305: Mombasa Wedding Special, by Maulidi & Musical Party

Maulidi & Musical Party (Kenya)
Mombasa Wedding Special (1990)
8 tracks, 42 minutes
Spotify ∙ iTunes

Taarab music is most closely associated with the East African island of Zanzibar, where it first originated. The commonly accepted origin story of the style is that the Sultan of Zanzibar was so impressed by the court music of Egypt and aggrieved that there was no comparable classical music tradition on the island that he sent a musician, Mohamed Ibrahim, to Cairo in 1880 to study the music of the tarab ensemble and to bring back its core instrumentation of qanun (plucked zither), oud (lute), ney (bamboo flute), darbuka (goblet drum) and riqq (tambourine). Back in Zanzibar, Ibrahim taught the local musicians the classical Egyptian style. Over generations, the music began to take on influences of East African ngoma music and became the style that we know today as taarab.

Although this story is perhaps over-simplified, it nevertheless gives a romantised explanation for the existence of an ostensibly Arabic classical music on this small but historically important island. The sound of the taarab, which evolved variously to nowadays be performed on huge string orchestras, a single violin with two drums or – more recently – a single synthesiser and drum machine, has nevertheless become the defining sound not only of Zanzibar, but of Swahilis across East Africa.

As with any musical genre that spans such a wide geographical and cultural area, taarab doesn’t have just one sound; it changes based on who is performing and where. We’ve heard how it was adapted into twarab and then mshago in the Comoros, and with Maulidi Juma and his Musical Party, we get to hear the unique sound of Mombasa taarab. The coastal Kenyan city of Mombasa has had very close political, economic and cultural connections to Zanzibar for centuries, so it is no surprise that the taarab craze reached the city almost as soon as it had become a popular form on the island, but the cultural make-up of Mombasa led to its distinct take on the style.

As you can hear on Mombasa Wedding Special, there are many more influences than Arabic classical music on display. In fact, at first listen, the Arabic roots may be harder to hear: the group itself is made up of electric organ, electric and bass guitars, accordion, bongos, tambourine, clave and tablas. No instruments from the original tarab ensemble there, save the European analogue of the riqq. The Arabic influences can be heard in how all of the instruments follow the main melody of the vocals in heterophony, and occasionally the shape of the melody. Most interesting for me, though, are where the other influences slip in.

Being on the mainland, Mombasa had a much closer relationship to more inland cultures than Zanzibar had, and these manifest in noticeable ways in Maulidi’s music. While most of the instruments follow the vocal melody, the guitar can often be found fluttering around the melody, or else interjecting with small licks in the small gaps between the lines of the song. With the rhythms aided by the clave, this is striking in its similarities to rumba and soukous music of the Congo, which itself came from the son of Cuba. ‘Vishindo Vya Mashua’ is a great example of this more Latin-inflected sound.

And then there are sounds from the other direction, from across the ocean and the cinemas of India. When both India and Kenya were part of the British Empire, there was lots of economic migration of South Asians to East Africa and, as a major port, Mombasa in particular. These ties remained even after the Empire, and so when Indian cinema started to become an all-encompassing phenomenon, its popularity made it to Mombasa with ease. Songs such as ‘Hukomi Mpelelezi’ have a distinctly Bollywood vibe to them.

Music from Kenya, imported from Zanzibar and with equally clear influences from Egypt, India, Cuba, Congo and the Kenyan people themselves? There could hardly be a more cosmopolitan style than Mombasa taarab…and on top of all that, it’s just a great example of dance band music. Mombasa Wedding Special was recorded live at an actual wedding – you just know that was one classy do.

247: En Mana Kuoyo, by Ayub Ogada

Ayub Ogada (Kenya)
En Mana Kuoyo (1993)
10 tracks, 40 minutes
Bandcamp ∙ Spotify ∙ iTunes

Kenyan nyatiti (eight-string lyre) player Ayub Ogada didn’t make too many albums in his career, but En Mana Kuoyo (recorded for Real World Records) is undoubtedly the most famous one. There are lots of lovely tracks on the album, including ‘Kronkronhinko’ and ‘Wa Winjigo Ero’, and the production is quite minimal, although what there is is very 1990s (it’s dripping with reverb, but that’s alright).

Today though, I just want to talk about one piece in particular. ‘Kothbiro’ is really the hit of the whole album. While the rest of the tracks are nice, ‘Kothbiro’ stands out by a mile for its sheer breath-taking beauty. Ogada had previously played the track with his rock band Black Savage in 1976, where they’d adapted it from a traditional song. A good song, but its mood was very different, a solid Afro-groove:

And now the En Mana Kuoyo version:

It’s so much simpler, and with it, so much deeper. Starting with just Ogada and his nyatiti, his voice is haunting. Here that 90s production really works for it, creating and highlighting the resonances of his voice so that they seem to ring out into the distance. He’s joined by double bass, guitar and piano, but they’re all so subtle – even when the piano takes a solo – that they seem to be drifting away even as they’re played, as if Ogada is being accompanied by the whistles of the wind. The overlaid harmonies are fragile but spot-on, and even though there is quite a full sound by the time everything has built up, it still feels stark and quite lonely. It’s easy to see why the song in this form became Ogada’s signature piece, and even went on to be used in several films and TV shows. Peter Gabriel said of the track: ‘In the early days of WOMAD and Real World Records many people weren’t interested to listen to music from other cultures and whenever I was trying to convince them I would play Ayub singing ‘Kothbiro’ and invariably win them round.’ – a testament to the piece’s real power.

Ayub Ogada died earlier this year at the age of 63. His death was felt strongly within Kenya and throughout the African music scene around the world, but En Mana Kuoyo and ‘Kothbiro’ will make sure that his music will be heard and revered in the future generations.

