Post by Onyango Oloo on May 18, 2017 18:17:11 GMT 3
A Digital Essay by Onyango Oloo
The other day-it was a morning actually-when I was just waking up from my bed in Sagana, my ear caught a captivating tune.
It was a gospel tune, made familiar by Christian musicians in this country.
Although I do not go to church, I am a big fan of gospel music.
My favourite artist is the TanzanianChristina Shusho and I am familiar with her frenetic compatriot Rose Mhando especially her catchy hit which talks about Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp.
Over here in Kenya I loved Esther Wahome's big hit from about a decade ago-Kuna Dawa; additionally, and even though I can detect the South African influence in songs, I still think Emmy Kosgei is a wonderful artiste.
The lady who got me wowed and wired is the former house maid from Bunyore Ms. Gloria Muliro who is now a national superstar. The duet single with Willy Paul is a monster attraction even in the night clubs.
Forget about the Kanyari Con Pastor-when it comes to gospel you have to give it to his ex-wife Betty Bayo.
The endless beef between the youngsters Bahati, Juliani and Willy Paul often obscures their talent.
I went to a Christian run school in Mombasa-Baptist High School. I remember a visit from the 1970s by the Born Again Skeeter Davis which is forever etched in my memory. I remember my fellow students looking forward to when those overgrown American teenagers from RVA Academy came visiting from Kijabe. There was a spike in the number of freshly minted Form Two students who came forward in Chapel-either on Tuesdays or Thursdays to confess how at exactly two thirty three a.m. the previous night a light covering an angel appeared in their bedroom and asked “Achieng’” “Wangeci” ”Wakesho” or whatever their name happened to be “Don’t you think it is time you became committed to the Good Lord?” And all these Salvation Testimonies invariably coincided with the day a blond blue eyed basket ball playing RVA hunk from Kijabe had wowed the Mombasa Baptist students with a hymn or chorus.
Now, do not get me wrong. Even though I am now a die-hard Marxist-Leninist in the fifties, when I was fifteen, sixteen and seventeen I was a very religious student whose stated ambition was to become a Bishop when I grew up. I even topped my CRE class and got a clear Distinction in my Form Four exams! I am still familiar with a whole host of African-American gospel like Ce Ce Winans, Yolanda Adams,Dottie Peoples,Tasha Cobbs,Albertina Walker, Tamika Patton and Deborah Fraser.
So I do love Christian songs-even though the last time I stepped in Church-not for a wedding or funeral service-was in April 1982. My mother was a committed Born Again Mlokole; my grandfather was an Anglican lay preacher, while I,Onyango Oloo started teaching Sunday School when I was nine years old. My late wife who died ten years ago was a Born Again adherent who used to pray earnestly for Jesus Christ to come into my life and work a miracle to transform me into a powerful televangelist who mesmerized throngs of crowds at open air crusades.
What happened to me?
Some people curse the Devil.
I put it down to the scientific socialist teachings of Karl Marx, Frederich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Fidel Castro and Le Duan.
But I digress.
I started off by talking of a gospel tune that sort of woke me up in Sagana, Kirinyaga County very recently.
The singer was Ben Githae.
He had composed a Gikuyu language tune called Uhuru na Ruto Tano Tena which is NOT gospel but POLITICAL singing praises exhorting the Kenyan public to give the Jubilee Digital Duo another chance at the top of the heap.
I read page 25 of the [May 16th Star-where Grace Kerongo feeds her readers with the latest gossip that some people were offended by Githae's homily for Uhuru and Ruto.
I wondered what was all the fuss about.
Haven't Kenyan Christians-from the British Colonial days to the salad days of the Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi neo-colonial kleptocracies to Mwai Kibaki's regime not always PAID HOMAGE TO OPPRESSORS AND THE STATUS QUO?
The other day-it was a morning actually-when I was just waking up from my bed in Sagana, my ear caught a captivating tune.
It was a gospel tune, made familiar by Christian musicians in this country.
Although I do not go to church, I am a big fan of gospel music.
My favourite artist is the TanzanianChristina Shusho and I am familiar with her frenetic compatriot Rose Mhando especially her catchy hit which talks about Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp.
Over here in Kenya I loved Esther Wahome's big hit from about a decade ago-Kuna Dawa; additionally, and even though I can detect the South African influence in songs, I still think Emmy Kosgei is a wonderful artiste.
The lady who got me wowed and wired is the former house maid from Bunyore Ms. Gloria Muliro who is now a national superstar. The duet single with Willy Paul is a monster attraction even in the night clubs.
Forget about the Kanyari Con Pastor-when it comes to gospel you have to give it to his ex-wife Betty Bayo.
The endless beef between the youngsters Bahati, Juliani and Willy Paul often obscures their talent.
I went to a Christian run school in Mombasa-Baptist High School. I remember a visit from the 1970s by the Born Again Skeeter Davis which is forever etched in my memory. I remember my fellow students looking forward to when those overgrown American teenagers from RVA Academy came visiting from Kijabe. There was a spike in the number of freshly minted Form Two students who came forward in Chapel-either on Tuesdays or Thursdays to confess how at exactly two thirty three a.m. the previous night a light covering an angel appeared in their bedroom and asked “Achieng’” “Wangeci” ”Wakesho” or whatever their name happened to be “Don’t you think it is time you became committed to the Good Lord?” And all these Salvation Testimonies invariably coincided with the day a blond blue eyed basket ball playing RVA hunk from Kijabe had wowed the Mombasa Baptist students with a hymn or chorus.
Now, do not get me wrong. Even though I am now a die-hard Marxist-Leninist in the fifties, when I was fifteen, sixteen and seventeen I was a very religious student whose stated ambition was to become a Bishop when I grew up. I even topped my CRE class and got a clear Distinction in my Form Four exams! I am still familiar with a whole host of African-American gospel like Ce Ce Winans, Yolanda Adams,Dottie Peoples,Tasha Cobbs,Albertina Walker, Tamika Patton and Deborah Fraser.
So I do love Christian songs-even though the last time I stepped in Church-not for a wedding or funeral service-was in April 1982. My mother was a committed Born Again Mlokole; my grandfather was an Anglican lay preacher, while I,Onyango Oloo started teaching Sunday School when I was nine years old. My late wife who died ten years ago was a Born Again adherent who used to pray earnestly for Jesus Christ to come into my life and work a miracle to transform me into a powerful televangelist who mesmerized throngs of crowds at open air crusades.
What happened to me?
Some people curse the Devil.
I put it down to the scientific socialist teachings of Karl Marx, Frederich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Fidel Castro and Le Duan.
But I digress.
I started off by talking of a gospel tune that sort of woke me up in Sagana, Kirinyaga County very recently.
The singer was Ben Githae.
He had composed a Gikuyu language tune called Uhuru na Ruto Tano Tena which is NOT gospel but POLITICAL singing praises exhorting the Kenyan public to give the Jubilee Digital Duo another chance at the top of the heap.
I read page 25 of the [May 16th Star-where Grace Kerongo feeds her readers with the latest gossip that some people were offended by Githae's homily for Uhuru and Ruto.
I wondered what was all the fuss about.
Haven't Kenyan Christians-from the British Colonial days to the salad days of the Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi neo-colonial kleptocracies to Mwai Kibaki's regime not always PAID HOMAGE TO OPPRESSORS AND THE STATUS QUO?