ooberfuse has always been a band that mixes artistry with altruism; sometimes it is subtly worked into their sonic stories, more often it stands unambiguously front and center in their songs. They are also a band that embraces the various sounds of the globe, just as they seek to highlight the struggles and issues found in cultures and creeds, the people and places that make those sounds.
“Songs of Courage” is one of their most heart-on-sleeve releases, released on 20th June 2026 to coincide with World Refugee Day and Refugee Week 2026 (apologies for my late coverage). It was recorded in Dover, Kent, a place of significance in the UK, where many refugees embark as they try to build new lives in a new country, a place where compassion is often overlooked as the media and various political forces try to use it as a flashpoint for their own grubby gains.
These three songs explore all the issues facing such displaced peoples, from grief and resilience to compassion, rejection, and unity, and ultimately to tragedy and love.
“Together,” the first of two songs featuring Abdel Tchatchet, is built on Afrobeat grooves and the unmistakable sound of those chimurenga-style guitars. (I don’t know much about African music, but I remember seeing The Bhundu Boys playing various festivals and wondering how they got such a unique sound out of their guitars…especially as they hopped and bopped through the set, grinning and grooving. That same sound is found in the heart of this song.) This soaring song blends the danceable with the anthemic, the sort of song that can light up a dancefloor and perhaps help change the world… a soundtrack to unity, love, and joy in the face of adversity.
Cherrie Anderson takes the lead on “Courage” an imploring and emotional torch song made even more relevant to the singer in the wake of the loss of her own mother, perhaps reminding us that we are all touched by loss and heartache, not just the displaced, that even those of us leading the safest lives can relate to those how face similiar tradgedy as they look for a new world in which to begin again.
This short suite of songs ends with Tchatchet singing in his own Cameroonian language, “Bulu Bo Windi Tenge,” a traditional song given a delicate and dulcet makeover for our times. Even without understanding the lyrics, it is achingly beautiful and gorgeously calming.
Without getting political, at a time when, in the UK, as in many parts of the world, the right is on the rise, where tolerance and understanding, empathy and compassion seem in ever shorter supply, music such as Songs of Courage, and bands such as ooberfuse are the most powerful and poignant, yet serene and subtle possible response.
In a world of knee-jerk reactionary forces, this is the most beautiful response possible.
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