122: Introducing Kenge Kenge, by Kenge Kenge

Kenge Kenge (Kenya)
Introducing Kenge Kenge (2007)
8 tracks, 68 minutes
Spotify ∙ iTunes

I’m writing today’s post a couple of weeks ago (it’s always nice to keep a bit of a buffer innit). It’s a balmy evening during the Easter bank holiday weekend and I have a tin of cider with me. I reckon this is probably the ideal setting for the music of Kenge Kenge.

Kenge Kenge are a band from Kenya whose musical style takes the guitar-based benga back to where it started, with the musical instruments and traditions of the Luo people – it’s similar in this way to the album Luo Roots that we’ve talked about before. That compilation showcased a number of different approaches to benga roots, and Kenge Kenge have their own, too.

They use mostly traditional instruments such as the oporo horn, the asili flute and the nyangile box-and-ring (as well as a bass guitar), but their sound is most definitely built around the orutu. The orutu is a one-string fiddle that (for Kenge Kenge at least) is almost always played in pairs. The harmonies that they describe are always open fourths or fifths, but the melodies that they play are always so major, it just makes it all sound so jolly, all of the time. The actual timbre of the orutus is interesting, and the first time I heard it, I couldn’t really tell what it was. It sounds quite hollow and wooden to the degree that it sometimes sounds more like a flute rather than, for example, a violin, but its scratchiness and imprecise tonality sets it completely apart. This impreciseness just adds to its charm, and together with everything else makes Kenge Kenge’s music perfect for a sunny day.

That holds true to all of the tracks on this album, it’s all good. But my favourite song by Kenge Kenge is actually a stand-alone track that was released slightly later than the album. It’s this one, 'Obama for Change':

When Barack Obama was running for president, it’s no surprise that most of Kenya was behind him, and Kenge Kenge had that extra incentive – Obama Sr is also Luo, and from the same region, Alego, as the band. Their song to aid his campaign is an uplifting message of hope and solidarity: ‘American people all vote for Obama’ and such. And it worked! He probably won because their song was so infectious. Shame they didn’t write one about Hilary Clinton.

If it’s still so warm and sunny by the time this post goes live, well for one, global warming, let’s do something about it, but also, there’s your excuse to stick on Introducing Kenge Kenge dead loud, open a tinny and appreciate this sonic joy.

079: New Memories, by Henry Makobi

Henry Makobi (Kenya)
New Memories (1993)
10 tracks, 40 minutes
Spotify • iTunes

Here’s an album to get you through a tough Wednesday. It’s all just Henry Makobi and his acoustic guitar – together they make really lovely, jolly-sounding music to put a smile on your face and a warmth in your chest.

A lot of music from East Africa, taking its cues from Congolese rumba, has a strong Latin influence. In many iterations, such as benga, this influence results in hot dance styles with electric guitars, drum kits and horn sections. Henry, though, takes it another direction. He takes those chord progressions and rhythms from Cuban music, but plays them on the guitar using interlocking patterns inspired by the local Luhya lyre, the litungu. He even emulates the rattling tone of the litungu in the simplest way – he just stuck a bunch of coins into his acoustic guitar. Whatever works! Add in little bits from country music and calypso and you have Henry’s very own style that he called sutuki.

His music is uplifting in the way that it is somehow both perky and gentle at the same time, and there’s something really sweet in the simplicities of his melodies and lyrics (especially the wording of the song ‘Take Me Home and Kiss Me There’). It puts me right into the mindset of a hot summers day, playing in a park or maybe relaxing under a palm tree; it's a guaranteed cheerer-upperer.

067: Luo Roots, by Various Artists

Various Artists (Kenya)
Luo Roots (1990)
11 tracks, 50 minutes
Spotify • iTunes

The Luo are an ethnic group from inland Kenya and Uganda and their roots music is just great. Lucky, then, that that’s what we’re listening to today! It’s the word ‘roots’ that’s important here – it’s probably why they called the album Luo Roots, come to think of it – because this isn’t in the strictest sense traditional music. The music featured here has many elements from the old traditions, especially in the songwriting techniques and instruments used, but the music itself is much faster and takes inspiration from benga music. Benga is a guitar-based style that evolved from Congolese soukous (and before it, Cuban son) when it was played by Luo musicians living in Nairobi. They brought their traditions into the music and, in turn, the traditional Luo musicians adapted their own playing to reflect the popular style that everyone wanted to hear. And that’s what Luo Roots is about.

It’s cool to hear this blend of the traditional-but-modern, or the modern-but-traditional, in this way. The band that is featured on most of the tracks on this album are called the Kapere Jazz Band. Their members play instruments such as the orutu one-stringed fiddle and the nyangile (an amazing contraption that pairs a wooden box, a metal ring and a stick to provide both percussion and bass), and are joined by musicians playing the nyatiti lyre. Their harmonies are wholesome and their rhythms are breakneck. It is interesting that they still refer to themselves as a jazz band. It shows how much they distance themselves from the ‘traditional’ label despite their sound, moving instead towards the lexicography of the upper-class dance bands such as those in the Congo. Only the last track on the album strays from the ‘roots’ sound, instead going full-on benga with Orchestra Nyanza Success with their lovely twinkly electric guitars. This track provides an interesting contrast to the rest of the album, and really helps show how much Luo music has had on benga.

As well as being an album full of great, dancy music, Luo Roots is also handy for reminding us that there isn’t always a stark difference to be made between traditional music and internationally-inspired pop music. Often the influences of each run deep across the spectrum, and even music that sounds deeply traditional can be just as tapped into those international circulations as anything else – and maybe even be just an electric guitar and a drum kit away from being downright pop.