Luo Music of Kenya

OK, just gonna do another random mix here.

Unknown artist - Sierra Leone unknown song #1 1970s: I picked this song up off Youtube in late 2018.  This was uploaded to Youtube by a guy who was a young boy in Lungi, Sierra Leone in the '70s, taped these songs then, and somehow kept the tapes.  for 40 years or so.  Turns out from the comments (which I didn't read when I downloaded this because I have a plugin to block comments, but it doesn't work in private mode, since I've started doing all my Youtube browsing in private mode comments show now) that it's not actually from Sierra Leone at all, but a song from the Luo people of Kenya.  I don't know how ignorant I am for not knowing any of that.  Less ignorant for writing this, I guess, because I looked up both Lungi and the Luo People in Wikipedia.  The Luo, it seems, are the fourth largest ethnic group in Kenya, and shared political power with the dominant Kikuyu people during the early years of Kenyan independence.  Wikipedia says they believe that since then, they have been politically marginalized and represeed by successive Kenyan regimes.  They are credited with orgiinating a number of musical styles, including Benga, Ohangla, Dodo, Nyatiti, Orutu, and Otenga, of which Ohangla, Dodo, and Otenga have had their Wikipedia pages removed for being insufficiently notable.

Nyatiti and Orutu are, from the pages, not necessarily comparable to Benga, both of them being musical instruments that gave their name to music played on that instrument.  Both instruments are also used in Benga music.  The page for the Orutu mentions only one band that uses it, Kenge Kenge Orutu System.  Looking up their videos reveals a lot of videos with 5,000 views of them, covered in red, white, and green, playing at world music festivals in Western countries with descriptions praising their commitment to African musical tradition.  The top link for Otenga music on Google also links to Kenge Kenge.

Dodo music was difficult to find, obviously, but eventually I managed to find some links - it apparently is a _very_ traditional form of women's music.  The videos of this have slightly more views than Kenge Kenge, and most of them are actually filmed in Africa.  There's a video from a Kenyan news station celebrating Mashujaa Day, which is a Kenyan holiday, celebrated on October 20th, celebrating everyone who contributed to the struggle for Kenyan independence.

Ohangla, which had its page removed or not made, is actually super popular, and is a name given to contemporary Luo pop music.  You can see lots of Ohangla mix videos with tons of views on Youtube.  It's not quite my thing personally, but then again I don't speak Dholuo or spend a lot of time in African dance clubs so it probably wouldn't be.  Wikipedia _does_ have a page on "Ohangla Dance", which was a traditional Luo dance which is, apparently, very sexually suggestive.  I'm not surprised it's popular.

I have one Benga record in my library, Piny Ose Mer by the biggest name in Benga, Daniel Owino Misiani.  Other names in Benga include the late Okatch Biggy, who based on the number of views of his videos on Youtube is super popular.  It'a always interesting seeing what musicians are actually popular where they live and which are only heard by foreigners.  Also popular is Princess Jully, the widow of Prince Jully.  There's a video of Dunia Mbaya on Youtube with about 650,000 views - a fairly early upload to Youtube in 2017, and it's accordingly extremely artifacted.  Looks like it wasn't shot much before 2007, though, from what I can tell of the original source quality - it's got that _feel_ of '00s African video.  The video is actually credited to "Prince Jully" but he's nowhere to be seen in this video.

Robinson Ochieng has this to say about the Princess Jully song "Aroko Charlie" which he uploaded to Youtube in 2018:

"This song was a virus in the late 90's . This was a hit that sold and had clubs filled to the brim. Jully praises the immense wealth of her friend aroko who owns boats and has a penchant for fishing and exporting the same in Nairobi and other countries."

I personally like the other Princess Jully songs better ... the quality of his rip is a little hissy and distant.  I do prefer the songs "Jully Yuko Wapi" and "Agwenge".

Right, I think that's a post!