Jakob Liechti (Daddy Cabu) | Research Trip

December 2021 - January 2022 — Music

Swiss music producer Jakob Liechti (professional name Daddy Cabu) first visited Uganda in 2006. He was immediately inspired by the immense local musical diversity, and subsequently returned on a regular basis to become more familiar with different musical traditions such as Adungu culture in the North, the vibrant Kadodi drums in the East and the traditional violin Endingidi players from the West.

Jakob has been steadily building a professional network in the music field in Uganda. In 2017, he began initiating collaborations as a producer with Ugandan musicians, but always under the local musicians’ names. Last year, he made the decision to start producing under his own artistic moniker, Daddy Cabu. In July 2021 he released his first track in collaboration with Josh Moziah, a singer from Kasese. The song Mbagala Nyo. The song has received wide plays on most of the radio and TV stations in Uganda. In Switzerland, the song has been featured several times in the segment World Music Special on Swiss National Radio (SRF).

Off the back of this release under Daddy Cabu, Jakob will return to Uganda for a research trip from December 2021 to January 2022 to continue developing networks bridging Ugandan and Swiss music scenes.

He explains: “With my good sense for matching artists with each other in an enriching way, I am convinced this project will result in some very interesting work, and music from this project and experiences. The project will also benefit from my broad network in the music scenes of both countries. I was always fascinated how much people with completely different cultural background can learn from each other and how they can influence each other’s work in a very fruitful way. The rich Ugandan music culture is always a huge inspiration to me and I would love to record and include these sounds in this musical project by working with local artists. I see a huge potential in producing music with traditional Ugandan instruments in a contemporary style. It is nevertheless very important to me to honour the heritage of this music and culture. Besides my interest in traditional music, I am also very fascinated by Uganda’s pop and underground industry, which is growing at an extremely fast pace.”

BIOGRAPHY

For the past fifteen years Jakob Liechti (Daddy Cabu) has been working in the Swiss music industry as a sound engineer, an audio producer, a sound designer and most recently as a music producer. He has worked with professional Swiss musicians such as Mario Batkovic, Jeans for Jesus, Baze, Müslüm, True or Nadja Stoller. In 2018, together with a small team, he started the Afro-fusion concert series Wakanda Beats in Dachstock Bern. The series is very popular among people with and without roots on the African continent. Daddy Cabu’s own music releases are mostly dedicated to his love for music from the African continent. He likes to fuse sounds and to collaborate with different artists from a range of backgrounds. His last release “Mbagala Nyo”, an Afro pop song created in collaboration with singer Josh Moziah from Kasese, has been widely played in Uganda. Further releases with other Ugandan artists (Beenie Gunter, Lamu) will be released very soon.