Traditional adungu and nanga harp master and singer, Otim Alpha got his musical start as a wedding ceremony leader in his native Gulu City and is one of the few musicians to pass down and preserve Acholi folk traditions. 

A little like Omar Souleyman who performs Syrian wedding songs over digital keys and programmed drums, in 2001 Otim Alpha and producer Leo Palayeng took the traditional Larakaraka wedding music of the Acholi people of Northern Uganda and South Sudan and remade it with computer software, synths and electronic drum-kit beats. The result was a newer hyper-frenetic electronic version known as Acholitronix. Since then his pioneering concepts have inspired an exhilarating micro scene, synthesising electronic sounds and traditional instrumentation into fast-paced, polyrhythmic genre primed for dancefloor madness.

Recent releases include the critically-acclaimed hit collection ‘Gulu City Anthems’ on NNT (2017). Otim Alpha also featured on two projects with long-term collaborator and friend Jesse Hackett (Gorillaz, Owiny Sigoma Band): the recent ‘Metal Prayers’ (NNT, 2020) and ‘Ennanga Vision’ (Soundways 2018) with the tune ‘Otim’s War’.