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 energetic; 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, that very year (2020). Ali Pesa was without a doubt the best lead guitarist Kenya has ever produced. His unique guitar playing style was high on energy, danceable and rhythmic, producing intricate, fast-paced, and interlocking melodic lines reminiscent of Congolese rumba. It was this unique style that endeared him to the fans and artists alike. Any serious Luo benga or rumba artist knew t...

 Listening to Musa Juma's tracks one quickly realizes that he knew some Lingala (Lingala is a Language, not a genre of music). It is however difficult to tell exactly how much Lingala Musa Juma could speak. Can we be able to tell how much Lingala Language Musa Juma knew by analyzing the lyrics of his songs? We hope 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 mainly 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 i...