Jabulani Library

VETERAN MAROON COMMANDOS MUSICIAN DIES

November 05, 2025 - 11:34 PM Paul Mwandembo, a long-serving member of the legendary Maroon Commandos band, is dead. According to information shared on the band’s official Facebook page, Mwandembo, who sang with the military outfit for over two decades, passed away on October 31st after a period of illness. Mwandembo joined the military in 1975 and served in B Company at Lang’ata Barracks for 25 years before retiring with the rank of Corporal. During his time with the Maroon Commandos, he distinguished himself as both a composer and a vocalist, and is best remembered for writing "Dawa Nimuone Hani", one of the group�...

KENYAN COAST: WHERE THE COUNTRY’S MUSIC ROOSTS

November 03, 2025 - 11:19 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 - 03:22 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......

FROM STUDIO TO PARLIAMENT

October 21, 2025 - 07:47 PM The incumbent Member of Parliament had been appointed to the Cabinet, creating a vacancy. The electoral body had announced the date for a by-election, among 15 others scattered across the country. The opposition coalition is backing Newton Kariuki Ndwiga of the DP party, one of the contenders seeking to represent the area. In a charged political rally in Ishiara, the coalition leadership, comprising several of the country’s top politicians, assembled to introduce their candidate to the masses. Newton Kariuki emerged wearing his trademark Ray-Paka hairstyle. But Newton Kariuki is not your typical politician. In fact, he is known more as a musician than a legislator, despite having......

FRANCO: GWIJI ASIYESAHULIKA (MIAKA 36 TANGU KIFO CHAKE)

October 12, 2025 - 05:49 AM Habari za kifo chake zilisambaratisha. Zilikuwa za ghafla mno kwa nchi kuelewa, zenye maumivu makali mno kwa mashabiki wake kuishi na, na pengo kubwa mno kujazwa. Yote yalitokea Asubuhi ya Ijumaa, Oktoba 12, 1989, na kuitikisa Kinshasa. Ingawa tetesi za hali yake mbaya ya afya zilisambaa kama upepo mkali Kinshasa kwa miezi miwili, hakuna mtu aliyeamini kweli atakufa au alijiandaa kwa hilo. Kwa zaidi ya miongo mitatu, Luambo Luanzo Makiadi alikuwa amekuwa mtu wa kipekee nchini, aliyeheshimiwa kiasi kwamba alionekana kutokufa. Bendi yake, OK Jazz, ilikuwa imekuwa chapa kubwa zaidi nchini kutokana na hadhi yake ya kipekee. Yule mvulana mdogo kutoka Sona Bata, ambaye alipiga chombo chake cha......

THE DAY KINSHASA WEPT, FOR THE DEATH OF FRANCO

October 12, 2025 - 04:44 AM News of his death was devastating. Too sudden for the country to comprehend, too painful for his fans to live with, and a void too big to fill. It all came on a Friday morning, October 12, 1989, and it shook Kinshasa. Although gossip about his ill health had circulated like a stubborn whirlwind around Kinshasa for two months, nobody really thought he’d die or was prepared for that. For over three decades, Luambo Luanzo Makiadi had become a mystical figure in the country, so revered that he seemed immortal. His band, OK Jazz, had become the country’s biggest brand due to its iconic status. The once little boy from Sona Bata, who strummed his self-made three-string instrument to......

FRANCO'S GOLDEN HITS

October 11, 2025 - 06:14 AM Franco's 36th Anniversary: 20 Golden Hits Curated by Planet Ilunga As the aphorism reminds us, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating," and when it comes to assessing the genius of Franco Luambo Makiadi, nothing illustrates his depth and talent more effectively than listening to his music. To properly celebrate his legacy, Planet Ilunga has selected 20 O.K. Jazz songs recorded between 1957 and 1977, taken from the five compilation LPs that Planet Ilunga has dedicated to O.K. Jazz.Most of the selected tracks are Franco’s own compositions, which portray him not just as Congo’s biggest artist but as a profound portraitist of Congolese society. Since 2013, Planet Ilunga has......

WHAT IS RUMBA?

October 02, 2025 - 06:39 PM Generally, music is made to be enjoyed—that is, listened to and danced to. Nonetheless, the urge to understand it better has often led to the classification of music into genres and other clusters. That’s why the issue of genre oftentimes escapes even the musicians themselves, and on some other occasions, discussants can't agree on which genre a song belongs to. Even the parameters that define these genres are also contested at times. These very parameters may also vary from genre to genre. For example, reggae as a genre is identified by the dominance of the rhythm guitar and the manner in which it is strummed, the predominant theme of resistance, and the near-religious......

SAMBA MAPANGALA: FROM CONGO TO THE WORLD

September 25, 2025 - 10:48 PM "Samba is easily the greatest of all Congolese musicians ever to set base in Nairobi," opines Jacob Owiyo, a football coach and music fan from Nairobi. He goes ahead to expound on the factors that make him come to that conclusion, beginning with Samba’s natural singing voice. Apart from being a vocalist, Jacob, who first met Samba in Mombasa in 1977, says Samba mostly composed songs themed on subjects that resonated with society, making his songs everyone’s favourite. That’s not all. He explains that Samba did several of his songs in Kiswahili, and this endeared him to Kenyans more than other musicians who mostly sang in Lingala, because the language created a barrier.......

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

September 22, 2025 - 05:25 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......

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