Post by Onyango Oloo on Jan 27, 2009 17:27:51 GMT 3
One partial explanation about my relative absence online has to do with my active presence offline.
I have been part of the team steering the weekly start up- or is it upstart- The Sunday Express whose Managing Director is Ayub Savula and Managing Editor is Alberto Lenya. Contrary to the rumour mills on the streets of Nairobi, as far as I know the paper is NOT owned by Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
My role in the paper is two-fold. I am the Political Editor. I also have a weekly column where I comment on topical issues. Occasionally, I contribute to the Entertainment section.
Below is a sample of some of the articles I have written for the Sunday paper:
From Issue # 011 January 25-31 2009
Who Did The Teachers Vote For in 2007?
Kudos to Gitobu Imanyara, Bonny Khalwale, Charles Kilonzo and all those MPs who rose up to defend the striking teachers in parliament earlier this week.
It is nice to know that there are still some people of conscience in that august house.
Many of us have been shocked at the repressive fascist methods that the Kenyan state chose to employ against hundreds of thousands of teachers whose only crime appears to using peaceful, legal and democratic methods sanctioned by the constitution to demand what is rightfully theirs.
Tear gas.
Batons.
Ruthless thugs in police riot gear.
Threats and invectives against teachers from a minister who was for a long time part of the country’s teaching corps.
One could have easily mistaken the Kenya government for one of those sleazy EPZ employers who frequently make the headlines for exploiting and mistreating their underpaid workers.
Which is very unfortunate because the Kenya government, especially this grand coalition one, is supposed to be the major custodian of the country’s labour laws and it is to government run institutions like the Industrial Court and other arms of the judiciary that teachers and other law abiding workers turn to when they feel aggrieved in the work place.
With our government behaving like a rogue employer in its confrontation with teachers-an ordeal played out daily and nightly on television, radio and the front pages of the newspapers, what message is the same government sending out to the Kenyan public?
It is clear that rogue employers out there will take solace in the fact that they are on the same side with the government in dealing with grievances from the working people of this country.
Apart from being the leading employer, the government at the very top levels, is represented by politicians who ostensibly got the mandate from the electorate who voted them in as MPs representing various political parties.
Which brings me to the question of the week:
Who did the teachers vote for in 2007 as far as civic, parliamentary and presidential elections?
From the available evidence in the public domain, most of the votes were cast, if we were to break it down along party lines, to ODM and PNU, the two dominant forces squaring off in 2007.
One can go ahead and extrapolate that teachers also voted along the ODM/PNU fault lines.
In other words one can say with little fear of contradiction that most teachers voted for either ODM or PNU.
Back to parliament.
If the MPs are ultimately accountable to the people who voted for them, then it should follow that teachers should be among the largest constituencies of these mainstream politicians whose two main parties are at the helm of the Grand Coalition.
One can surmise further, that the Grand Coalition ought to be a Teachers’ government, or at the very least, a teacher friendly regime.
The fact that the Grand Coalition-through its minister, Prof. Sam Ongeri, its hand picked TSC state bureaucrats and of course those gun, tear gas and rungu wielding riot cops- consider and treat the striking teachers as its mortal enemy leaves me shuddering with goose bumps all over me.
Could the teachers had foreseen a situation where a government they supported (in 2002 and under the tense conditions in 2008) to power turn against teachers so swiftly, maliciously and ruthlessly?
Where are the ODM and PNU MPs that teachers around Kenya campaigned tirelessly for?
Where are the ODM and PNU Ministers who mobilized teachers to vote for their parties?
Where are the presidential candidates from PNU, ODM and ODM-Kenya who wooed, wowed and wheedled teachers to join with millions and propel them to the highest political office in the land?
Incidentally these three are now President, Prime Minister and Vice-President respectively. Back then, all three of them were so interested and focused on education. They promised free primary and secondary education. They talked of improving the terms of service for teachers among other promises.
Today the trio has been apparently struck mute as teachers remind this grand coalition government that what they are demanding has been dragging on since the Moi-KANU era.
How come suddenly there is no money to pay Kenyan teachers a paltry increase?
Money was found to pay for an obscenely bloated cabinet.
Money was found to pay for outriders who were not needed and gas guzzlers that were unnecessary- all to bolster the respective security details of the Big Three.
Money was found to take an entourage of ministers and their hangers on to beer and nyama choma parties in Washington as they watched Obama’s inauguration on Jumbotrons.
Money will be found to pay for even more government waste.
And the MPs will still not pay their taxes which could add to more revenue in the state coffers.
Corruption perpetrated in government ministries and public offices will continue to drain money that could have been used to pay teachers.
Yet teachers are being clobbered by cops until they urinate on themselves because apparently they are asking for “too much money”.
What a shame.
*******************
A Riff on Obama’s Magic Moment
By Onyango Oloo
For close to forty five minutes I was convinced that the bus driver who was taking me home was a local Republican, a sympathizer of John McCain.
And I was seething with rage, almost tempted to dash to the front and commandeer the vehicle.
This is what happened.
I had finished my business in downtown Nairobi at approximately 6:30 and had heaved a sigh of relief when it got to my turn to exit from the long queue and board the bus heading to one of the Eastlands destinations where the bulk of the populace of Kenya’s capital are domiciled.
I was quite conscious that I had to be home by 7:30 and at any rate, no later than 7:50.
Why?
I did not want to miss the formal inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States. According to the dictates of American political tradition, he had to be sworn in by 12 noon, Eastern Standard Time which translates to 8 pm our local Kenyan time.
And here we were, stuck in a jam on Jogoo Road which seemed to last an eternity. Contemplating the serpentine line of cars, lorries, tankers, matatus and even mikoteteni ahead of us and behind our bus, I was paralyzed with despair, anguish and frustration.
So instead of thinking rationally and remembering that this is the situation which obtains every single evening on my way home from work; I did the usual Kenyan thing and weaved a political conspiracy to explain away a standard traffic grid lock!
Of course “money had been poured” I muttered darkly through clenched teeth.
“This dereva has been paid to make sure that Obama supporters do not get to watch the inauguration live in their own living rooms!”
Today, on the afternoon after Obama’s magic day, I chuckle now as I rewind the mental tape to see how I was transferring my frustrated eagerness to see Obama take office on a hapless driver who was probably doing his utmost to ensure that all his passengers reached home safely.
As luck would have it, I made it through my gate and into my front door at approximately 7:56 pm. Because everything was running behind schedule, I just missed the swearing in of Vice President Joe Biden but got caught the rest of the action.
Since most of those reading these lines were in most likelihood watching the historic event with me and millions of people around the world, I will not regurgitate what happened with a pointless blow for blow description as I was writing for Sunday Express readers residing on the planet Jupiter.
Instead let me restrict myself to a few observations.
I was glad that Barack Obama publicly, crisply and unequivocally made a public clean break with the disastrous policies of the last eight years- and with Dubya seated a few metres from the podium where the 44th President was giving his address. And speaking of George W. Bush, I found more than poetic justice in the symbolism of his departure- preceded by a wheelchair bound, ageing Dick Cheney and an American public only too glad to wave him goodbye.
Obama’s own address (which is carried elsewhere in the Sunday Express) was a twenty minute instant classic which encapsulated the key issues that the world was eagerly awaiting: human rights and social justice; peace and international interdependence; the danger of global warming; the need to rejuvenate the economy and guarantee livelihoods; valorizing science and technology; reminding Americans about their core values and their tortured history, especially about things like racism and other forms of systemic discrimination. Reaching out specifically to the Muslim world, especially now when the Zionists have lit human bonfires all over Gaza was quite apt. And to lace all of that with exhortations from African-American spirituals and other idioms of Black speech silenced all those, including members of his own race, who have doubted his credentials as an authentic leader of colour rooted in the African-American experience.
I loved the poetry of Elizabeth Alexander who made a point of paying tribute to hardworking working class people and other downtrodden social groups. Reverend Lowry’s benediction- poignant, forceful, justice driven, humorous, rooted in the liberation theology tradition was like the warm nine o’clock sun kissing my cheeks with its inspiration.
Now I did not get to drown myself in one of those kegs of President beer lager, but the day of Obama’s inauguration left me inebriated with happiness; intoxicated with optimism and giddy with renewed hopes.
***************
A Kenyan in The Hague Already…
Some congratulations are somewhat in order.
Our very own Lady Justice Joyce Aluoch is now a judge of the dreaded International Criminal Court.
According to the ICC website, Ms. Aluoch was elected in the final round of the vote and garnered the 66% majority needed. She will serve for nine years.
Lady Justice has impeccable credentials. She rose to her present position from her origins as a district magistrate way back in 1974. Having been made a justice of the High Court in 1983, she was to later serve as the Chairperson of the Africa Union Committee on the Rights of the Child sitting in Addis Ababa between 2001 and 2005.
