Music of Africa's Guitar Week #2 - Johnston Mukabi (Kenya)

Our second post in a week that explores acoustic guitar music from various points in Africa.

Johnston Mukabi is the son of noted musician George Mukabi, from Kenya. Here he gets together, with a few friends on percussion, to play the song, 'Kunywa Kidogo.'

This video is part of a series of field recordings from Western Kenya, made as part of the Singing Wells project, in 2018. See the notes from that recording trip here.

The Mukabi recording took place on Day 8 of the project:

Finally, the last session of SW Western Kenya fieldtrip was recording Johnstone Mukabi, the son of legendary George Mukabi, founder of omutibomusic genre and one of the most prominent figures of Luhya music history. Travelling from Eldoret town, Johnstone arrived to the set late and upon arrival immediately sat behind his guitar for recording. Although he arrived alone, he did not have a difficult time composing a band, as all present members of other groups know his father’s songs. So, Johnstone sang some of his father’s greatest hits, songs that any Kenyan can easily identify with: “Kweli Ndugu”; “Mtoto si Nguo”; “Sengula Nakupenda”; “Kunywa Kidogo” and “Watu Wanasema Uongo”. Fadhilee’s reaction to this last session was worth the wait, as he discovered the author of “Kweli Ndugu”, a song he had done a cover of years ago. Therefore, we recorded one last Influences with Fadhilee playing the song alongside Mukabi. The day was closed with a photo session ringing together all the great names of omutibomusic, a truly unique sight.