Originally released as a temporary experimental single in 2019, "Duelling African Lyres - The Ancient Egyptian Lyre & the Kenyan Obokano" (featuring the talented traditional Kenyan Obokano lyre player, Nick Vest), this piece is perfect for evoking the ancient, exotic Affrican rhythms which may have once been heard in an ancient Egyptian dancing scene...

In March 2019, I had the pleasure of meeting in person, my online lyre student, the very talented Nick Vest - who somehow managed to lug this enormous Kenyan bass lyre all the way from LA to the UK - just to jam with me!! The resulting totally spontaneous improvisation was quite literally, the most exotic, ethnic lyre duet to have emanated from my front room - a magical musical moment now forever preserved in this unique recording!

The Obokano is a traditional Kenyan bass lyre, which produces its distinctive, buzzy rythmic accompaniment (rather similar to the Ethiopian begena), thanks to the reed bridges held in position by bees wax.,on which the vibrating portion of the strings rest.

The Obokano for me, evokes the exotic timbre of an actual ancient Egyptian ensemble of musical instruments, which included lutes, archaic arched harps with calf skin soundboards & percussion - all of which would have accompanied an actual ancient Egyptian dance.