Allow me to shock you. "Lingala" is not a genre of music like many people tend to think. The genre of music most Kenyans mistakenly call ‘Lingala’ is actually known as ‘soukous’. Lingala is a Bantu language spoken in four countries on the African continent. Lingala usage in popular culture in Kenya is rising on an epic scale, propelled, no doubt, by the influence of Congolese music. Radio shows like rhumba bakulutu, rhumba attention, and the like where listeners are constantly bombarded with Lingala phrases they barely understand are all the rage. Guess where you first heard the phrase “ tozali kokoba nse kokoba lokola koba akobaka” (we go on, and on like a totoise crawls) Was it not in a rumba music show on Qwetu FM? Internationally acclaimed artistes like Fally Ipupa, Ferre Gola, Werrason, JP Mpiana, Le General Defao, Koffi Olomide etc all predominantly sing in Lingala language. And these are artistes with huge following in Nairobi. It's therefore of little surprise