Why future of our music lies in golden oldies 6 years ago
Ohangla sensation Osogo winyo(left) flanked with Tony Nyadundo before perfomance atthe Carnivore restaurant in Nairobi. Photo by WILLIS AWANDU/STANDARD
A local television station continues to expose exactly what goes on in the minds of most Kenyan musicians.
The channel has helped us know that, however much we write about and support our music, nothing will happen till the day Kenyan singers decide to make very good use of their heads.
In choosing to do so, perhaps our singers will have discovered that all world music as we know it, relies on twisting and re-doing the melodies of every culture’s ‘old’ songs.
Why Franco is in a coveted position for any living Kenyan artiste
Franco Luambo Makiadi [Photo: Courtesy]
In October, the world marked 30 years since the death of Africa’s most famous singer, Franco Luambo Makiadi. That is a coveted position for any living Kenyan artiste.
Franco’s fame went beyond his role in associating the two Congos with ‘the heart’ of African music. Others rightly point out that his skill lay in the ability to praise and criticise the Zairean state at the same time. Franco’s genius was, for me, in the use of music to strengthen Congolese nationhood in ways that included our continent, and touched on issues that Africa contests with the world.
Deconstructing ‘Wee Kamu’: Why it could only have been created in 2003
Nonini [Photo:Instagram/noninimgengetrue]
When ‘Wee Kamu’ by Nonini (Herbert Nakitari) came out in the year 2003, it caused a shock in the cultural system of a country still caught up in the euphoria of the 2002 General Election that had seen KANU’s four-decade reign come to a close, with the reins of power handed to the Rainbow Coalition.
Eighteen years have not softened the hard-hitting nature of ‘Wee Kammu …’ The protagonist of the song, a naughty young Nonini sitting on the stairwell of his digs (in his California hood, Eastlands, not the United States of America) is addressing a young lady whom he has convinced to ‘kamu kwa keja’ (come to his crib) to accompany him to the shower.