There is only one tiny blemish on her otherwise distinguished legal career.
Way back in October and November 1982, when she was still a Senior Resident Magistrate in Nairobi she tried a case which was to later become required reading for all Nairobi University Law students since it touched on human rights, natural justice and the definition of the crime of sedition.
The case involved a 22 year old first year Bachelor of Arts student who had been hauled before on three counts of sedition based on the fact that the said student had been found in possession of his own handwritten draft of an essay talking about the role of Kenyan youth and students in the struggle for democracy. The prosecutor in that case was one Ms. Sureta Channa.
Then Senior Resident Magistrate Joyce Aluoch found the student “guilty” of sedition and sentenced the youngster to a stiff five year prison term at the notorious Kamiti Maximum Security Prison. The student later was adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience and his case together with 70 other students and a handful of lecturers helped to tarnish the image of the Kenya government as a gross abuser of human rights.
It is therefore ironical to find the International Criminal Court citing the human rights credentials of Lady Justice Aluoch.
I happen to know of that case very well because I happened to be that 22 year old first year university student.
Incidentally, Ms. Sureta Channa who prosecuted that 1982 sedition case is also working at The Hague as a human rights lawyer.
And yes, Lady Justice Aluoch was my auntie’s desk mate and one of her best friends in secondary school.
**************
Here Is My Vision 2009
By 2030 all the Kenyan politicians who are waxing poetic about Vision 2030 and dazzling us with their multi-coloured Power Point presentations will be dead.
That is the real reason why they do not really care whether that ambitious plan will come to fruition or not.
If they had been serious, they would have set realistic goals and objectives that they can be held accountable for, say in the next four or five years.
That is why I am offering my very own scaled down, very modest Vision 2009, consisting of things we can achieve by the end of THIS year.
I want to whittle it down to an 8 point list:
1. Let us enact a new democratic constitution by October 2009. Yes We Can!
2. Let us implement the Ndung’u Report and initiate legislation for serious agrarian reforms in Kenya by September 2009. Yes We Can!
3. Let us cut MPs pay in half by Budget Day 2009.Yes We Can!
4. Let us set up the Special Tribunal to try the key suspects behind the post election violence by May 2009.Yes We Can!
5. Let us set up the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission by April 2009.Yes We Can!
6. Let us reduce cabinet size by three quarters by March 2009.Yes We Can!
7. Let us arrest all the big wigs mentioned in all those scandals by February 2009.Yes We Can!
8. Let us pay Kenyan teachers what is rightfully theirs by the end of January 2009.Yes We Can!
**************
Iddi Achieng: Kenya’s Rising Afro-Fusion Diva
By Onyango Oloo
It is a sunny afternoon going on to four o’clock here in Nairobi.
On this mid January Monday in 2009-a day celebrated across the Atlantic as Marin Luther King Day in memory of the slain Nobel Prize winning African- American civil rights icon- on this day I am comfortably ensconced upstairs at the Kenya National Theatre enjoying the creative ambience of Wasanii- the sassy, jazzy, artsy crafty restaurant/pub doubling as an artists’ hang out located around the corner from the main campus of Nairobi University, across the street from the Norfolk Hotel and adjacent to the studios of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.
The weather has been in a cranky mood over the last few days. Just last Friday, it was raining monkeys and donkeys with the heavy downpour leading to a split decision among the city’s dwellers- those with their roots still firmly planted firmly on rural soil blessing the ancestors for the watery gift while urban bred hipsters seeing the rain as a curse, out to drench their hip freshly pressed clothes.
Iddi Achieng’ has just arrived and here she is, in all her bubbly, courteous Kenyan splendour, resplendent in her familiar African attire and accessories. I later learn that the huge rectangular copper (or is it brass) ring she wears together with others on one of her fingers is a keepsake she picked up in Gabon.
The chemistry and authentic camaraderie that Iddi Achieng’ generates is immediate.
She has that unique magnetic charisma that I have encountered in musicians like Senegal’s Baaba Maal and Benin’s Angelique Kidjo that I have had the honour of interviewing over the years.
Even though I am sitting down with her for the very first time, I feel as if I have known Iddi for ages.
Way back in 2002, when I was still residing in the Notre de Grace neighbourhood of Montreal in Quebec, a Kenyan friend who had just come back to Canada after visiting home passed by my place and gifted me two CDs for Xmas. One was by Kayamba-before it split into its many offshoots.
The other one was Kaboom Boom by the Nairobi City Ensemble.
I enjoyed both recordings but was simply captivated by the lead female vocalist on Kaboom Boom.
Listening to tracks like Tony- an endearing tale of woe in which the singer adopts the persona of a mother lamenting how her son went to America never to return; or the Jakongo track castigating an irresponsible drunkard who left his wife and children to starve while frittered away all his income in bars, I was quite impressed with how the vocalist (who was Iddi Achieng’) and of course the Nairobi City Ensemble as a whole were able to fuse rhythm and blues inflections with benga and come up socially conscious compositions backed by superb instrumentalists like Mobb Otieno.
Surely, I thought, this was the new Kenyan contemporary pop sound and it was exciting to me over there in the North American diaspora.
After Kaboom boom, Iddi Achieng’s talents were further showcased in another Tabu Osusa produced Nairobi City Ensemble offering, Kalapapla which made it to Number 14 on the UK world music charts soon after its release in early 2004. Again you find Iddi shining through on tracks like Adhiambo Lady and Nyar Gombe.
Outside music and theatre circles, few of Iddi’s admirers know that she actually first her mark on the stage as an actor and director. She started early- as the chairperson of her drama club when she was still a secondary school student at Asumbi Girls and as an active member of her church choir. She was later to form her own theatre company, Culture Spill Productions. Her most recent stint in mainstream plays was playing one of the leads in the West African classic Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again. Iddi is also a playwright who has worked in conjunction with NGOs to develop skits which educate and sensitize. Iddi Achieng’ used to be a radio host with Ramogi FM hosting a development issues talk show in Dholuo called Piny Masani (meaning “The World Today”).
But it is her music that I came to talk to her about.
Thim Lich her first full length solo effort was a major breakthrough. It has 14 tracks including: Thim Lich,Aloo ,Switina,Jakong'o (Remix),Wololoi,Dodo,Hera Mudho,Kamfube (Feat. Ambassada), Born To Be, Garang (a tribute done in the Dinka language and featuring the Sudanese artiste JKP), Rieko En Ngima ,Wiwa Wil ,Nyar Dande and Hera (done in the South African Kwaito genre) Thim Lich has received considerable air time on television across the various channels. As a direct result of the CD’s popularity Iddi was invited to perform in Norway, Sweden, Zanzibar and other places.
As we were sitting down with her at Wasanii on that Martin Luther King Monday, a courier walked in and handed her an invitation from the US embassy to attend an Obama Inauguration party at the residence of the American ambassador.
She leads her own full band which includes back up singers like Jackie Nyaminde (a television actor who is well known for her hilarious role in the popular Papa Shirandula) and Lydia Dola (familiar in social justice circles as part of the 5Cs Theatre group) as well as accomplished instrumentalists and dancers.
Iddi Achieng’ sings from the heart in Dholuo, Kiswahili and English. Her song Dala Gunda (deserted or empty home) chronicles the tale of a rural homestead so devastated by AIDS that it is only the houses of its former occupants which remain, with the homestead itself with graves and while Wololo, makes the case that the face of HIV in Africa is that of a woman.
Achieng’ is passionate about development and empowering women and girl children. She is even contemplating forming a foundation or trust where she can devote her energies on matters dear to her. At the height of the post election violent crisis in 2008, Iddi teamed up with fellow artists like Kanda King, Ken wa Maria and others in the Wakenya Wote initiative, using their songs and music to preach national harmony, peace and diversity.
Her fans can look forward to another CD from her by the end of this year. She is going to the Sauti ya Busara music festival in Zanzibar in February which will feature among others the legendary octogenarian taarab legend Bi Kidude.
Iddi drops me a hint that she is involved in a television family drama series that will hit our screens very soon.
Contractual obligations have legally gagged her from revealing more.
“Just look out for it,” is all she can say.
Technologically savvy, Iddi is riding the crest of the digital revolution. You will find her on Facebook and My Space- that is not when you are not surfing her own website www.iddiachieng.net.
What advice does she have for other upcoming artists and musicians, especially young women who want to emulate Iddi Achieng’?
“Go for it. Follow your heart. Know that it is not for the faint hearted. There will be many challenges ahead, but do not give up, “she says.
Iddi is currently pursuing a degree course in sociology saying that her life experiences and interests makes it the discipline she most wants to pursue academically. In the future, Iddi hopes that she will continue using her musical talents and achievements to become one of the voices of reason in the larger Kenyan and African society.
