Benedict Ochieng, the precocious lead singer of a jazz ensemble called the a/saxxy fro crew, faces the prospect of deportation to the village where he was born in Kenya. He avoids his fate by hiding out in a seedy flop house. Stale smoke and unrequited love hang equally in the air until Benedict unexpectedly crosses paths with a former lover and begins to imagine a new life.diss/ed banded nation wends sinuously through Benedict's final days in the underbelly of a large city, fusing vivid memories of Kenya with an unflinching portrait of contemporary urban decay. Through leaps of language and shifts in perspective, Odhiambo plays out a brilliant jazz riff on alienation, desperation, race, place, memory and hope.
