Ondara: Five Essential Albums
Ondara (photo by Greg H, PR)
Throughout Black History Month 2023, FUV is reaching out to musicians we admire to learn about the albums that are most essential in their lives. Find all of FUV's "Five Essential Albums" here.
Back in 2019, when Ondara first visited Studio A for an FUV Live session, he went by J.S. Ondara; the Kenyan-born musician has since whittled his moniker down to just Ondara, as potent a one-word declaration as Dylan – the man who changed the young musician's trajectory.
That love of Bob Dylan drew Ondara to Minneapolis, Minnesota a decade ago, and led to his debut album, 2019's Tales of America, nominated for a Grammy for Best Americana Album.
Ondara's latest album, 2022's Spanish Villager No: 3, is a startling left turn, taking this adventurous songwriter down a more robust rock path. He also created a character for this new direction, an alter ego that he told Spin was a path of "healing and the pursuit of health."
He released his album with a graphic novel and performance film, delving deeply into his new persona — in a suit of newsprint, his face swathed in a scarlet cloth or eyes cloaked with a smudged mask of makeup. Yet he never fully lets go of his past. Spanish Villager No: 3 is a concept album of uneasy, transformative travels — "A Blackout in Paris," "A Shakedown in Berlin," "A Drowning in Mexico City" — an ambitious accomplishment of reflection and observation.
We asked Ondara to send us his "Five Essential Albums" which, of course, included a generous dollop of Dylan.
Ondara's Five Essential Albums:
Bob Dylan, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
I accidentally discovered Dylan’s music by making a bad bet about the authorship of "Knocking on Heaven's Door." I fell into a Dylan rabbit hole after that, the beginning of which was Freewheelin’. It was like nothing I had heard before.
Until then, I only listened to loud rock songs with flamboyant singers. Then here came this stripped-down effort with an innovative style of singing. It’s as though he was just playfully narrating poems. As a lover of poetry with little vocal confidence, I felt an immediate kinship with Dylan. He was my gateway drug into folk music and Freewheelin’ was the first needle.
Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
When it was time to make a shift from troubadour to frontman, from acoustic to electric, I went back to Dylan’s catalogue to seek inspiration. He made a similar transition so it was a natural point of reference. With Highway 61 Revisited, Dylan became a full blown rock star, permanently leaving his folk beginnings behind. It’s confident and unapologetic. The spirit of this record is what I’m hoping to channel as I start making fuller-sounding albums.
Jeff Buckley, Grace
I found Jeff’s music accidentally while roaming the streets of Nairobi. It was the early 2000s, pirating Western music was all the rage back home. Folks would go online, find some random music from the West, put it on CDs and sell it on the streets. The vendors would then make passersby listen to the music. If you like it, you buy it.
It was like wine tasting, but for music. I found a lot of great music this way. I found Jeff that way and was taken by his singing. I would lock myself in my room and would try imitating how he sang "forget her." This is technically how I started practicing how to sing.
John Coltrane, A Love Supreme
My relationship with music changed when I started making music professionally. I became a bit more guarded about what I listened to — something about trying to preserve the purity of the inspiration stream. In particular music with words; I have a strange paranoia about plagiarizing or recapitulating what I’m listening to. It’s probably a bit irrational, but it is what it is.
There’s a sadness about this shift in my relationship with music, but I’ve made my peace with it. I find it a lot easier to listen to instrumental music now — jazz is great for this. A Love Supreme by Coltrane is a mainstay in my psychology at this point. I’ve listened to it so many times. I’m listening to it now.
Eternal Docteur Nico Et L'African Fiesta, Merveilles Du Passé (1967)
I have been thinking about how to more consciously integrate my African roots into my music. This is one of the main goals for my next record. It’s something I feel compelled to do.
I’ve been visiting with some of the great African records, as I search for ways of doing this tastefully. This is one my dad introduced me to just a few days ago. It’s been my walking companion since.
- Ondara
February 2023
Ondara will open for Rodrigo y Gabriela on their forthcoming "In Between Thoughts ... A New World" tour of North America, the June 14-June 29 leg, including a stop at Brooklyn's Kings Theatre on June 27.