“Music is a serious tool of consciousness, a mirror held up to society which can be utilized for social change” she observes as our interview draws to a close.
********
From Issue # 010 January 18-24:
Some Ugali for Thought
In his remarks at the January 16th KICC event to declare that hunger and the food crisis was a national disaster, President Kibaki cited what he saw as the main factors behind the food crisis: the severe drought with four consecutive poor rain seasons; the impact of the post election violence last year; the rocketing prices of fertilizers and general inflationary trends. He then enumerated facts and figures which would justify the huge amounts of funds solicitors from the people we like referring to as “our development partners.”
With all due respect to the above explanations, we need to pose some blunt questions.
How long will we in Kenya continue blaming the weather for our endemic food insecurity?
For how long will extend our palms for foreign aid alms?
But before we delve further into that, let us give ourselves a reality check.
Who eats and who starves in Kenya?
Are all Kenyans going hungry?
If we rummage or chokora through the overflowing dustbins of rich suburban homes in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kitale, Nakuru, Nyeri, Meru and elsewhere we will find mounds of half eaten ugali and wali; chunks of unchomped steak and chicken; excess fruits and other foods. Yet if we walk just a few metres from these mansions, bungalows and palaces of the affluent, Kenya’s impoverished go to bed hungry almost every night. Millions have resigned themselves to eating once a day.
Without underscoring this obvious fact, we will be unable to grasp the surreal phenomenon of speculator fat cats shipping maize and maize meal to lucrative Southern Sudanese markets while ordinary Kenyans scramble for a morsel to eat-often at exorbitant prices.
What I am trying to say that food security is NOT a hostage to droughts and poor rain seasons.
To grow food, our people need land.
Yet who owns the land in this country. It is common knowledge that politically well-connected individuals-yes some of them are in cabinet and parliament- are among the most notorious land grabbers in Kenya.
It is not a surprise that these members of the economic and political elite have remained hostile to any suggestion of democratic agrarian reforms that benefit the wananchi, transforming thousands of them from squatters to independent self-sustaining small food producers.
What is grown in Kenya?
This nation’s uncritical acceptance of market fundamentalism has seen peasants and rural residents shift the focus from food production to the cultivation of cash crops for the often volatile export market.
What are Kenya’s national priorities: growing food to feed the hungry or cultivating cut flowers to cater for the Valentine fantasies of European and North American hopeless romantics?
Think of what would happen in this country if those thousands of hectares in Naivasha were turned over from horticultural farms to produce maize, wheat, millet, sorghum, gikwaa, sukuma wiki, viazi and osuga.
And speaking of viazi, maembe and other food sources, I remember growing up in western Kenya spoilt for choice when it came to food.
One day it would be nyoyo, the next day it would be sweet potatoes; one evening it would be boiled cassava with strong tea for dinner, another day it would be an agwata full of fermented uji or sour milk- that is when I was not eating fish delicacies like ngege, omena, odhadho, mbuta and so on.
Today it ugali na sukuma wiki for lunch, dinner and sometimes even breakfast!
What made us embrace this dreary mono diet over the years?
Can we rediscover, without retreating into the 19th century, some of the survival techniques of grandmothers and great grand fathers in terms of food security?
I am not so naïve as to romanticize the past, yet must Kenyans accept the diktats of a globalized world dominated by the imperatives of profit seeking multinationals who will undermine our national independence as we seek a sustainable, integrated and self-driven food sovereignty policy?
******
From Issue #008 January 4-10 2009
Retelling the Story of Benga Music
If you want to welcome 2009 in a fresh and exciting musical way, please go out and grab yourself a copy of Retracing the Benga Rhythm- a stupendous cultural package that includes a beautifully illustrated booklet designed by Kenya’s leading cartoonist Maddo aka Paul Kelemba a documentary DVD ( narrated by veteran thespian and television personality John Sibi-Okumu) that delves into the history and contemporary developments of the Benga music genre- a popular art form that is genuinely indigenous to Kenya despite the obvious cross pollination from Congo and Latin influences from revolutionary Cuba. The DVD is accompanied by a separate audio digital recording featuring the likes of John Ogara, DO Misiani, Dr. Collela Mazee, Sukuma Bin Ongaro, Arisi Osababu, Daniel Kamau (DK) Kakai Kilonzo and Francis Danger, the Kalenjin Sisters, George Ojijo, George Ramogi, Shem Tube and Simon Ayuya.
The maestro behind this classic compilation is the head honcho at Ketebul Music, Tabu Osusa, a mainstay on the Kenyan contemporary music scene who has managed acts like Orchestra Virunga and the Nairobi Ensemble and helped produce talent Afro fusion artistes like Iddi Achieng’, Suzzana Owiyo, Makadem, Olith Ratego and Dokta K'Odhialo.
Through the generous financial support of the East Africa office of the Ford Foundation, Tabu put together a formidable team including the aforementioned Paul Kelemba (Maddo), Njeri Muhoro, principal researcher Moussa Awounda, Steenie Njoroge, George “Jojo” Ouma, Jesse Bikundu and Steve Kivutia. The music was remastered at the Ketebul Studios located at the Godown Centre in Nairobi South “B”.
The DVD documentary was directed by Dimitri Croella and edited by Alan Aligula. The cinematography was done by Patrick Ondiek and the narration by John Sibi-Okumu.
Retracing the Benga Rhythm kicks off by contextualizing the origins of Benga in Nyanza province in the western part of Kenya going back almost 60 years ago. It shows how traditional Luo instruments like the nyatiti would later influence the guitar picking style of Luo musicians from the mid to late 1940s- a style distinct from the Congolese instrumentalists who “massaged” the strings. Dr. Odhiambo Mak’Anyengo a medical doctor and former senior military officer who is also an accomplished musician in his own right explains in the documentary how Benga developed and how it later influenced Congolese rumba having borrowed from the latter in the first place. Another Kenyan virtuoso, Dave “Mobb” Otieno who is in my opinion, Kenya’s finest guitarist also offers his expert opinions on the intricacies of playing and performing Benga music. Suzzana Owiyo, one of our fastest rising stars on the world music scene acknowledges her deep debt to benga genre.
We see and hear ageing Benga pioneers like Nelson Ochieng’ and Juma Odundo expound on how it was like in the early days. Veteran producers like Chandarana (a Kenyan of South Asian descent living in Kericho) and David Amunga talk about the musicians they helped put on the map in the 1950s and 1960s. We see snippets giving cameo profiles of household names like DO Misiani, Sukuma Bin Ongaro, Daniel Kamau and the Kamba legend Francis Danger, a close collaborator with the late Kakai Kilonzo on all those Kilimambogo Brothers chart toppers. We are introduced to female doyennes like Princess Jully, Queen Babito, Angelica Chepkoech (the brains behind the Kalenjin Sisters) and Queen Jane and her Queenja Band who dominated the Central Kenya music scene for decades.
Retracing the Benga Rhythm is a refreshing, professionally executed showcase to a Kenyan music genre that has been exported to Zimbabwe and other African countries.
At a time when our country is still reeling from the post-election violence from yesteryear it is inspiring to note that our artistes-musical, theatrical, cinematic and otherwise have always remained the most Kenyan, demonstrating and living out their uzalendo in quiet and unassuming ways. Just visit the Wasanii oasis atop the Kenya National Theatre to get a daily sampling of this organic camaraderie.
I offer my kudos to wonderful team put together by Ketebul Music who has made all Kenyans proud with this Retracing the Benga Rhythm instant collector’s item.
For more details on how you can get your hands on this package please contact Ketebul by calling Tabu Osusa at 0733 705 024; emailing info@ketebulmusic.org, writing to Ketebul Music at P O Box 21737-00505 Nairobi or simply popping upstairs at Wasanii Restaurant at the Kenya National Theatre and asking for Steenie Njoroge.
********
A Trio Of Ohangla Goodies
A music review by Onyango Oloo
Speaking of Luo music from western Kenya, over the last four or five years, Ohangla music has migrated from the busaa shebeens and traditional funerals to storm its way to the top of the charts with such superstars as Tony Nyadundo and his elder brother Jack raking in hefty sums as they perform to overflowing crowds in such spots as the Carnivore, Deep West Resort, Kuche Kuche, Lagoon, Zanze, Egesa, Jam Rescue, Hillbreeze and Ranalo’s.
Perhaps because of the trailblazing efforts of the Nyadundo brothers, there is a clutch of exciting upstarts who have grabbed the Ohangla market by storm. In 2007 Onyi Papa Jey emerged to rule the roost with his playful, highly political paean to Raila Odinga and the ODM party; women like Lady Maureen and Okinyo Nya Alego have served notice to their male counterparts that the sisters will not remain behind; we recently lost talents like the late Odongo Mayaka and Ken Wuod Alego.
