When I learned of the passing of Ali Pesa, the lead guitarist of John Junior's Beautiful Voices (BV) Band International, my reaction was that of shock and disbelief. It had been barely a month after I had met him at Downholm, Nairobi at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Frail and emaciated though he looked, he appeared happy and contented; wearing his usual dimpled smile. He had a guitar on his shoulder and was apparently going to perform at show in the area that evening. It therefore came as shock to me when I heard just a few months later that he had passed away in April, the same year (2020). Ali Pesa was without a doubt the best lead guitar Kenya has ever produced. Unbeknown to many, Ali Pesa wasn't himself a Luo but played mainly in Luo bands. He was a Luhya by tribe but a Luo by choice. Colloquially called "Baba Tuzo/Tuso" and "Mbongo" his presence instantly transformed bands from hitherto unknown local pub groups to nationally acclaimed super band...

 It is difficult to tell exactly how much Lingala Musa Juma could speak, but by analyzing the lyrics of his songs we can make a pretty solid estimation. Musa Juma was a Luo from Kenya and there is no evidence that he ever lived, worked in or even visited either of the two Congo republics where Lingala is predominantly spoken. But we also know that a visit or stay in a country is not the only way to interact with a language. From a face-value analysis of Musa Juma's lyrics it is evident that he could at least mumble a few Lingala words. For a person who worked with and lived amongst many Congolese immigrants in Kenya for most of his adult life, it should come at no surprise that he would try singing in the language. The Lingala language is held to a rather higher esteem in the Kenyan music scene more than say Swahili, and is definitely more reputable than local Kenyan dialects like say Dholuo and Kikamba. It is no surprise, therefore, that a Kenyan artiste would strive to ...

 If you had read that headline just two years ago you would certainly have asked, "Are you kidding me?". But the truth is, this year is not 2022, and no, I'm not kidding you. It is the worst kept secret in Kenya today but the former prime minister of Kenya and the current President are working on a political alliance, that is sure to shake the country. No one saw it coming. It wasn't meant to happen. The whole of Mount Kenya political establishment has worked their asses off to keep it from happening, but it is now sure to happen. The only question is when But how did we get here? We have to go back - way back - to 2007 to get to the genesis of it all. 2007 seems like a long time a ago, but the events that transpired pre- and post- the general elections of that year still cast a dark shadow on Kenya's political future. The seeds of madness sown during that dark chapter of Kenya's history have grown into a giant tree under whose canopy the current and future po...