If music be the solution to our troubled country, then let it play:
They lived as lively neighbours since they can't remember when. One used to deliver a concoction he called mursik which chased ugali down the throat. The other used to choma on his coals something he called mutura and his friends said it was the perfect appetizer. The next gentleman used to dry some creatures from the lake that he called omena and when fried it was the best relish to go with ugali. In essence each needed the other and they made the model Kenya we have been proud of.
But the recent spate of madness has claimed the life of the producer of mursik, and ugali is no longer going smoothly down the throat. The creator of mutura is six feet underground and the exotically produced form of sausage that they would eat as an appetiser before a heavy meal is no longer on the menu. The guy who used to capture omena from the lake is reported to have succumbed to a stray bullet that everyone is disputing who fired it, as his friends are complaining that ugali is lacking its dawa (omena).
Is this not the worst form of "you never miss water until the well runs dry", or "you never miss milk until your prize heifer succumbs to East Coast Fever"? What wrong did these three hypothetical characters commit for them to lose their dear lives? Did they have to die first for us to realise that they should not have died in the first place? Where are the priorities of the people who would have consciously or subconsciously instigated the mayhem our country is experiencing? When they went to parliament to elect the speaker, I sat down glued to a TV to watch live as the opposing MPs went for each other's necks. But alas, I was thoroughly disappointed (so much so that I forgot to drink water as my doctor has ordered to imbibe eight glasses a day) for they ended up hugging, back slapping each other and with ferocious high-fives.
This was done in the safety of Bunge, while the ordinary mwananchi was either getting interred, interring, nursing terrible wounds, or involuntarily shedding tears after being tear-gassed. Our very own Elder Shem Onditi is still recovering from the trauma he went through in Kisumu, the city made famous by the easy availability of omena, ngege, kamongo and mbuta. He was cornered and they treated him worse than a fisherman who would have accidentally cut the fishing nets of his neighbour allowing for fish to escape. His true and only makosa was that he had travelled to the place he calls home: the land of his 'borning' as they would say in the Caribbean. The grapevine has it that he intends to write a book about his great escape that was facilitated by the Lord. I am trying to beg him to make me his editor and the title I will give his book will be "Wanted Alive on Arrival". Elder Onditi, please tazama upande niliko na unipe hiyo job ya kuhariri hicho kitabu.
Jobjow of Angaza Family Radio has posted two very important music videos on the list, which have squarely addressed the problems that have been brought about by the mayhem that Kenya has experienced since the end of last year. While I am not going to review them for rating, I will nonetheless want to mention them and encourage our readers to listen to the messages. Forget the hybrid genre used in one of the songs and listen to the powerful message of hope and reconciliation which will be understood by all including the deaf.
The first one is Wakenya Pamoja For Peace by an assembly of over 30 Kenyan Artistes, among them church pastors. It is a prayer which among its many implorations requires of Kenyans to light the fire of love and peace. It asks Kenyans to give love a chance by loving, lifting and building each other in peace while bemoaning the beauty of Kenya that is at stake. It is produced by Robert Kamanzi and word out of Kenya is that it is being played over and over by nearly all the radio stations in the land.
One of the artistes, Roy Smith Mwatia, in an interview with BBC Radio from Nairobi said that it took them a day to write and perform it. He has uttered the most inspiring words in recent times, some of which I have immortalised in the heading of this review: "(The song) is medication and as long as it is going to help in the peace process, then let it play. If music be the solution to our troubled country, then let it play." The song looks at the one Kenya that we know while asking its people to be patriots for the love of country. They end by holding hands with the passionate message "let us be one." It is a song I would recommend to all lovers of peace.
It is a powerful rendition which is aptly illustrated by equally powerful footage of images of Kenya, opening with scenes from an interdenominational prayer meeting, a peaceful Nairobi that is followed by telling images of the destruction caused by the mayhem in the country as the singer's words cut through with a message asking Kenyans to join (hands) to build the country telling them that he "lives and believes in Kenya."
We are taken to the tranquil of lush green tea farms probably in Kericho and the good times with an army brass band in action and back to scenes Kenyans will be ashamed of for years to come as footage of women in anguish are flashed, some of them in slow motion for effect, then fast rewound to the Mau Mau days where the singer remarks that Kenyans lost their lives and rotted in jails for attempting to break the yokes of colonialism, leaving one to wonder out loud then how come Kenyans are going through a similar experience today when their country is free.
Even as I said that this song was not for rating (awarding of green stars) I would from a contemporary standpoint rate it as being in the same league, but at a much lower rung, with the likes of Elton John's Candle in The Wind (Tribute to Princess Diana). My only concern is that this Kenyan maestro, Eric Wainaina, is not adequately immortalised on this video, so to speak. We only hear his voice but we do not see him. The producers of the video (NTV) should have done better, and to give Eric his jacket.