With all due respect to reigning Ohangla King Tony Nyadundo, the most popular musician plying the ohangla genre right now is none other than Osogo Winyo and his Ohangla Boys. His composition Agengo is one of the most requested songs during his live performances.
Well, here is some good news to all Ohangla and Kenyan music fans.
Osogo Winyo recently unleashed a VCD containing his smash hit Agengo Wuod Orongo together with other titles like Lilly Nya Ugenya, Nyaka Bondo, Pius Okech and the Kiswahili flavoured Mawazo. From the credits it would appear that Osogo Winyo has migrated from the tutelage of Benga queen Princess Jully who produced his earlier songs.
Asamm Jakosoko used to be part of Osogo’s Ohangla Boys but recently broke off to form the Ohangla Young Turks who are based in the coastal city of Mombasa. Asamm rivals Osogo in almost every department. I would even venture to say that Asamm is the more versatile vocalist and composer if you compare the duo. Asamm’s outfit has also come out with a brand new recording which is self titled, produced by Harry Kamau Productions here in Nairobi. The DVD features songs like Raila PM, Olango Obade, Achieng Nyausonga, Sam Ogolla, Effy Akoth, Kopot Jagem, Omondi Wuod Alego and Pamela Nyaseme. I highly recommend it. Check out the collabo with the lanky Ous Jabondo. Asamm Jakosoko is destined to rise to even greater heights I predict.
If you patronize the Kuche Kuche club which is located within the precincts of the Nyayo National Stadium you are likely to be entertained by an in house Ohangla band which often includes a tune titled Miluma in its repertoire. Miluma is the Luo word for lust or greed and the song talks about how lust propels people, especially married men and sugar mommies to lust after youngsters who are the age-mates of their grandchildren. The humorous song uses music for social commentary and education. I used to think that the Kuche Kuche based singers were the original composers. That was until I stopped by a music shop near Gill House in downtown Nairobi to purchase a bunch of cds. That is when I found out that Miluma was brought to life by a young and upcoming artiste called Ochieng Wuod Ojola who fronts a group known as the Luo Cultural Dancers. Ochieng and his group have just released a DVD called Miluma. If you watch it you will see Ochieng, whose skyscraping height suggests that he may have been a very good basket ball player had he ventured down that sporting route belt out a number of very danceable, funny and educational tunes together with the agile and acrobatic members of his musical troupe. One number which stands out is Nairobi Robbery in which Ochieng adopts the persona of a country bumpkin warning rural dwellers about the dangers which lurk in Nairobi-from muggings to flying toilets to donkey meat offered as nyama choma to unsuspecting carnivores.
The three new recordings by Osogo Winyo, Asamm Jakosoko and Ochieng Wuod Ojola will help to consolidate ohangla as an authentic popular art form which is here to stay as opposed to being a passing fad as some of its detractors posit.
*******
Halt Elite Pacting and Palace Politics in Kenya
By Onyango Oloo
In 2009, Kenyan politics, politicians and political parties must turn over a new leaf if they hope to remain relevant and credible.
True, the year just ended was a difficult one-with the violent aftershocks of a bitterly disputed election; the ramifications of an externally brokered shotgun marriage of the major parties and rambunctious restiveness of a populace increasingly feeling marginalized from a seemingly ever pampered political elite.
Yet one needs to remind the powers that be that the twelve months that just expired was supposed to usher in major social, economic and political reforms. In their respective manifestos during the 2007 election campaigns, ODM, PNU, ODM-Kenya all promised the electorate such tantalizing goodies as free primary and secondary education; an upsurge in employment, especially for the youth; a new democratic constitution promising among other things to decentralize government functions and devolve power to the regions and of course pledging a better deal for Kenya’s women.
Many of these pre-election commitments ring rather hollow today.
Admittedly, the carnage caused by the post-election violence and crisis unleashed by the global financial meltdown contributed a great deal in undermining these promises. Still, if one were to judge the 10th parliament by how it has tackled issues or gauge the seriousness of political parties by looking at how they have relegated or fore-grounded women within their respective governing bodies one finds that there is precious little to celebrate.
The worsening economic conditions and growing poverty among the vast majority of Kenyans was dramatically captured in the impassioned pleas for “Unga! Unga!” which greeted the top leadership of this country during public meetings over the last three or four months.
The nature of the grand coalition itself is a further cause for disquiet. In the first place, it is, at least in part, a fraud perpetrated against a populace which expected to be governed by a political party that received its legitimacy and mandate at the 2007 elections. Instead, as a direct consequence of electoral theft and what some observers feel was a civilian coup, Kenyans are now saddled by a coalition government cobbled together from fractious factions of the political elite whose platforms were diametrically opposed to each other. Much of last year was expended on turf wars as the various coalition partners fought portfolio battles which often had the unintended side effect of causing internal divisions within these very parties. To ameliorate these feuds within the grand coalition, there has been a move towards elite pacting and realignments.
The most notable realignments include the breaking away of the Karua led NARC-Kenya faction from the PNU stable and the emergence of a powerful anti-Raila bloc within ODM. The fledgling “grand opposition” that cuts across the political divide is an intriguing development with far reaching consequences because taken to its logical conclusion the entrenchment of a “grand opposition” would mark the death knell for ODM, PNU and ODM-Kenya, at least in their present form.
That is why defenders of democracy must welcome the Political Parties Act which came into force at the beginning of July 2008. By requiring parties to be national in scope, have clear visions and integrate women into their leadership among other requirements, the new legislation lays the legal foundation for the consolidation of serious political parties which are neither personal vehicles to power for a select group of regional chieftains nor electoral matatus that parliamentarians dump as soon as they arrive at the gates of the Kenya National Assembly. At the same time, the stringent financial requirements for registration is a very undemocratic speed governor thwarted the development of independent small political parties. Kenyan patriots who sacrificed their lives, liberty, limbs and blood fighting the 39 year old nightmare of the KANU one party dictatorship more than paid for the multi-party dispensation that currently prevails in our country today. It is the view of this writer that the normal democratic process should be allowed to weed out, over time the so called “briefcase parties” which can and should be tolerated despite their apparent nuisance value. Consciously restricting the number of registered political parties by fiat is an ominous harbinger signaling the eventual relapse to one party status quo ante.
Whatever the case, existing political parties and players in Kenya big or small will ignore the travails of the ordinary wananchi at their own peril. Kenyans are rapidly becoming more and more politically and socially conscious and can see through the empty rhetoric of politicians who have been wont to bribe the electorate with ephemeral and puny handouts.
Again one of the ripple effects from the post election violence of 2008 is that we can not afford to condone impunity. That is why the full implementation of the Waki Report in 2009 is so crucial. Anecdotal reports reaching these years indicate that most of the gangs bankrolled by political war lords have NOT been dismantled- some politicians with presidential ambitions for 2012 see these gangs as their life insurance.
Unfortunately, what Kenyans witnessed last year is but a small foretaste of the chaos that can engulf this country were we to be plunged into a similar crisis. In an interview with this writer a few years ago, Liberian born and Washington based political commentator and activist Emira Woods warned that there was a time when countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Kenya were seen as bastions of stability and oases of democratic progress. That is, until they imploded, weighed down by all the unresolved issues around poverty, class disparities, regional inequalities, gender and religious discrimination and other issues of social injustice and political chicanery.
Unless we enact and entrench a new constitution; until we institute a people driven truth, justice and reconciliation process; unless we start peace building and conflict transformation strategies from the mashinani (grass roots); unless we directly and genuinely involve the youth in the reformation and reconstruction of Kenya; without taking a gendered approach to our politics, our economics, our justice and distributive endeavours; unless all these things are in place, collectively we are just marking time, squatting on a time bomb that may very well blow our country into smithereens making us disintegrate into a myriad kabilastans each led by a Joseph Kony or Laurent Nkunda prototype leading LRA or UNITA type murderous paramilitary outfits.
In other words, there may not be a 2012 to duke it out over if we do not confront and grapple with the demons which have thwarted our pursuit of freedom, justice and social prosperity since 1963.
I earnestly hope that the dystopic elements of the above jeremiad will never come to pass in our beautiful but often tortured country.
That is why I call on the political leadership of this country to move beyond elite pacting and palace politics and focus instead on the basic rights of the people and involve those very people in the development and democratic process. By elite pacting I am referring to the nefarious practice of our politicians to come together and defend their narrow class and elite interests as opposed to championing the national aspirations of the Kenyan wananchi. By palace politics I am talking about the phenomenon of politicians to be preoccupied with who is in and who is out; who is in the kitchen cabinet and who is not; who flies the ministerial flag and who does not; who is in who’s camp and who is not; who is likely to be president or prime minister in 2012 and who is not.
Having said all that, let me join Kenyans in looking cautiously and hopefully to 2009.
*****
PS:Since August 2005 I have paid so much attention to Jukwaa to the point of practically abandoning my various blogs. I will revive them by reposting some of my Sunday Express articles- until the paper goes online that is...
