Catalogue       Group                                                         A side/B side                                                       Year

Number

MR 7            Orch Bugire International                M.A. Isanda Nango/N. Akinyi Ikuodo Wiya

MR 12          Ogola Amek & Marina Band              Jomadaraka/Mary Obudhowa

MRN 5          Orch Burgie International                Masala Atieno/Brigita Anyango

MRN 9          Orch Burgie International                Mary Auma/Priska Mrabu

MRN 12        Orch International King-Kamallondo  Mary Mote Pts 1 & 2

MRN 13        Orch International King-Kamallondo  AFC Chui Champion

Three of these Luo singles are in the British Library’s National Sound Archive. I know nothing about them, though I can’t help wondering why Orch Burgie International named themselves after a three-day horse-riding event in Scotland.

MR 7 surfaced on Ebay in April 2011, changing the band’s name from Burgie to Bugire. This makes sense as it is the name of a small town in the west of Tanzania very close to the Kenyan border.

The label seems to have either changed hands or moved address as the MRN series records have a different PO Box number for the label.

MRN 13 turned up on Ebay in December 2010. The band are otherwise unknown and the label lists the same song on both sides, so it is presumably an extended tune with Part 1 on one side and Part 2 on the other. Apologies for the poor quality scan of this disc, but Ebay has made it hard to copy its images.

MRN 12 by the same band appeared on the Discogs.com website in December 2011. Oddly, the seller only listed one song too, though this time I’ve listed it as a two-parter.