behind the project could be traced on the internet and they were incredibly open and working with real people. Nothing secretive”

Akisa added, “Never ignore the inner voice in you. Never ignore the devils advocate resisting a business proposal. There is some truth in them.”

Musical direction.

Akisa says, “As you can see most if not all of my songs steer away from lust. The world is like lust. Very sinful”

Akisa continues, ”when we were tasked with this exercise by ONE LUO music experts, I quickly went to lyrics of true love story rather than fantasize a story. That is me. I did not go into fantasy. The world is full of relatable true story that is someone else’s life. I will keep on dwelling on that.

The biggest challenge in UG is that music has completely failed to cross tribal boundaries whether in the pubs or clubs. That is very unfortunate, that even a drunk person remembers tribal boundaries.

Akisa says, “Apart from Ricky Byrd and Afro who is married to a white woman, East and Central Uganda has slammed the door shut on Northern Uganda. The strange thing is that despite all these bigotries they rely on northern Uganda instrumentalist. Northerners have stronger vocals and make extraordinarily strong instrumentalists that is why these other regions can do nothing but rely on them. Also the northerners like Luo of Kenya have a variation of dances that have lasted hundreds of years.”

Akisa continues, “the north must enter the air waves. That control of airwaves is a killer. This is followed by the lack of a record label in the north. Fortunately, the north has a potential market in Central Africa, Sudan, and Kenya. So it is high time the Northern artists look elsewhere. All the others will fall in line.

Akisa made me appreciate more the power of ONE LUO project. It is what has been perennially preached by global international development experts. Africa must learn the power of global bargaining.

A market block from Northwest Tanzania, western Kenya, East and Western Uganda, North Uganda, Central Africa, South Sudan, and South western Ethiopia is a big market. Such a market without even dominating the other UG regions can set a fashionable trend that will flip the market share.