I have been part of the team steering the weekly start up- or is it upstart- The Sunday Express whose Managing Director is Ayub Savula and Managing Editor is Alberto Lenya. Contrary to the rumour mills on the streets of Nairobi, as far as I know the paper is NOT owned by Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
My role in the paper is two-fold. I am the Political Editor. I also have a weekly column where I comment on topical issues. Occasionally, I contribute to the Entertainment section.
Below is a sample of some of the articles I have written for the Sunday paper:
From Issue # 011 January 25-31 2009
Who Did The Teachers Vote For in 2007?
Kudos to Gitobu Imanyara, Bonny Khalwale, Charles Kilonzo and all those MPs who rose up to defend the striking teachers in parliament earlier this week.
It is nice to know that there are still some people of conscience in that august house.
Many of us have been shocked at the repressive fascist methods that the Kenyan state chose to employ against hundreds of thousands of teachers whose only crime appears to using peaceful, legal and democratic methods sanctioned by the constitution to demand what is rightfully theirs.
Tear gas.
Batons.
Ruthless thugs in police riot gear.
Threats and invectives against teachers from a minister who was for a long time part of the country’s teaching corps.
One could have easily mistaken the Kenya government for one of those sleazy EPZ employers who frequently make the headlines for exploiting and mistreating their underpaid workers.
Which is very unfortunate because the Kenya government, especially this grand coalition one, is supposed to be the major custodian of the country’s labour laws and it is to government run institutions like the Industrial Court and other arms of the judiciary that teachers and other law abiding workers turn to when they feel aggrieved in the work place.
With our government behaving like a rogue employer in its confrontation with teachers-an ordeal played out daily and nightly on television, radio and the front pages of the newspapers, what message is the same government sending out to the Kenyan public?
It is clear that rogue employers out there will take solace in the fact that they are on the same side with the government in dealing with grievances from the working people of this country.
Apart from being the leading employer, the government at the very top levels, is represented by politicians who ostensibly got the mandate from the electorate who voted them in as MPs representing various political parties.
Which brings me to the question of the week:
Who did the teachers vote for in 2007 as far as civic, parliamentary and presidential elections?
From the available evidence in the public domain, most of the votes were cast, if we were to break it down along party lines, to ODM and PNU, the two dominant forces squaring off in 2007.
One can go ahead and extrapolate that teachers also voted along the ODM/PNU fault lines.
In other words one can say with little fear of contradiction that most teachers voted for either ODM or PNU.
Back to parliament.
If the MPs are ultimately accountable to the people who voted for them, then it should follow that teachers should be among the largest constituencies of these mainstream politicians whose two main parties are at the helm of the Grand Coalition.
One can surmise further, that the Grand Coalition ought to be a Teachers’ government, or at the very least, a teacher friendly regime.
The fact that the Grand Coalition-through its minister, Prof. Sam Ongeri, its hand picked TSC state bureaucrats and of course those gun, tear gas and rungu wielding riot cops- consider and treat the striking teachers as its mortal enemy leaves me shuddering with goose bumps all over me.
Could the teachers had foreseen a situation where a government they supported (in 2002 and under the tense conditions in 2008) to power turn against teachers so swiftly, maliciously and ruthlessly?
Where are the ODM and PNU MPs that teachers around Kenya campaigned tirelessly for?
Where are the ODM and PNU Ministers who mobilized teachers to vote for their parties?
Where are the presidential candidates from PNU, ODM and ODM-Kenya who wooed, wowed and wheedled teachers to join with millions and propel them to the highest political office in the land?
Incidentally these three are now President, Prime Minister and Vice-President respectively. Back then, all three of them were so interested and focused on education. They promised free primary and secondary education. They talked of improving the terms of service for teachers among other promises.
Today the trio has been apparently struck mute as teachers remind this grand coalition government that what they are demanding has been dragging on since the Moi-KANU era.
How come suddenly there is no money to pay Kenyan teachers a paltry increase?
Money was found to pay for an obscenely bloated cabinet.
Money was found to pay for outriders who were not needed and gas guzzlers that were unnecessary- all to bolster the respective security details of the Big Three.
Money was found to take an entourage of ministers and their hangers on to beer and nyama choma parties in Washington as they watched Obama’s inauguration on Jumbotrons.
Money will be found to pay for even more government waste.
And the MPs will still not pay their taxes which could add to more revenue in the state coffers.
Corruption perpetrated in government ministries and public offices will continue to drain money that could have been used to pay teachers.
Yet teachers are being clobbered by cops until they urinate on themselves because apparently they are asking for “too much money”.
What a shame.
*******************
A Riff on Obama’s Magic Moment
By Onyango Oloo
For close to forty five minutes I was convinced that the bus driver who was taking me home was a local Republican, a sympathizer of John McCain.
And I was seething with rage, almost tempted to dash to the front and commandeer the vehicle.
This is what happened.
I had finished my business in downtown Nairobi at approximately 6:30 and had heaved a sigh of relief when it got to my turn to exit from the long queue and board the bus heading to one of the Eastlands destinations where the bulk of the populace of Kenya’s capital are domiciled.
I was quite conscious that I had to be home by 7:30 and at any rate, no later than 7:50.
Why?
I did not want to miss the formal inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th President of the United States. According to the dictates of American political tradition, he had to be sworn in by 12 noon, Eastern Standard Time which translates to 8 pm our local Kenyan time.
And here we were, stuck in a jam on Jogoo Road which seemed to last an eternity. Contemplating the serpentine line of cars, lorries, tankers, matatus and even mikoteteni ahead of us and behind our bus, I was paralyzed with despair, anguish and frustration.
So instead of thinking rationally and remembering that this is the situation which obtains every single evening on my way home from work; I did the usual Kenyan thing and weaved a political conspiracy to explain away a standard traffic grid lock!
Of course “money had been poured” I muttered darkly through clenched teeth.
“This dereva has been paid to make sure that Obama supporters do not get to watch the inauguration live in their own living rooms!”
Today, on the afternoon after Obama’s magic day, I chuckle now as I rewind the mental tape to see how I was transferring my frustrated eagerness to see Obama take office on a hapless driver who was probably doing his utmost to ensure that all his passengers reached home safely.
As luck would have it, I made it through my gate and into my front door at approximately 7:56 pm. Because everything was running behind schedule, I just missed the swearing in of Vice President Joe Biden but got caught the rest of the action.
Since most of those reading these lines were in most likelihood watching the historic event with me and millions of people around the world, I will not regurgitate what happened with a pointless blow for blow description as I was writing for Sunday Express readers residing on the planet Jupiter.
Instead let me restrict myself to a few observations.
I was glad that Barack Obama publicly, crisply and unequivocally made a public clean break with the disastrous policies of the last eight years- and with Dubya seated a few metres from the podium where the 44th President was giving his address. And speaking of George W. Bush, I found more than poetic justice in the symbolism of his departure- preceded by a wheelchair bound, ageing Dick Cheney and an American public only too glad to wave him goodbye.
Obama’s own address (which is carried elsewhere in the Sunday Express) was a twenty minute instant classic which encapsulated the key issues that the world was eagerly awaiting: human rights and social justice; peace and international interdependence; the danger of global warming; the need to rejuvenate the economy and guarantee livelihoods; valorizing science and technology; reminding Americans about their core values and their tortured history, especially about things like racism and other forms of systemic discrimination. Reaching out specifically to the Muslim world, especially now when the Zionists have lit human bonfires all over Gaza was quite apt. And to lace all of that with exhortations from African-American spirituals and other idioms of Black speech silenced all those, including members of his own race, who have doubted his credentials as an authentic leader of colour rooted in the African-American experience.
I loved the poetry of Elizabeth Alexander who made a point of paying tribute to hardworking working class people and other downtrodden social groups. Reverend Lowry’s benediction- poignant, forceful, justice driven, humorous, rooted in the liberation theology tradition was like the warm nine o’clock sun kissing my cheeks with its inspiration.
Now I did not get to drown myself in one of those kegs of President beer lager, but the day of Obama’s inauguration left me inebriated with happiness; intoxicated with optimism and giddy with renewed hopes.
***************
A Kenyan in The Hague Already…
Some congratulations are somewhat in order.
Our very own Lady Justice Joyce Aluoch is now a judge of the dreaded International Criminal Court.
According to the ICC website, Ms. Aluoch was elected in the final round of the vote and garnered the 66% majority needed. She will serve for nine years.
Lady Justice has impeccable credentials. She rose to her present position from her origins as a district magistrate way back in 1974. Having been made a justice of the High Court in 1983, she was to later serve as the Chairperson of the Africa Union Committee on the Rights of the Child sitting in Addis Ababa between 2001 and 2005.
There is only one tiny blemish on her otherwise distinguished legal career.
