Joseph Kamaru & Joseph Kamaru (Kenya)

Two Kenyan musicians, a generation removed.

KMRU is a Kenyan ambient musician who is known - among other things - for releasing music at at fairly quick pace, as noted here in this 2021 Daily Bandcamp article. Pitchfork checked in with KMRU at about the same time. Read that profile here.

KMRU is Joseph Kamaru. It's a name that would likely be familiar to older fans of Kenyan music, since it's also the name of his late grandfather, also a prolific musician.

The elder Kamaru passed in 2018, at nearly 80 years old, but now has a Bandcamp page of his own. Where it notes, "Little known outside of Africa, Joseph Kamaru has been influencing the music scene in his homeland of Kenya since 1967...Kamaru was a Kenyan Benga and gospel musician and political activist, an an icon, a hero, and a leading Kikuyu musician."

Between the two artists, there's enough music to keep listeners busy for quite some time.

To find out more, try "A Tale of Two Kamarus," from The Pan African Music Magazine.

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