News

Illinois Senator Barack Obama recently voiced his support for African pop band Extra Golden (pictured) in a letter intended to help bring the band's Kenyan members into the U.S. for a tour this September.

The Senator's letter to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service Center stated: "As a group, Extra Golden already has an album entitled Ok-Oyot System, on Chicago-based Thrill Jockey Records. Their unprecedented combination of Kenyan benga (a popular East African dance music) with American, blues-based music has received critical raves."

The letter was written to support the entry visas of band members Otieno Jagwasi and Opiyo Bilongo. Jagwasi is a veteran of the Nairobi-based ensemble Orchestra Extra Solar Africa, and he and Bilongo collaborate with American musicians Ian Eagleson and Alex Minoff in Extra Golden. The four musicians came together to explore and preserve benga, a popular, guitar-based music that originated with the Luo people of Western Kenya.

Senator Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, made a two-week, four-nation African tour, in August; stopping in the Kenyan town of Kisumu—one of the birthplaces of benga music—to visit his grandmother.

For information on Extra Golden and their upcoming tour, consult the group's website.