Way back in October and November 1982, when she was still a Senior Resident Magistrate in Nairobi she tried a case which was to later become required reading for all Nairobi University Law students since it touched on human rights, natural justice and the definition of the crime of sedition.
The case involved a 22 year old first year Bachelor of Arts student who had been hauled before on three counts of sedition based on the fact that the said student had been found in possession of his own handwritten draft of an essay talking about the role of Kenyan youth and students in the struggle for democracy. The prosecutor in that case was one Ms. Sureta Channa.
Then Senior Resident Magistrate Joyce Aluoch found the student “guilty” of sedition and sentenced the youngster to a stiff five year prison term at the notorious Kamiti Maximum Security Prison. The student later was adopted by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience and his case together with 70 other students and a handful of lecturers helped to tarnish the image of the Kenya government as a gross abuser of human rights.
It is therefore ironical to find the International Criminal Court citing the human rights credentials of Lady Justice Aluoch.
I happen to know of that case very well because I happened to be that 22 year old first year university student.
Incidentally, Ms. Sureta Channa who prosecuted that 1982 sedition case is also working at The Hague as a human rights lawyer.
And yes, Lady Justice Aluoch was my auntie’s desk mate and one of her best friends in secondary school.
**************
Here Is My Vision 2009
By 2030 all the Kenyan politicians who are waxing poetic about Vision 2030 and dazzling us with their multi-coloured Power Point presentations will be dead.
That is the real reason why they do not really care whether that ambitious plan will come to fruition or not.
If they had been serious, they would have set realistic goals and objectives that they can be held accountable for, say in the next four or five years.
That is why I am offering my very own scaled down, very modest Vision 2009, consisting of things we can achieve by the end of THIS year.
I want to whittle it down to an 8 point list:
1. Let us enact a new democratic constitution by October 2009. Yes We Can!
2. Let us implement the Ndung’u Report and initiate legislation for serious agrarian reforms in Kenya by September 2009. Yes We Can!
3. Let us cut MPs pay in half by Budget Day 2009.Yes We Can!
4. Let us set up the Special Tribunal to try the key suspects behind the post election violence by May 2009.Yes We Can!
5. Let us set up the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission by April 2009.Yes We Can!
6. Let us reduce cabinet size by three quarters by March 2009.Yes We Can!
7. Let us arrest all the big wigs mentioned in all those scandals by February 2009.Yes We Can!
8. Let us pay Kenyan teachers what is rightfully theirs by the end of January 2009.Yes We Can!
**************
Iddi Achieng: Kenya’s Rising Afro-Fusion Diva
By Onyango Oloo
It is a sunny afternoon going on to four o’clock here in Nairobi.
On this mid January Monday in 2009-a day celebrated across the Atlantic as Marin Luther King Day in memory of the slain Nobel Prize winning African- American civil rights icon- on this day I am comfortably ensconced upstairs at the Kenya National Theatre enjoying the creative ambience of Wasanii- the sassy, jazzy, artsy crafty restaurant/pub doubling as an artists’ hang out located around the corner from the main campus of Nairobi University, across the street from the Norfolk Hotel and adjacent to the studios of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.
The weather has been in a cranky mood over the last few days. Just last Friday, it was raining monkeys and donkeys with the heavy downpour leading to a split decision among the city’s dwellers- those with their roots still firmly planted firmly on rural soil blessing the ancestors for the watery gift while urban bred hipsters seeing the rain as a curse, out to drench their hip freshly pressed clothes.
Iddi Achieng’ has just arrived and here she is, in all her bubbly, courteous Kenyan splendour, resplendent in her familiar African attire and accessories. I later learn that the huge rectangular copper (or is it brass) ring she wears together with others on one of her fingers is a keepsake she picked up in Gabon.
The chemistry and authentic camaraderie that Iddi Achieng’ generates is immediate.
She has that unique magnetic charisma that I have encountered in musicians like Senegal’s Baaba Maal and Benin’s Angelique Kidjo that I have had the honour of interviewing over the years.
Even though I am sitting down with her for the very first time, I feel as if I have known Iddi for ages.
Way back in 2002, when I was still residing in the Notre de Grace neighbourhood of Montreal in Quebec, a Kenyan friend who had just come back to Canada after visiting home passed by my place and gifted me two CDs for Xmas. One was by Kayamba-before it split into its many offshoots.
The other one was Kaboom Boom by the Nairobi City Ensemble.
I enjoyed both recordings but was simply captivated by the lead female vocalist on Kaboom Boom.
Listening to tracks like Tony- an endearing tale of woe in which the singer adopts the persona of a mother lamenting how her son went to America never to return; or the Jakongo track castigating an irresponsible drunkard who left his wife and children to starve while frittered away all his income in bars, I was quite impressed with how the vocalist (who was Iddi Achieng’) and of course the Nairobi City Ensemble as a whole were able to fuse rhythm and blues inflections with benga and come up socially conscious compositions backed by superb instrumentalists like Mobb Otieno.
Surely, I thought, this was the new Kenyan contemporary pop sound and it was exciting to me over there in the North American diaspora.
After Kaboom boom, Iddi Achieng’s talents were further showcased in another Tabu Osusa produced Nairobi City Ensemble offering, Kalapapla which made it to Number 14 on the UK world music charts soon after its release in early 2004. Again you find Iddi shining through on tracks like Adhiambo Lady and Nyar Gombe.
Outside music and theatre circles, few of Iddi’s admirers know that she actually first her mark on the stage as an actor and director. She started early- as the chairperson of her drama club when she was still a secondary school student at Asumbi Girls and as an active member of her church choir. She was later to form her own theatre company, Culture Spill Productions. Her most recent stint in mainstream plays was playing one of the leads in the West African classic Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again. Iddi is also a playwright who has worked in conjunction with NGOs to develop skits which educate and sensitize. Iddi Achieng’ used to be a radio host with Ramogi FM hosting a development issues talk show in Dholuo called Piny Masani (meaning “The World Today”).
But it is her music that I came to talk to her about.
Thim Lich her first full length solo effort was a major breakthrough. It has 14 tracks including: Thim Lich,Aloo ,Switina,Jakong'o (Remix),Wololoi,Dodo,Hera Mudho,Kamfube (Feat. Ambassada), Born To Be, Garang (a tribute done in the Dinka language and featuring the Sudanese artiste JKP), Rieko En Ngima ,Wiwa Wil ,Nyar Dande and Hera (done in the South African Kwaito genre) Thim Lich has received considerable air time on television across the various channels. As a direct result of the CD’s popularity Iddi was invited to perform in Norway, Sweden, Zanzibar and other places.
As we were sitting down with her at Wasanii on that Martin Luther King Monday, a courier walked in and handed her an invitation from the US embassy to attend an Obama Inauguration party at the residence of the American ambassador.
She leads her own full band which includes back up singers like Jackie Nyaminde (a television actor who is well known for her hilarious role in the popular Papa Shirandula) and Lydia Dola (familiar in social justice circles as part of the 5Cs Theatre group) as well as accomplished instrumentalists and dancers.
Iddi Achieng’ sings from the heart in Dholuo, Kiswahili and English. Her song Dala Gunda (deserted or empty home) chronicles the tale of a rural homestead so devastated by AIDS that it is only the houses of its former occupants which remain, with the homestead itself with graves and while Wololo, makes the case that the face of HIV in Africa is that of a woman.
Achieng’ is passionate about development and empowering women and girl children. She is even contemplating forming a foundation or trust where she can devote her energies on matters dear to her. At the height of the post election violent crisis in 2008, Iddi teamed up with fellow artists like Kanda King, Ken wa Maria and others in the Wakenya Wote initiative, using their songs and music to preach national harmony, peace and diversity.
Her fans can look forward to another CD from her by the end of this year. She is going to the Sauti ya Busara music festival in Zanzibar in February which will feature among others the legendary octogenarian taarab legend Bi Kidude.
Iddi drops me a hint that she is involved in a television family drama series that will hit our screens very soon.
Contractual obligations have legally gagged her from revealing more.
“Just look out for it,” is all she can say.
Technologically savvy, Iddi is riding the crest of the digital revolution. You will find her on Facebook and My Space- that is not when you are not surfing her own website www.iddiachieng.net.
What advice does she have for other upcoming artists and musicians, especially young women who want to emulate Iddi Achieng’?
“Go for it. Follow your heart. Know that it is not for the faint hearted. There will be many challenges ahead, but do not give up, “she says.
Iddi is currently pursuing a degree course in sociology saying that her life experiences and interests makes it the discipline she most wants to pursue academically. In the future, Iddi hopes that she will continue using her musical talents and achievements to become one of the voices of reason in the larger Kenyan and African society.
“Music is a serious tool of consciousness, a mirror held up to society which can be utilized for social change” she observes as our interview draws to a close.
