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A NEWS ANCHOR WHO ALSO SANG HIS HEART OUT

June 16, 2026 - 05:00 AM A Story of Jacob William Maunda If you are yet to set foot in any far-flung town and would wish to visit, you will really appreciate the input of someone well-versed in the geography of the place to introduce you to the neighborhood as your tour guide. If the new place you envisage visiting is Mombasa, then you would really appreciate Jacob William Maunda's song, "Nahangaika Mombasa." Apparently, the composer set out on a journey to trace his lover, Mary Mueni, who had quit her home in Ukambani, Kenya, and left for Mombasa. The places listed as visited by the composer of the song are Chang...

MUKABI PAINTED HIS WAY TO GLOBAL RECOGNITION

April 30, 2026 - 01:10 PM The Dust Depo Studios at the Old Railways Museum in Nairobi wear a forlorn face. An unfinished canvas stretches on the stand, waiting for the brush to give it the final touches, oblivious to the reality that the man whose acumen graced the art has breathed his last. The brushes, the paints, and the palette share the ignorance. Just like the canvas, they too have no idea that the man whose passion and skills turned canvases into marvelous paintings is no more and will not be visiting the studios again. Sunset has come for the "barefoot philosopher" who walked without shoes in the studios, saying he couldn't reason well while wearing shoes. Renowned painter Patrick Mukabi died last week at......

KANINDO: THE GODFATHER OF BENGA

February 10, 2026 - 06:00 PM During the peak of the popularity of Benga music in the 1970s and 1980s, the genre came to be known as Kanindo in Zimbabwe and Malawi, and the name has stuck to this date. The success of this high-paced music, characterized by captivating stories narrated in melodic tunes that follow patterns struck by the solo guitar, saw a genre that originated on the shores of Lake Victoria spread fast across the country. It dominated the local music scene to the point of becoming the country’s unofficial genre. It became the center of gravity around which Kenya’s entertainment revolved. As its popularity spread rapidly across the country, the influx of Congolese expatriate musicians into......

THE TOWERING FIGURE OF KENYAN MUSIC

December 18, 2025 - 07:41 PM OCHIENG KABASELE On the night of October 20th, 1984, at around 2 am, there was a violent knock on Kabasele’s door in his Kariobangi South home. Kabasele rushed to open the door when the knocking became persistent. Immediately as the door flew open, a dozen heavily armed men swung in and identified themselves as police. Everyone was woken up by the commotion. Joan, Kabasele’s wife, inquired from them who they were and what their mission was, but they didn’t respond. Instead, they clustered themselves into groups and took different directions; some to the bedroom, some remained in the sitting room, and some went to the children’s room and kitchen. When......

KWAMY MUNSI: THE UNTOLD STORY

November 26, 2025 - 07:20 PM Music as an art is a form of expression. The feelings expressed can be love, hatred, anger, gratitude, or anything else. For the song “Chicotte” by Franco, it is anger at its extreme end. What irked Franco to this level of anger? Sample this verse from the song:Nabikisa yo na liwa Nani abungi likambo yango Opolaki olumbi solo oh Obimaki nde soi ya mobesu Okomaki ebembe ya l’etat Nasupportaki bosoto yango lokuta na yo Okutaki nga na OK Jazz Nakomisa yo ndenge ozali Lelo olobi ngai enemi Which translates to:You were a rotting carcass I saved from the jaws of death. Today I've become your enemy. You found me at OK Jazz. I made you who you are. Now you declare me an......

MYTH, MUSIC & MIGHTY FRAME

November 12, 2025 - 08:41 PM Rumours abound about this larger-than-life figure, musician Mohamed Bakari Naaman, who went by the stage name Prof. Naaman. It is said that he was a ghostbuster, and indeed he was. That he was an herbalist, in fact a renowned one, whose services were sought beyond the borders. That he was the heaviest musician ever, perhaps true, although there are no documented records of musicians’ weights. Since he visibly weighed far more than Pepe Kallé, who himself could be considered among the heaviest, then probably Naaman truly was the heaviest. It is also said that he ate a whole tray of eggs for breakfast. That is speculative. He did eat quite a lot, but not an entire tray in one......

KENYAN COAST: WHERE THE COUNTRY’S MUSIC ROOSTS

November 03, 2025 - 10:19 PM That Coastal Kenya is the citadel of the country’s music is not in doubt. The gods of Kenyan music seem to roost in this region that lies along the western shores of the Indian Ocean and boasts some of the oldest traces of civilization in the country, with Lamu recognized as the oldest town in Kenya. The Kenyan Coast, also known as the Coast Province, is home to several communities, among them the Mijikenda, Swahili, Arabs, Pokomo, and Somali. This region is far ahead of many others, for a cocktail of reasons, chief among them the music-rich cultural heritage of its people. Over the years, the Coast has produced more than its fair share of musical talent, a feat that transcends......

JOE MOPERO DIES

October 26, 2025 - 02:22 PM Kenyan Musician Joe Mopero Dies Kenyan musician Joe Mopero is dead. According to his daughter, Joy Mopero, the veteran singer died of cardiac arrest at 6:45 p.m. on Saturday at Aster Healthcare Hospital, where he had been rushed after a short illness. Born Joseph Kariuki in Kipkabus, Uasin Gishu, in the 1960s, his family later relocated to Thika. While studying at Equator High School, his schoolmates nicknamed him Joe Mopero because he sang much like the Congolese musician Mopero wa Maloba, famed for the Cavacha style that was hugely popular in Kenya at the time. Joe Mopero sang with several bands — both Kenyan and Congolese — based in Nairobi. In the early 1990s, he formed......

DJO DJO IKOMO DIES IN KINSHASA SHORTLY AFTER REUNITING WITH HIS KENYAN DAUGHTER

September 22, 2025 - 03:25 AM The rumba flag is flying at half-mast once again, following the demise of Congolese musician Djo Djo Ikomo in Kinshasa after a long battle with illness. News of his passing was first made public by Mfumu Kimbangu of KBC Radio in Nairobi. Djo Djo Ikomo, also known as Ikomo Ingange, was a phenomenal composer and singer from the early 1970s, an era defined by some pundits as the genre’s most productive. Born in Mbandaka in 1952, Djo Djo debuted with Orchestre Tabou Nationale in 1970 before joining Orchestre Vévé. There, he became part of the band’s formidable singing line-up alongside Pascal Mangwana, Ramazani Nkalu-luaka, Tusevo Nejos, and the late Pepito, shortly......

THE KENYAN SOUKOUS GUITARIST - (ROLAND ISESE)

July 29, 2025 - 05:57 PM The year was 1991, and the venue was Bomas of Kenya. It was during the peak of the Soukous craze, and the crowd had gathered to enjoy the best of the Aurlus Mabele-led group Loketo, which featured the lethal soloist Diblo Dibala, partly nicknamed "The Machine Gun" owing to his high-tempo guitar skills. But it was a local boy, Roland Isese, who stole the show. He had taken the stage with the Ulinzi Band, a military ensemble under the leadership of Laban Ochuka, which had been tasked with opening the concert. The band made a bold attempt at the hit song "Extra Ball," and Isese was impressed. His fingers maneuvered the fretboard with the speed of a bullet and the precision of a surgeon. He......

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