Delegates given six-hour benga treat as talks end

Benga artiste Tony Nyadundo gave a six-hour performance on Wednesday night as Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma threw devolution conference delegates a generous dinner party at the Tom Mboya Labour College.

Nyadundo took to the stage at 9pm and went on flawlessly until 3am yesterday, and only after organisers called on him to stop.

“They (organisers) told me to stop. I normally perform for up to 11 hours, non-stop, and most of the music is unrehearsed as it’s from the wisdom God gave me,” the indefatigable Nyadundo told Nation yesterday.

As some delegates garnered up to five bottles of beer each and stockpiled from the generous buffet table, Nyadundo treated them to his huge collection of ballads, which included Kondele, Mapenzi ya shilingi, Onagi and the popular Ndoa ya machozi.

Assuming that each of the about 1,000 delegates consumed, on average, five beers each, or an equivalent in soft drinks and mineral water, Governor Ranguma’s drinks tab would have hit Sh750,000 at the very least.

Add the Sh800 Royal City Hotel buffet, the cost of bringing Nyadundo and his troupe on stage, and security arrangements, then the Kisumu host must have dished out Sh2.5 million, conservatively, for the Wednesday bash.

The amount is enough to rehabilitate community water projects in two Uasin Gishu County wards.

Nyadundo, however, feels it is too early to judge the fruits of devolution.

DEVOLUTION IS LIKE MARRYING

“Embracing devolution is like marrying,” he says philosophically. “You can’t really judge her until three or so years into the marriage.
“Devolution is good but we need to give it time to really pan out.”

The benga artiste looks forward to performing, at some point, during US President Barack Obama’s “homecoming” tour in July.

“After all, I performed at his inauguration and it goes without saying that I will perform when he visits,” said Nyadundo, who went home about Sh150,000 richer after Wednesday’s six-hour performance.

The Sh150,000 is not much considering that the Benga musician earns as much for a two-hour show in the US or Europe.

“That’s the biggest problem in Kenya. We, artistes, earn peanuts. The music copyright society gives us an average Sh5,000 in annual royalties which is a big joke considering the income they generate from clubs,” he protests.

Several parties were lined up in Kisumu as the three-day second annual devolution conference ended yesterday. These included a performance by Nyoremo hit maker Johnny Junior at Royal City Hotel’s Dubai Complex.

Nyadundo was also expected to perform across the healthy Kisumu club spectrum as the lake side city bade farewell to the more than 6,000 delegates who discussed a cocktail of issues in the three-day conference — from managing change in food security to doing business in counties.