The girl who learnt to play ‘nyatiti’

Japenese female 'nyatiti' player Eriko Mukoyama, also known as Anyango, when she performed at the Godown Arts Centre in Nairobi in November 2014. PHOTO | BILIE ODIDI

What you need to know:

  • Traditionally, the nyatiti is considered a female instrument and was, therefore, only played by men.
  • Released this September, the album is in many ways an affirmation of the advice she received from her nyatiti teacher, Okumu K’Orengo, who had told her to take the instrument to places that he was unable to take it himself.
  • Her interest in Kenyan rhythms had been sparked by the sound of the drums from the Coast that she heard from some musicians in Japan.

For Japanese nyatiti player Eriko Mukoyama, better known as Anyango, a trip to Kenya feels a lot like a homecoming.

Anyango was in Nairobi at the beginning of December for a concert at the Godown Arts Centre on her way from another performance at a festival in Uganda.

It is exactly 10 years since the girl from Tokyo shocked the world by learning the nyatiti, the traditional Luo stringed instrument that was hitherto never played by women, never mind a foreigner.

“This is a very important year, which marks a special stage in my life,” says Anyango.  “I named my new album Kilimanjaro to show my respect for the people of the continent.

Released this September, the album is in many ways an affirmation of the advice she received from her nyatiti teacher, Okumu K’Orengo, who had told her to take the instrument to places that he was unable to take it himself.

The eight songs on the album feature the nyatiti fused with electronic beats, voice and violin, creating a lively kaleidoscope of sounds while Anyango sings in over 10 languages, from Japanese to Kiswahili, Dholuo to English. 

MASTERING THE INSTRUMENT

One of the highlights on the album is the foot-tapping Ogwang, which combines the best elements of the nyatiti with a very modern electronic groove into an irresistible dance rhythm.

Anyango even throws in an acoustic rendition of the Kikuyu wedding song Uhiki into the album.

The diverse sound she has recorded reflects the various experiments that Anyango has added to her music since learning the nyatiti. In performance, she can play the instrument as a solo, duo or trio with drum, bass or sometimes with an entire band.  

She works with musicians from other parts of Africa including two exceptional Malians, the kora and guitar player, Mamadou Doumbia, and veteran Cheick Tidiane Seck, who played in the Rail Band with Salif Keita and Mory Kante.

Kilimanjaro is a follow up to Anyango’s 2013 album, Alego, a tribute to her nyatiti mentor K’Orengo, who died the previous year.

The first time she saw a nyatiti was at the Bomas of Kenya in 2004.

Her interest in Kenyan rhythms had been sparked by the sound of the drums from the Coast that she heard from some musicians in Japan. She then joined a Tokyo band called Mburukenge as a vocalist, dancer and percussionist and shortly after made her first trip to Kenya to acquaint herself with the music first hand.

Anyango’s first nyatiti teacher was Odindo Nyamungu, whom she met at the Kenya National Theatre in Nairobi, but she still needed to meet the masters of the instrument. This led her to a village in Alego-Karapul, Siaya County. 

“I was determined to learn Luo culture, including the language, and the way of life associated with this instrument.”

Traditionally, the nyatiti is considered a female instrument and was, therefore, only played by men. Initially, K’ Orengo refused to even consider giving his visitor any lessons on the instrument, instead he offered her a mud thatched house to live in. Her gave her the name Anyango, meaning ‘the one born in the morning.’ (Anyango says she was actually born at that time of day.)

She spent two months working on the shamba, fetching water from the river, cooking and carrying out the chores that any village woman would perform.  “One evening he suddenly handed me the nyatiti and told me to play it. I was shocked. I had never played a string instrument before.”

PATERNAL PROTECTOR

According to Anyango, her teacher was like a Japanese samurai, a disciplinarian and a perfectionist who would only play a note once and then ask her to do the same. “I had to pay attention to grasp the technique because the master would never repeat a lesson,” she recalls.

K’Orengo would also take her on long distance trips so that she would experience the intensity of music competitions. “I remember, we once walked a distance of almost six hours for a nyatiti competition where he had been invited to play.”

Covering such distances on foot became part of life for the Tokyo girl. Every Tuesday, she would walk the distance of two hours to charge her phone at Ng’iya during market day.

“I suffered malaria four times, but each time K’Orengo, who was not a believer in modern medicine, would prepare bitter herbs which he said were a cure.”

“He also became my protector from the many suitors who came with offers of cows for my hand in marriage. He would tell me ‘talk to this one, but avoid the other one.’”

During this latest visit, she has been informed that one of the two cows she owns back in the village, which was given the name Anyango Nyar Japan, has just given birth to a calf.

Many nyatiti musicians in the villages of Nyanza enjoy a drink before a performance and Anyango admits to acquiring this habit: “I went from drinking a quarter glass of the local chang’aa to three glasses of the drink by the time I was leaving the village.” 

NEW TECHNIQUE

After a year learning at the feet of the master, she graduated at the end of 2005 at a ceremony attended by the wazees and villagers.

Ten years later, Anyango has fully understood what her teacher meant when he told her to take the nyatiti further than he himself could.

“The deeper meaning was that he wanted me to get creative with the instrument and introduce new techniques like fusion and amplification and even distortion.”

Instead of simply playing the instrument while seated, she now attaches a strap and plays it as you would a guitar and even connects it to an amplifier.

Anyango has also written three books about her experiences as a musician including the latest whose title from Japanese is translated as: “The world is my stage and nyatiti is my wing.”

She also presents a show on Japan national radio, NHK, where she introduces listeners to the musical styles from various parts of Africa.