.....From this melting-pot of influences gradually emerged distinctively Kenyan finger- styles. In the towns, the influence of ‘Katangan’ styles, Latin American music, and two-guitar styles from Zaire were strongest. The rural finger-styles developed in parallel with the town styles, to some extent both feeding off, and feeding, the town music. The rural styles were less varied, less sophisticated, and less open to outside influences, being more strongly rooted in local traditions. The rural ‘Sukuti’ style, on the other hand, was more vigorous and more rhythmic than the town playing.Town-based guitarists tried their luck with the young but expanding record industry. They composed Swahili songs which were sold as singles to the urban working class. Many were straight love-songs, no different from those in any other type of popular music. Others commented on the changes that town life brings, warning for example against prostitutes. Themes such as the lack of work in Nairobi also began to be common, although political songs didn’t really emerge until the 1960’s.
Some rural finger-stylists like George Mukabi and William Osale also had success in the towns, providing Swahili versions of songs that they might sing in local languages back home. The appeal of their songs lay in the fact that many town dwellers had (and still have) strong links with the land, and the themes of these songs, often conservative and sometimes nostalgic, reminded them of the old values
During the 1950% guitarists in the country were often viewed by the authorities as trouble-makers, debauchees, and rebels. This view was shared by chiefs, the church, and the colonial administration alike: by everyone, in fact, except the ordinary people who liked the new music. To some extent this criticism could be applied to any musician who got mixed up with drink and trouble: and it was not difficult to find guitarists with exotic, dangerous life-styles. Many of Tobias Oyugi’s songs are about riotous behaviour, drunkenness, and arrests. George Mukabi met a violent end as the result of a quarrel with his wife’s family. However, it went further than this: the guitarists also represented a threatening kind of change.
John Low -1982
A History of Kenyan Guitar Music 1945-1980
The Sound
| W. John Ondolo | Kerena |
|
|
| Unknown | Thum Nyatiti Solo |
|
|
| Dick Ngoye | Elias Odede |
|
|
| Francis Macharia | Wanjiru Wanjiru |
|
|
| Unknown | Chemirocha |
|
|
| Herbert Misango | Wazee Wa Kisa |
|
|
| Wiliamu Osale | Vijana Niambie |
|
|
| Humphrey Eshitool | Safari Kibosho |
|
|
| Daudi Kabaka & George Agade |
Western Shilo |
|
|
| John Mwale | Shirikisho La Afrika |
|
|
| Fadhili William & The Black Shadows |
Malaika |
|
|
| Peter Tsotsi & Nashil Pichen |
Mulofwa Mmoja |
|
|
| Jim Lasco | Baba Kumbuka |
|
|
| Jim Lasco | Wanajiita Sisi Wahumi |
|
|
| Isaya Mwinamo | Ukosefu Wa Kazi |
|
|
| Isaya Mwinamo | Lipa Kodi Ya City Council |
