Title: Shades of benga
Description: "Kenya's popular music traces its origins to the end of the Second World War. The returning soldiers who had fought in India and Burma brought back home novel instruments that would shape the modern Kenyan sound; the accordion and acoustic guitar. Shades of Benga: The Story of Popular Music in Kenya delves into the foundations of modern Kenyan music, examining external influences from the English waltz to Afro Cuban rumba and how they helped mould new music styles across Africa. Rumba was brought to Eastern Africa via the itinerant Congolese musicians Edouard Massengo and Jean Bosco Mwenda who's intricate guitar-picking styles largely shaped the present Kenyan sound, with the benga playing a dominant role. This book looks at the influences of American pop music, from the twist of the 1960s to funk of the 1970s, and the effect it continues to have on Kenya's urban culture. It dwells on the politics of the business of music and how the powerful multi-nationals such as Phonogram, EMI and CBS were forced to close shop in the mid 1980s and their place taken by local music producers like Phares Oluoch Kanindo and other emergent 'indies' based in Nairobi's River Road. Based on research supported by the Ford Foundation Eastern Africa, the book paints a broad picture of the music scene, offering invaluable insights to music-lovers and researchers on music icons that have captured the imaginations of Kenyans for six decades"--Back cover.
Subjects: Popular music, History and criticism, Musicians
Places: Kenya