Ohangla genre of music is probably the most popular genre of music in the entire Nyanza region in Kenya right now, but not everyone has been impressed by this meteoric rise. A decade ago, the genre was underground, mainly heard in exclusive late night parties, bars or members' only events. It was disdained, even abhorred and left to the detritus of the human civilization. Ohangla was even banned in some areas in rural Nyanza where the local chiefs saw it as morally disparaging.
How Ohangla shook off those shackles of abhorrence to rise to the envied helm of popular music is a mystery of miraculous proportions. It did not take many years. It reached a point when some artistes who had made a name for themselves in other genres had to jump ship. Those who hitherto eschewed the genre started paying attention - in hard cash. The money started to flow in and where there is money, there's, well, everything else.
The genre has somehow shaken off the aura of depravity, but it is still beset with controversy. Some maintain that modern Ohangla is nothing but dumped down Benga - a position I strongly disagree with - while some say Ohangla is a cheap imitation of Congolese Seben - a far-fetched idea. If there's a genre that ohangla even remotely resembles - and if we must compare it to another genre for some weird reason - however far-fetched it might be - then we can only compare Ohangla (especially the modern version) to rumba music. But I don't like the comparison - what is it for?
Some have argued that Ohangla had better off remained as underground music as an off-shoot of Benga. They maintain that the genre shouldn't have been allowed to surface from the dungeons let alone go mainstream. And for what reason? Because of Ohangla's famed lewd lyrics and association with immorality and crime. It is not just stereotype, they argue; Otieno Aloka's brush of shoulders with the Film Classification Board for a dirty song he allegedly released awhile ago is testament to this.
Yet Ohangla is still here and is only growing more popular, and is becoming more and more widely accepted as an alternative to Benga and rumba - genres that have been on the wane since the late 90s.
Ohangla has massively 'evolved' - Charles Darwin would be very impressed - from its formative years when the main instruments were repercussions, shakers and the Luo orutu (a single stringed lyre), to the modern day bass guitar, keyboards and electric synthesizer and other accompaniments. It is a major metamorphosis that makes the genre almost unrecognizable from its humbler, lower former self. The genre, however, still divides opinions. The more educated urban middle-class tend to shun it, preferring instead Congolese rumba, or modern pop. The Academicians discredit it as a non-genre and few even spare a thought for it. Ohangla has however found wide acceptance among the urban slum dwellers and the rural folks.
Many artistes now claim to be the kings, founders, gurus or queens of Ohangla but the first person to take the lowly tune from a position of near anonymity to a celebrated national phenomenon must be Tony Nyadundo and, to some extent, his brother Jack. The rise of the ohangla, however, spelled death for Benga. Some artistes have even abandoned Benga to major in Ohangla tune, including Lady Maureen and Atommy Sifa to mention but a few. Ohangla is no longer just Luo music. It's Kenyan. Most Kenyan tribes have embraced it and sing it in their own tongues. There are so many artites making a living from the genre, most popular of which are Koffi MacAdorry, Osogo Winyo, Emma Jalamo, Prince Indah, Tony Ndiema, Onyi Papa Jey, Onyango Mayienga, Tony Nyadundo and Jack Nyadundo.
Love it or hate it, Ohangla is here to stay. It is time we accepted it as yet another genre from the Shores of Lake Victoria, Kenya. The rise of this tune - like it's partner in crime, Gengetone - represent the never-die spirit and the struggle of the down-trodden and forgotten slum-dwellers and rural folks who resist the idea that their tastes and preferences can be decided for them and their history written for them-but stand up and fight for what they believe in. And of that we should all be proud.
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