********
From Issue # 010 January 18-24:
Some Ugali for Thought
In his remarks at the January 16th KICC event to declare that hunger and the food crisis was a national disaster, President Kibaki cited what he saw as the main factors behind the food crisis: the severe drought with four consecutive poor rain seasons; the impact of the post election violence last year; the rocketing prices of fertilizers and general inflationary trends. He then enumerated facts and figures which would justify the huge amounts of funds solicitors from the people we like referring to as “our development partners.”
With all due respect to the above explanations, we need to pose some blunt questions.
How long will we in Kenya continue blaming the weather for our endemic food insecurity?
For how long will extend our palms for foreign aid alms?
But before we delve further into that, let us give ourselves a reality check.
Who eats and who starves in Kenya?
Are all Kenyans going hungry?
If we rummage or chokora through the overflowing dustbins of rich suburban homes in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kitale, Nakuru, Nyeri, Meru and elsewhere we will find mounds of half eaten ugali and wali; chunks of unchomped steak and chicken; excess fruits and other foods. Yet if we walk just a few metres from these mansions, bungalows and palaces of the affluent, Kenya’s impoverished go to bed hungry almost every night. Millions have resigned themselves to eating once a day.
Without underscoring this obvious fact, we will be unable to grasp the surreal phenomenon of speculator fat cats shipping maize and maize meal to lucrative Southern Sudanese markets while ordinary Kenyans scramble for a morsel to eat-often at exorbitant prices.
What I am trying to say that food security is NOT a hostage to droughts and poor rain seasons.
To grow food, our people need land.
Yet who owns the land in this country. It is common knowledge that politically well-connected individuals-yes some of them are in cabinet and parliament- are among the most notorious land grabbers in Kenya.
It is not a surprise that these members of the economic and political elite have remained hostile to any suggestion of democratic agrarian reforms that benefit the wananchi, transforming thousands of them from squatters to independent self-sustaining small food producers.
What is grown in Kenya?
This nation’s uncritical acceptance of market fundamentalism has seen peasants and rural residents shift the focus from food production to the cultivation of cash crops for the often volatile export market.
What are Kenya’s national priorities: growing food to feed the hungry or cultivating cut flowers to cater for the Valentine fantasies of European and North American hopeless romantics?
Think of what would happen in this country if those thousands of hectares in Naivasha were turned over from horticultural farms to produce maize, wheat, millet, sorghum, gikwaa, sukuma wiki, viazi and osuga.
And speaking of viazi, maembe and other food sources, I remember growing up in western Kenya spoilt for choice when it came to food.
One day it would be nyoyo, the next day it would be sweet potatoes; one evening it would be boiled cassava with strong tea for dinner, another day it would be an agwata full of fermented uji or sour milk- that is when I was not eating fish delicacies like ngege, omena, odhadho, mbuta and so on.
Today it ugali na sukuma wiki for lunch, dinner and sometimes even breakfast!
What made us embrace this dreary mono diet over the years?
Can we rediscover, without retreating into the 19th century, some of the survival techniques of grandmothers and great grand fathers in terms of food security?
I am not so naïve as to romanticize the past, yet must Kenyans accept the diktats of a globalized world dominated by the imperatives of profit seeking multinationals who will undermine our national independence as we seek a sustainable, integrated and self-driven food sovereignty policy?
******
From Issue #008 January 4-10 2009
Retelling the Story of Benga Music
If you want to welcome 2009 in a fresh and exciting musical way, please go out and grab yourself a copy of Retracing the Benga Rhythm- a stupendous cultural package that includes a beautifully illustrated booklet designed by Kenya’s leading cartoonist Maddo aka Paul Kelemba a documentary DVD ( narrated by veteran thespian and television personality John Sibi-Okumu) that delves into the history and contemporary developments of the Benga music genre- a popular art form that is genuinely indigenous to Kenya despite the obvious cross pollination from Congo and Latin influences from revolutionary Cuba. The DVD is accompanied by a separate audio digital recording featuring the likes of John Ogara, DO Misiani, Dr. Collela Mazee, Sukuma Bin Ongaro, Arisi Osababu, Daniel Kamau (DK) Kakai Kilonzo and Francis Danger, the Kalenjin Sisters, George Ojijo, George Ramogi, Shem Tube and Simon Ayuya.
The maestro behind this classic compilation is the head honcho at Ketebul Music, Tabu Osusa, a mainstay on the Kenyan contemporary music scene who has managed acts like Orchestra Virunga and the Nairobi Ensemble and helped produce talent Afro fusion artistes like Iddi Achieng’, Suzzana Owiyo, Makadem, Olith Ratego and Dokta K'Odhialo.
Through the generous financial support of the East Africa office of the Ford Foundation, Tabu put together a formidable team including the aforementioned Paul Kelemba (Maddo), Njeri Muhoro, principal researcher Moussa Awounda, Steenie Njoroge, George “Jojo” Ouma, Jesse Bikundu and Steve Kivutia. The music was remastered at the Ketebul Studios located at the Godown Centre in Nairobi South “B”.
The DVD documentary was directed by Dimitri Croella and edited by Alan Aligula. The cinematography was done by Patrick Ondiek and the narration by John Sibi-Okumu.
Retracing the Benga Rhythm kicks off by contextualizing the origins of Benga in Nyanza province in the western part of Kenya going back almost 60 years ago. It shows how traditional Luo instruments like the nyatiti would later influence the guitar picking style of Luo musicians from the mid to late 1940s- a style distinct from the Congolese instrumentalists who “massaged” the strings. Dr. Odhiambo Mak’Anyengo a medical doctor and former senior military officer who is also an accomplished musician in his own right explains in the documentary how Benga developed and how it later influenced Congolese rumba having borrowed from the latter in the first place. Another Kenyan virtuoso, Dave “Mobb” Otieno who is in my opinion, Kenya’s finest guitarist also offers his expert opinions on the intricacies of playing and performing Benga music. Suzzana Owiyo, one of our fastest rising stars on the world music scene acknowledges her deep debt to benga genre.
We see and hear ageing Benga pioneers like Nelson Ochieng’ and Juma Odundo expound on how it was like in the early days. Veteran producers like Chandarana (a Kenyan of South Asian descent living in Kericho) and David Amunga talk about the musicians they helped put on the map in the 1950s and 1960s. We see snippets giving cameo profiles of household names like DO Misiani, Sukuma Bin Ongaro, Daniel Kamau and the Kamba legend Francis Danger, a close collaborator with the late Kakai Kilonzo on all those Kilimambogo Brothers chart toppers. We are introduced to female doyennes like Princess Jully, Queen Babito, Angelica Chepkoech (the brains behind the Kalenjin Sisters) and Queen Jane and her Queenja Band who dominated the Central Kenya music scene for decades.
Retracing the Benga Rhythm is a refreshing, professionally executed showcase to a Kenyan music genre that has been exported to Zimbabwe and other African countries.
At a time when our country is still reeling from the post-election violence from yesteryear it is inspiring to note that our artistes-musical, theatrical, cinematic and otherwise have always remained the most Kenyan, demonstrating and living out their uzalendo in quiet and unassuming ways. Just visit the Wasanii oasis atop the Kenya National Theatre to get a daily sampling of this organic camaraderie.
I offer my kudos to wonderful team put together by Ketebul Music who has made all Kenyans proud with this Retracing the Benga Rhythm instant collector’s item.
For more details on how you can get your hands on this package please contact Ketebul by calling Tabu Osusa at 0733 705 024; emailing info@ketebulmusic.org, writing to Ketebul Music at P O Box 21737-00505 Nairobi or simply popping upstairs at Wasanii Restaurant at the Kenya National Theatre and asking for Steenie Njoroge.
********
A Trio Of Ohangla Goodies
A music review by Onyango Oloo
Speaking of Luo music from western Kenya, over the last four or five years, Ohangla music has migrated from the busaa shebeens and traditional funerals to storm its way to the top of the charts with such superstars as Tony Nyadundo and his elder brother Jack raking in hefty sums as they perform to overflowing crowds in such spots as the Carnivore, Deep West Resort, Kuche Kuche, Lagoon, Zanze, Egesa, Jam Rescue, Hillbreeze and Ranalo’s.
Perhaps because of the trailblazing efforts of the Nyadundo brothers, there is a clutch of exciting upstarts who have grabbed the Ohangla market by storm. In 2007 Onyi Papa Jey emerged to rule the roost with his playful, highly political paean to Raila Odinga and the ODM party; women like Lady Maureen and Okinyo Nya Alego have served notice to their male counterparts that the sisters will not remain behind; we recently lost talents like the late Odongo Mayaka and Ken Wuod Alego.
With all due respect to reigning Ohangla King Tony Nyadundo, the most popular musician plying the ohangla genre right now is none other than Osogo Winyo and his Ohangla Boys. His composition Agengo is one of the most requested songs during his live performances.
