For Love and Money
My first encounter with Kayamba Africa was sometime back in the summer of 2000. I had attended a friend’s wedding in Nairobi and the musical group was part of the entertainment. If my memory serves me right, they were an acapela group at that time as I don’t recall them singing with any musical accompaniments. They may have had a few percussion instruments but they certainly didn’t have any guitars or synthesizers.
Once they took to the stage, everyone listened calmly with the guests nodding their heads and tapping their feet to the rhythm. After the guests had warmed up to their tunes, they switched to Luo songs as both the bride and the groom were from Nyanza. It was then that all hell broke loose, literally, with even the bridal party taking to the stage dancing and jubilantly singing with the group. I was thoroughly entertained by both the group and the sight of guests dancing their hearts out to their music.
Since then, the group has evolved and have gone on to record several musical CDs under Samawati’s Suzanne and Gido Kibukosya. Their music consists of a mixture of Kenyan traditional songs from various ethnic groups and as such they resonate with a wide audience of Kenyans.
While prowling the streets of Nairobi, I came across their musical CDs in one of the music shops and instantaneously bought all of them without checking the songs they contained. From then, I have been continuously listening to their tracks in the car and I am yet to listen to the radio or other CDs that I bought in Nairobi. My favorite song has got to be the Kisii song titled Sindigisa. Even though I don’t understand what they are singing about, I like the part where they sing the “Sloooowly, Slowly my dear” chorus in a heavy Kisii accent.
I would recommend their CDs to anyone looking for Kenyan ethnic music. Though I did not enjoy their music when I first quickly listened through their CDs, I later got hooked onto their music after listening to a few songs that I knew. Their CDs retail between 850 and 1000 Kenyan shillings and can also be found online at Stern Music. They also have a VCD featuring some of their videos, which includes the above cartoon video of the song Ngukinyukia Okahora.
PS. The original Kayamba Africa crew broke up and now consists of two main competing groups, namely Kayamba Africa and Kayamba Fiesta. There may also exist a third group that goes by the name Kayamba Sese, though I am yet to come across their CD. The four CDs that I bought includes one from Kayamba Fiesta.
