The Rough Guide To The Music Of Kenya

San Francisco, USA - The Rough Guide to the Music of Kenya spans styles such as classic benga, new taarab and Kenya’s hip hop generation. High-energy benga music, with its pulsating beat and funky interlocking guitar riffs, has been at the forefront of Kenyan pop since the late 1960s. More recently, contemporary artists, such as Gidi Gidi Maji Maji and Nyota Ndogo, have been exploring the possibilities of merging traditional melodies, instruments and rhythms with new sounds from R&B and other international genres. In addition, taarab music – a mixture of Indian Ocean and coastal traditions – and rumba-based Swahili and Lingala music are phenomenally popular.
Benga originated when Luo musicians, from the area around Lake Victoria, began playing traditional based melodies and rhythms in modern electric bands. D.O. Misiani is one of the founding fathers of benga music and, alongside Shirati Jazz, has had scores of hits in East Africa. ‘Beatrice #4’ has a raw and earthy feel, and D.O. Misiani commands the band and music perfectly. Originally from the Murang’a District (a Kikuyu area to the north of Nairobi), Queen Jane has headed up her own benga group since 1990. She has won several awards from the Music Copyright Society Of Kenya and the Music Composers’ Association, and she writes about love, events and people’s behaviour. ‘Nduraga Ngwetereire’ (‘I’m Still Waiting For You’) is about a girl waiting for her boyfriend to return. Coming from the Kamba-speaking region east of Nairobi, Kakai Kilonzo was an exception in benga music, as an artist who was loved by Kenyans of all different tribal affiliations. ‘Mama Sofi’ is a superb example of Kamba benga music from the early 1980s, and is about a wife who brings home other men while her husband is out.

Today, benga, taarab, Swahili and local Congolese music remain popular, but since the mid-1990s younger musicians have been turning back to local traditions as well as to international genres such as hip-hop and R&B for inspiration. Established as one of the leading female singers of East Africa, Nyota Ndogo (‘Little Star’) has performed at various East African festivals and won the Kenyan Kisima Award for Best Taarab Singer in 2003. This song is taken from her first album, Chereko, which she recorded at weekends when working as a house girl. The duo of Gidi Gidi (Joseph Ogidi) and Maji Maji (Julius Owino) exploded on the Kenyan music scene with the 1999 hit ‘Tíng’ Badí Malo’ (‘Throw Your Arms In The Air’). This song is a straight-out dance number with an infectious rap in Luo that was the hit of the year. A vocalist and guitarist of Luo descent, Suzzana Owíyo’s song ‘Kisumu 100’ was an instant hit and launched her career nationally and internationally. Taken from her beautiful self-titled first album, ‘Kisumu 100’ has a simple Luo melodic line, acoustic guitar and traditional instrumentation. In 2003, she won the (Kenyan) Music Composers Association ‘Singer Of The Year’ award. The Rough Guide To The Music Of Kenya also features Kenge Kenge Orutu Systems who formed in 1996, and Yunasi, a group of six-vocalists backed by a five-man live band.

Taarab is the popular music of Kenya’s Islamic Swahili people and that of the East African coastal region. Originally of Comorian origin, Miraj Juma came to live in Mombasa in the 1940s. ‘Muhogo’ sees the singer perform with the orchestra of the Juahar club – the oldest music club on the Kenyan coast – and this song was one of Miraj Juma’s biggest hits. One of taarab’s most outstanding female voices, Zuhura Swaleh is one of taarab’s main innovators – she introduced elements of female wedding ngoma dances and their sharp-tongued songs into the taarab repertoire. ‘Tweta’ (‘Panting For Breath’) challenges the subject to just calm down and talk sense.

Tanzanian and Congolese musicians brought the hugely popular rumba-based Swahili and Lingala music into Kenya in the 1970s. Golden Sounds Band were a superb group of innovative musicians, led by Twahir Mohamed, who probed and extended the boundaries of rumba, while remaining true to its calling. ‘Hasidi Hana Sababu’ (‘Hasidi Has No Reason’) was written by the sax player and is about someone who lies and tells stories to cause trouble.
Buy The Rough Guide to the Music of Kenya and also The Rough Guide to the Music of Kenya & Tanzania.