When Godfrey Opio walks on to a stage in the United States of America holding a traditional adungu, it is a reminder of home, loss, and a culture he refuses to let go of.
Opio, a Ugandan musician based in the USA has built his career around something many artistes abroad gradually drop: traditional sound. Possibly, only Samite Mulondo has done what Opio is now doing in the diaspora.
While Samite uses Ganda folk songs and samples other African sounds, for Opio it is the music from the Acholi rhythms, folk storytelling and instruments that he seeks to popularise beyond the Nile.
His journey, however, did not begin on comfortable stages or studio sessions. It began in northern Uganda during the years of the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency, a 20-year war that left so many Ugandans maimed, killed, or displaced.
Like many children from the region, Opio grew up in an internally displaced people’s camp and the uncertainty that comes from that. Music was always with him, though. His father, Andrew Kiwel, was known locally as a gifted adungu player.
In many homes across Acholi and Alur communities, the string instrument was not just for entertainment, but part of everyday life, ceremonies, meditation and gatherings. That influence stayed with Opio.
When the war claimed his father’s life, the music was not buried with him. It became something Opio carried forward, like inheritance. Years later, he found himself in Kampala, moving through cultural dance groups that shaped his early career, growing to later perform beyond Uganda’s borders.
A turning point came with international tours in the USA, where Ugandan cultural performances were staged in different states, introducing many to live Acholi dance, the adungu, and Ugandan folktales.
For Opio, it was also proof that his culture could travel. He eventually settled in the US, continuing his work as a performer and cultural educator. His music sits somewhere between traditional rhythm and modern production.
He does not abandon contemporary sound, but neither does he strip away his roots. The result is a fresh style built on his Acholi roots. His track, War Child draws directly from the experiences of children affected by the Joseph Kony war.
Away from recording, Opio also spends time teaching African instruments and dance to younger people in the diaspora. In community workshops and cultural events, he introduces Ugandan sounds to audiences who may never have heard them before.
And in a country where culture is often passed down informally, his approach feels deliberate, almost like he is documenting something, lest it disappears.
atiluknathan@gmail.com