Patriot's Diary # 22: Jig to Freedom

I enjoy listening to music, I believe everyone does. I grew up exposed to so many genres of music that attribute to my eclectic taste. I believe that the average Kenyan can attest to growing up listening to anything and everything. From pop, Lingala, R&B, Jazz to rock, house, reggae, zhouk, rhumba, classical music, you name it! Say Billy Ocean, Abba, Lucky Dube or even Lucciano Pavarotti a Kenyan will know who they are as well as their music.

Kenyan music has come from far. From the single Malaika (Swahili for angel) by Fadhili William; what I would term Kenya’s biggest International Hit that Miriam Makeba and Angelique Kidjo sing renditions of, to the band Sauti Soul with the single Lazizi. It’s been a progressive and steady growth and reinvention of music by and for Kenyans. (Right : Fadhili William)

‘Malaika’ is a hit from the 60’s which opened doors to independent Kenya’s musical era, what we now refer to as ‘Zilizopendwa’ (Swahili for once loved). As a child I detested this genre of music! It just sounded…well, old! I remember my mum had a checked case with old mini vinyl records that she would play on the turn table. She would dance jokingly to it, bobbing her head to the sound and telling me tales of her disco phase in the 60’s just after independence. I was a child, what did I know I just called it old people’s music.

I think the music that bridged the generational divide between my parents and us, their children was Lingala. Maybe because my dad played in the car every single time we were in it! But the sound of Kanda Bongo Man, Pepe Kale, Arlus Mabele in the 80’s was something I quite enjoyed. I remember a song by Sam Fan Thomas, that started with the sound of a horse neighing and then Sam saying, ‘Are you ready now’ with a response from a weird sounding crowd saying ‘Yeees’. I loved it. It sounded so funny and it had a ring to it!

(Left: Suzanna Owiyo)

Well that was then, Kenyan music in the 60’s running up to the late 80s was saturated with Congolese and South African hits and a few individual Kenyan greats like Malaika. The rest was mostly British and American Pop and Country music and R&B; what would be termed ‘foreign’.
In the late 90’s Kenya got its young boy band, Five Alive (yes, similar name to the juice) which was the beginning of Eric Wainaina’s and Victor Sei’s careers in music performance and production respectively. To be honest I can’t remember the other three members of the band, but Eric and Victor are the only members of the band as far as I know who are active in Kenya’s music industry.

Fast forward to 2009, and Kenya has seen the re-emergence and appreciation of culturally rooted sounds of Benga and Rhumba. With artists such as Suzanna Owiyo, Tony Nyadundo and Mike Rua’s performances flooded with revelers.

Other genres of Kenyan Music are growing strong; Afro fusion with the iconic Eric Wainaina, Sarah Mitaru and Atemi . A flavor of Kenyan pop known as Kapuka and Genge; Kenyan Hip hop has rocked the young generation of Kenyans, artistes such as Jua Cali, Nameless and Nazizi rocking the youth with these genres. And finally the most recent addition being an artistic explosion of Kenyan funk and House music by bands such as Just a Band. All these genres producing a melodic mirror of Kenya!

(Right : Jua Cali)

I reek of pride each time I witness Kenyan artistes earning international recognition and accolades. Whether it’s at the MTV Africa Music Award (MAMAs) or seeing Suzanna Owiyo mingling with the high and mighty or just performing at Hyde Park in London at Nelson Mandela’s birthday celebrations! Kenyan music isn’t just another sound it’s a musical torrent of Kenyan pride!