Well, here is some good news to all Ohangla and Kenyan music fans.
Osogo Winyo recently unleashed a VCD containing his smash hit Agengo Wuod Orongo together with other titles like Lilly Nya Ugenya, Nyaka Bondo, Pius Okech and the Kiswahili flavoured Mawazo. From the credits it would appear that Osogo Winyo has migrated from the tutelage of Benga queen Princess Jully who produced his earlier songs.
Asamm Jakosoko used to be part of Osogo’s Ohangla Boys but recently broke off to form the Ohangla Young Turks who are based in the coastal city of Mombasa. Asamm rivals Osogo in almost every department. I would even venture to say that Asamm is the more versatile vocalist and composer if you compare the duo. Asamm’s outfit has also come out with a brand new recording which is self titled, produced by Harry Kamau Productions here in Nairobi. The DVD features songs like Raila PM, Olango Obade, Achieng Nyausonga, Sam Ogolla, Effy Akoth, Kopot Jagem, Omondi Wuod Alego and Pamela Nyaseme. I highly recommend it. Check out the collabo with the lanky Ous Jabondo. Asamm Jakosoko is destined to rise to even greater heights I predict.
If you patronize the Kuche Kuche club which is located within the precincts of the Nyayo National Stadium you are likely to be entertained by an in house Ohangla band which often includes a tune titled Miluma in its repertoire. Miluma is the Luo word for lust or greed and the song talks about how lust propels people, especially married men and sugar mommies to lust after youngsters who are the age-mates of their grandchildren. The humorous song uses music for social commentary and education. I used to think that the Kuche Kuche based singers were the original composers. That was until I stopped by a music shop near Gill House in downtown Nairobi to purchase a bunch of cds. That is when I found out that Miluma was brought to life by a young and upcoming artiste called Ochieng Wuod Ojola who fronts a group known as the Luo Cultural Dancers. Ochieng and his group have just released a DVD called Miluma. If you watch it you will see Ochieng, whose skyscraping height suggests that he may have been a very good basket ball player had he ventured down that sporting route belt out a number of very danceable, funny and educational tunes together with the agile and acrobatic members of his musical troupe. One number which stands out is Nairobi Robbery in which Ochieng adopts the persona of a country bumpkin warning rural dwellers about the dangers which lurk in Nairobi-from muggings to flying toilets to donkey meat offered as nyama choma to unsuspecting carnivores.
The three new recordings by Osogo Winyo, Asamm Jakosoko and Ochieng Wuod Ojola will help to consolidate ohangla as an authentic popular art form which is here to stay as opposed to being a passing fad as some of its detractors posit.
*******
Halt Elite Pacting and Palace Politics in Kenya
By Onyango Oloo
In 2009, Kenyan politics, politicians and political parties must turn over a new leaf if they hope to remain relevant and credible.
True, the year just ended was a difficult one-with the violent aftershocks of a bitterly disputed election; the ramifications of an externally brokered shotgun marriage of the major parties and rambunctious restiveness of a populace increasingly feeling marginalized from a seemingly ever pampered political elite.
Yet one needs to remind the powers that be that the twelve months that just expired was supposed to usher in major social, economic and political reforms. In their respective manifestos during the 2007 election campaigns, ODM, PNU, ODM-Kenya all promised the electorate such tantalizing goodies as free primary and secondary education; an upsurge in employment, especially for the youth; a new democratic constitution promising among other things to decentralize government functions and devolve power to the regions and of course pledging a better deal for Kenya’s women.
Many of these pre-election commitments ring rather hollow today.
Admittedly, the carnage caused by the post-election violence and crisis unleashed by the global financial meltdown contributed a great deal in undermining these promises. Still, if one were to judge the 10th parliament by how it has tackled issues or gauge the seriousness of political parties by looking at how they have relegated or fore-grounded women within their respective governing bodies one finds that there is precious little to celebrate.
The worsening economic conditions and growing poverty among the vast majority of Kenyans was dramatically captured in the impassioned pleas for “Unga! Unga!” which greeted the top leadership of this country during public meetings over the last three or four months.
The nature of the grand coalition itself is a further cause for disquiet. In the first place, it is, at least in part, a fraud perpetrated against a populace which expected to be governed by a political party that received its legitimacy and mandate at the 2007 elections. Instead, as a direct consequence of electoral theft and what some observers feel was a civilian coup, Kenyans are now saddled by a coalition government cobbled together from fractious factions of the political elite whose platforms were diametrically opposed to each other. Much of last year was expended on turf wars as the various coalition partners fought portfolio battles which often had the unintended side effect of causing internal divisions within these very parties. To ameliorate these feuds within the grand coalition, there has been a move towards elite pacting and realignments.
The most notable realignments include the breaking away of the Karua led NARC-Kenya faction from the PNU stable and the emergence of a powerful anti-Raila bloc within ODM. The fledgling “grand opposition” that cuts across the political divide is an intriguing development with far reaching consequences because taken to its logical conclusion the entrenchment of a “grand opposition” would mark the death knell for ODM, PNU and ODM-Kenya, at least in their present form.
That is why defenders of democracy must welcome the Political Parties Act which came into force at the beginning of July 2008. By requiring parties to be national in scope, have clear visions and integrate women into their leadership among other requirements, the new legislation lays the legal foundation for the consolidation of serious political parties which are neither personal vehicles to power for a select group of regional chieftains nor electoral matatus that parliamentarians dump as soon as they arrive at the gates of the Kenya National Assembly. At the same time, the stringent financial requirements for registration is a very undemocratic speed governor thwarted the development of independent small political parties. Kenyan patriots who sacrificed their lives, liberty, limbs and blood fighting the 39 year old nightmare of the KANU one party dictatorship more than paid for the multi-party dispensation that currently prevails in our country today. It is the view of this writer that the normal democratic process should be allowed to weed out, over time the so called “briefcase parties” which can and should be tolerated despite their apparent nuisance value. Consciously restricting the number of registered political parties by fiat is an ominous harbinger signaling the eventual relapse to one party status quo ante.
Whatever the case, existing political parties and players in Kenya big or small will ignore the travails of the ordinary wananchi at their own peril. Kenyans are rapidly becoming more and more politically and socially conscious and can see through the empty rhetoric of politicians who have been wont to bribe the electorate with ephemeral and puny handouts.
Again one of the ripple effects from the post election violence of 2008 is that we can not afford to condone impunity. That is why the full implementation of the Waki Report in 2009 is so crucial. Anecdotal reports reaching these years indicate that most of the gangs bankrolled by political war lords have NOT been dismantled- some politicians with presidential ambitions for 2012 see these gangs as their life insurance.
Unfortunately, what Kenyans witnessed last year is but a small foretaste of the chaos that can engulf this country were we to be plunged into a similar crisis. In an interview with this writer a few years ago, Liberian born and Washington based political commentator and activist Emira Woods warned that there was a time when countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Kenya were seen as bastions of stability and oases of democratic progress. That is, until they imploded, weighed down by all the unresolved issues around poverty, class disparities, regional inequalities, gender and religious discrimination and other issues of social injustice and political chicanery.
Unless we enact and entrench a new constitution; until we institute a people driven truth, justice and reconciliation process; unless we start peace building and conflict transformation strategies from the mashinani (grass roots); unless we directly and genuinely involve the youth in the reformation and reconstruction of Kenya; without taking a gendered approach to our politics, our economics, our justice and distributive endeavours; unless all these things are in place, collectively we are just marking time, squatting on a time bomb that may very well blow our country into smithereens making us disintegrate into a myriad kabilastans each led by a Joseph Kony or Laurent Nkunda prototype leading LRA or UNITA type murderous paramilitary outfits.
In other words, there may not be a 2012 to duke it out over if we do not confront and grapple with the demons which have thwarted our pursuit of freedom, justice and social prosperity since 1963.
I earnestly hope that the dystopic elements of the above jeremiad will never come to pass in our beautiful but often tortured country.
That is why I call on the political leadership of this country to move beyond elite pacting and palace politics and focus instead on the basic rights of the people and involve those very people in the development and democratic process. By elite pacting I am referring to the nefarious practice of our politicians to come together and defend their narrow class and elite interests as opposed to championing the national aspirations of the Kenyan wananchi. By palace politics I am talking about the phenomenon of politicians to be preoccupied with who is in and who is out; who is in the kitchen cabinet and who is not; who flies the ministerial flag and who does not; who is in who’s camp and who is not; who is likely to be president or prime minister in 2012 and who is not.
Having said all that, let me join Kenyans in looking cautiously and hopefully to 2009.
*****
PS:Since August 2005 I have paid so much attention to Jukwaa to the point of practically abandoning my various blogs. I will revive them by reposting some of my Sunday Express articles- until the paper goes online that is...