2027 FYC
For Your Grammy® Consideration
Baba
Simon Javan Okelo
- Category
- Best Global Music Album
- Field
- Latin, Global, African, Reggae & New Age, Ambient, or Chant
In Kenya, Baba was Raila. At home, Baba is me.
Fourteen tracks, written and recorded in Kisumu.
- Release date
- April 4, 2026
- Recording date
- December 27, 2025
- Label
- One Vibe Media
- Studio
- One Vibe Studio, Kisumu, Kenya
- Languages
- English, Swahili and Luo
- UPC
- 825583327043
About the Album
Baba is a fourteen track album about fatherhood, home, and the village that raises a person. Simon Javan Okelo wrote, composed and performed every song, singing in English, Swahili and Luo.
Baba carries two meanings. Simon recorded it soon after the passing of Raila Odinga, the man Kenyans call Baba. Raila shaped the music of a generation, and growing up in his era made that influence part of the sound. The record holds his story alongside Simon's own, as a father to his three daughters.
He recorded the album at One Vibe Studio in Kisumu, Kenya, working with producer Shamir Tadeiya. The songs carry East African rhythm and percussion alongside modern production, and they draw freely on reggae and contemporary dance music. The heart of the record stays African.
Tracklist
- 01Baba2:28
- 02Mudho2:02
- 03Reggae Gi Ngege2:46
- 04Milele Forever2:24
- 05Omondi Strong3:04
- 06Kich Kecho2:23
- 07United We Stand2:24
- 08Nyachula3:09
- 09Nyako2:18
- 10Village Life3:06
- 11Wer Mogik2:53
- 12Jangware1:54
- 13Giri Giri2:08
- 14Itimone In2:54
Why this record, and why now
- Madaraka Vibes, submitted for Best Global Music Album in 2024
- Featured in Billboard Magazine, October 2024
- Founder of Madaraka Festival and One Vibe Africa
I grew up in Manyatta, a slum in Kisumu, Kenya. Music was how we told the truth about our lives. Baba is that music, recorded at home in the city that raised me, sung in the languages I grew up speaking.
I wrote these songs about being a father and a son. Shamir Tadeiya produced, recorded, mixed and mastered the album with me at One Vibe Studio. We made it in the place the songs come from, and we made it for the people who live there.
A record is one way I do this work. There are others, and they are why this one matters.
Fifteen years of building, between Seattle and Kisumu
- Madaraka Festival
Africa's finest musicians alongside world renowned artists, staged in Seattle since 2014 and in Africa for the first time in 2019.
- Madaraka Festival Podcast
Conversations with the artists, organisers and audiences who make the festival what it is.
- One Vibe Africa
Music, media and the arts creating opportunity for young people in Kisumu, based at the Young Generation Centre.
- Kezira Cafe Seattle
An African kitchen serving food from across the continent to a room that fills with people who did not arrive knowing each other.
- Med25 International
Ten years of community-driven programmes and social businesses delivering affordable health care in Kenya.
If the record moves you, please listen to it in full and consider it for Best Global Music Album. Share it with other voting members of the Recording Academy. African stories deserve to be heard in the languages they were born in.
Music Videos & Live Performances
Simon Okelo & One Vibe Band, Live in Seattle
Credits
- Primary artist
- Simon Javan Okelo
- Writer / Lyricist
- Simon Javan Okelo
- Composer
- Simon Javan Okelo
- Arranger
- Simon Javan Okelo
- Lead & background vocals
- Simon Javan Okelo
- Instrumental performance
- Simon Javan Okelo
- Executive producer
- Simon Javan Okelo
- Album concept & creative direction
- Simon Javan Okelo
- Liner notes & packaging
- Simon Javan Okelo
- Producer
- Shamir Tadeiya
- Recording engineer
- Shamir Tadeiya
- Mixing engineer
- Shamir Tadeiya
- Mastering engineer
- Shamir Tadeiya
- Record label
- One Vibe Media
All 14 tracks written, composed, arranged and performed by Simon Javan Okelo. All tracks produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by Shamir Tadeiya at One Vibe Studio in Kisumu, Kenya.