In 1977 after the murder of his father, Erinayo Wilson Oryema, who was a cabinet minister in the government of Idi Amin, he began his life in exile.

At the age of 24, and at the height of Amin's power, Oryema was smuggled out of the country in the trunk of a car.

Oryema earned his international reputation on the release of his second album, Beat the Border.

He had collaborated with Peter Gabriel, Brian Eno and others, and was backed by French musicians including Jean-Pierre Alarcen (guitar) and Patrick Buchmann (drums, percussion, backing vocals), touring with WOMAD in Australia, the USA, Japan, Brazil and Europe.

Gabriel's record label, Real World, helped with the first three of Oryema's albums, before his move to Sony International, a label established in France, where Oryema had lived since his exile.