On the music scene, Kenya yet to establish its own distinct sound

The struggle for a musical identity in Kenya is a concern that spreads to the rest of the East African region.

Failure to settle on a distinct sound has meant that Kenya has never found a footing in the world music market unlike other countries in the continent.
There are musical success stories that offer a pointer to the gaps that have existed in Kenyan music.

The Congolese sound has always been based on ‘rumba’ that has evolved into ‘soukous’ and other variants while the Nigerians have used juju and Afro beat to develop what is now labelled Afrobeat (s).

The popular Ghanaian ‘Azonto’ is a progression from the classic highlife while South African mbaqanga has given birth to ‘Kwaito’ and other modern rhythms.

“We failed to get it right from the beginning,” says music producer Tabu Osusa who worked as manager of the Congolese band, Virunga in the 1980s and now runs Ketebul Music.

“First, it was Fundi Konde who came back from the War with Cuban style ‘rumba’.

“After independence, Charles Worrod created the African Twist for Daudi Kabaka and others on the Equator Records stable but this was just an imitation of the South African Kwela”.

LASTING IMPRESSION

In retrospect, Osusa says, it was the music rooted in traditional rhythms like George Mukabi’s Mtoto si Nguo that would have provided a strong foundation for future generations to build upon and not ‘rumba’.

When two musicians from the Congo, Jean Bosco Mwenda and Edouard Masengo, moved to Nairobi in the late 1950s their guitar music left a lasting impression on Kenyan musicians who adapted a similar style.

From those early days, Nairobi was the musical hub of East Africa and by the mid 1960s the arrival of Congolese and Tanzanian musicians virtually submerged any musical identity that may have existed.

The presence of the major record companies such as EMI, CBS and Polygram and the only pressing plant for vinyl records in the region (East Africa Records) presented an irresistible attraction to the best musicians from the surrounding countries.

The late 1960s and 70s was a period of transition in East African music. A number of musicians were beginning to define the direction of the emerging benga style.

This was a popular style dating back to the 1950s when musicians began adapting traditional dance rhythms of the stringed instruments like the nyatiti to the acoustic guitar and later to electric instruments.

However, musicians arriving in Nairobi from Tanzania and Congo (then known as Zaire) offered a pan-East African sound, based on rumba.

The economic opportunities in Kenya proved to be a magnet for musicians from Dar and Kinshasa. These bands borrowed the spark of the benga guitars and added this to rumba, to create a new wave of dance music.

Baba Gaston Ilunga wa Ilunga, Samba Mapangala and Les Kinois led the migration of musicians out of Kinshasa and into East Africa, first in Tanzania and eventually on to Nairobi bringing with them the potent Congolese rumba.

The reopening of the Kenya border with Tanzania in 1985 after its closure due to political tensions in the late 1977, brought musicians from across the border flocking back to Nairobi.

One of the first Tanzanian groups to migrate to Kenya was Arusha Jazz, the forerunner of the mighty Simba Wanyika that went on to become one of the most dominant bands in the region over the next twenty years, even though the original group split several times in subsequent years.

Some analysts are of the opinion that successive generations have lacked, both the right role models to look up to and a definitive sound to build upon.

“Benga was never seen as cool and you would only find such music being performed in seedy bars so obviously younger musicians didn’t want to be associated with it,” says Osusa.

“Look what happened when benga in its various forms, including mugithi or omutibo, was exposed in decent venues then the crowds loved it and that is why the so called cultural nights have proved to be so popular.”

A Kenyan musician who has tasted international success has only done so thanks to a strong musical identity.

Ayub Ogada started his career in the 1970s playing funk and jazz as a member of African Heritage but he transformed after moving to Europe and playing the traditional Nyatiti instrument as his primary instrument.

The quest for a musical identity does not mean a wholesale condemnation of foreign influences. After all, the Senegalese have infused hip-hop into their tradition of griot praise singers; South African township jazz is world-renowned and Ethiopian Mulatu Astatke combined traditional Amharic music and Latin jazz to create a whole new respected sound, Ethio-jazz.

While there has been much enthusiasm for the 300 million shillings Youth Enterprise Fund for the development of music, there is a lot to be learned from other experiences if meaningful impact is to be created.

Musical powerhouses like Guinea and Mali are not the most economically powerful countries but they have invested their resources in academies that train the youth in applying traditional instruments like the stringed kora and the n’goni towards developing unique modern sounds.

Similarly, the musical identity of Kenya can only come by retracing our footsteps and innovating with the best rhythms, from Benga to Chakacha.

Osusa says success in Kenyan music will only come down to one truth: “Its not how good you are but how different you are.”