Alt-rock singer-songwriter Bruno Hibombo is an ardent storyteller with his music. Based in Stockholm, SE, he began his musical path as a solo performer in various bars and clubs. His genre-bending art-rock album, Parting Words, is an eclectic collection of short stories set to rock music. Featuring the focus track, 'Blue Illustrations,' the album showcases Bruno's creativity and ability to craft powerful narratives. We wanted to learn more about his influences, so we asked Bruno to share his five favourite songs.
1. Albert Ssempeke and the Master Musicians - Amagombe tegaluwa (The entrance to the other world is never closed)
Ugandan music has always been and will always be an important part of my life. A few years ago, I rediscovered the hugely underappreciated, powerful collection of traditional Ugandan songs that Caprice Records released in the 90s (Music From Uganda, Vol. 1: Traditional). It is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful, moving albums I’ve heard.
2. The Associates - White Car in Germany
Billy Mackenzie’s voice was magnificent, glamorous; it lives on as a magical, singular instrument. I’m thinking of the sombre, velvety moments but mostly the euphoria, the excess captured in his early material. His band the Associates’ 'White Car in Germany' is, I think, one of the best things he did; there’s something wonderfully nocturnal, hazy, and cinematic about it.
3. Cibo Matto - Birthday Cake
Cibo Matto’s debut album 'Viva! La Woman!' is brilliant from start to finish, filled with inventiveness, surreal imagery and colourful juxtapositions. It’s great fun, deliciously humorous (who else could make an album of culinary metaphors so successfully?) and thrillingly unpredictable.
4. Aster Aweke - Sebebu
I’ll never, ever forget seeing Aster Aweke perform live a few years back. She took my breath away. What an extraordinary, electrifying voice - there’s nothing else like it.
5. Charles Ives - Central Park in the Dark
Discovering 'Central Park in the Dark' and Ives (in my early 20s) was a revelatory experience for me - in his beautifully fractured, discordant compositions he brilliantly captured, I’ve always thought, much of what it means to be alive - the existential knots, the swirling impressions and daydreams, the fleeting fragments and cacophonous intrusions. Ives was, as many have said before, truly a musical genius.
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