The following morning, the group which comprised of Ogoya Nengo on lead vocals, Olith Ratego, Margaret Ondiege Asin and Wilfrida Anyango on support vocals, Joseph Oloo aka Maumbo on ohangla, Boaz Aketch on Orutu, George Achieng’ on drums, Tobias Onyango on traditional drums and Joseph Ojung’a on the oporo (horn), were up bright and early and ready for their scheduled soundcheck at Ngome Kongwe (the Old Fort) in Stonetown, the venue of Sauti za Busara Festival 2012.

Fast forward to showtime later that evening at 8.20pm, Ogoya Nengo’s powerful vocals reverberated accross the fort’s walls, to the delight and applause from the crowd after each and every song.

Ogoya Nengo and Olith ratego on stage at Ngome Kongwe

At one point, Camirata Group from Northern Sudan who had peformed the previous night, were so impressed by Ogoya Nengo’s performance that they jumped on stage and danced along with Ogoya Nengo.

At the end of her set, Ogoya walked off the stage to another roar of applause from the audience.

Ogoya Nengo and Olith Ratego backstage after their performance

Ogoya Nengo had a day to explore and discover Zanzibar before taking her flight back to Nairobi on the 12th of February.

Featured photos courtesy Ketebul Music

Ogoya Nengo, the matriach of Ketebul Music will be gracing the stage at Ngome Kongwe in Stone Town, Zanzibar during the Sauti za Busara Festival.

Ogoya Nengo - The Dodo Queen

Ogoya who is no stranger to performing at international stages will be taking the stage on the 10th of February accompanied by her long time collaborators Margaret Asin, Wilfrida Owit and Olith Ratego and a 6piece band which will include famed kenge Kenge orutu player, George Achieng’ and Ohangla drum maestro Maumbo.

Magaret Asin, Ogoya Nengo and Maombo

George Achieng' (far right) on orutu

Maombo, the Ohangla drum and percussions maestro

She will perform and showcase music from her debut studio CD titled Matatu, which features songs done in the dodo style from the lake region of Kenya.

You can catch up with Ogoya and her band on the 10th of February from 8.20pm.

Mulatu Astatke is an Ethiopian jazz musician, who is credited as being the father and founder of Ethio – Jazz. He was the first African to be admitted to Berkley College of Music. In the early 1970s, Astatke brought his new sound, which he called Ethio-jazz, back to his homeland. while continuing to work in the US. He collaborated with many notable artists in both countries, arranging and playing on recordings by Mahmoud Ahmed, and appearing as a special guest with Duke Ellington and his band during a tour of Ethiopia in 1973 (Quoted from Wikipedia).

Following a meeting with Ketebul Music’s Executive Director, Tabu Osusa in Johannesburg late last year, Mulatu visited Ketebul Music studios last week and spent time recording material for his upcoming project.

Mulatu Astatke and Tabu Osusa at Ketebul Music Studios

Mulatu spent the time recording and arranging music with the latest addition to the Ketebul Music family, Eddie Grey. This was a collaborative effort where one of the songs with the working title, ‘Ethio Kenyan Fusion’ also featuring Rapasa on Nyatiti and Rashid Jibril on percussions, with the maestro himself on the piano, and Eddie Grey on the guitar.

Mulatu Astatke in studio with Eddie Grey and Rapasa recording Ethio-Kenyan Fusion

Mulatu Astatke in a studio session with Eddie Grey and Rashid Jibril at Ketebul Music Studios

Supported by the Institut Francais under the Ateliers du Monde programme, Makadem was selected for the residency programme which will see him study under internationally reknown kalimba maestro, Lolendo Mvulu, with the intention of improving his kalimba playing skills.

Makadem who spent the better part of last year in Europe, will also use his time in Paris interacting with other musicians like the critically acclaimed Congolese guitarist Syrian M’Benza.known for his collaborations with the likes of Sam Mangwana, Vicky Longomba and Nyboma to name but a few. Syrian M’Benza is widely acknowledged as one of Africa’s finest and most accomplished guitarists (quoted from African Musician’s Profiles).

Makadem in Copenhagen 2011. Photo courtesy One World

We at Ketebul Music extend our gratitude to Institut Francais for giving Makadem this opportunity.

Featured photo ©Paulo da Costa

Compiled over a period of one and a half years, Retracing Kenya’s Funky Hits is packaged as a narrative booklet, an audio CD compilation of 15 Kenyan funk numbers from Slim Ali, Kelly Brown, Steele Beauttah, Sal Davies,Ismael Jingo, Feisal Brown, the Ashantis, The Mighty Cavaliers, The Hodi Boys, Black Savage and Air Fiesta Matata, and a DVD.

Sal Davies

Steele Beauttah

Kelly Brown

Featured photo: Air Fiesta Matata

We hope you all had a wonderful festive season break and are in good health ready to take on this new year.

We pray that this new year will bring prosperity to you all.

Stay tuned for more exciting projects and news from Ketebul Music. We have a lot of great projects and releases lined up for this year, and we are looking forward to sharing them with you!

Together with his band, Makadem performed DHI NDALO, a song from his current album OHANGLAMAN and was backed up by Soweto Kinch, Carl Winther, Yohan Ramon and Yuliesky Guerra Gonzalez.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

Featured photo by Derek Ruttan, London Free Press

Makadem, The Ohanglaman, one of the most exciting musicians and performers from Kenya,opened the stage for the great Nigerian musician Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti,better known as Seun Kuti, son to the legendary Afro Beat pioneer Fela Kuti.

Makadem & Seun Kuti. The two Igwe's chilling out backstage

This was a great opportunity and honour for Makadem who has been likened to the great Fela Kuti himself, owing to his energy and  stage presence. This was the sixth performance on Makadem’s One World Scandinavian tour which began on the 20th of October and will be coming to a close on the 19th of November 2011.

Also joining makadem on stage was Soweto Kinch, a renowned British alto saxophonist and rapper.

For more information on this and other shows on the tour CLICK HERE.

Featured photo by Paulo da Costa. To see more photos of Makadem by Paulo da Costa CLICK HERE.

Fabien came by with some worrying news. According to our itinerary, we were meant to leave Bulawayo on Tuesday afternoon by bus to arrive in Johannesburg on Wednesday morning. But due to some miscommunication, we were not being expected in Johannesburg before Thursday morning.

This meant we could not depart Bulawayo on Wednesday afternoon to arrive Joburg on Thursday morning. This presented a whole new set of problems: were supposed to check out of St. Patrick’s Hotel Bulawayo on Tuesday morning, and the bus we were booked into for the road trip to Joburg was only available on Tuesdays and Sundays.

In short, Fabien had to find us a place to sleep on Tuesday evening and a bus to Joburg on Wednesday afternoon! He was clearly stressed, but he promised to have it sorted out. He suggested we all spent Wednesday night at his place. I was skeptical when he suggested we share beds and I told him that won’t be possible. We could share rooms but not beds. Fabien assured me he would find enough beds so that no one would have to share a bed. All the same, I had a talk with the guys to prepare them psychologically just in case Fabien wasn’t able tofind enough beds for everyone.

Rainbow Hotel, Bulawayo
After lunch at Papa’s, we took the short walk to Rainbow Hotel, the venue for the nights show, for set up and sound check. The sound crew was the same from the Hillside Dams gig. They hadn’t finished setting up, so once again we sent the ladies back to the hotel and then went off for a walk in town as the crew finished setting up.

We came back to the venue an hour at 5.00pm later to find them running a line check. Half an hour later they were done and we did a quick sound check and headed back to the hotel to rest before the show that evening.

Rainbow Hotel, Bulawayo – Intwasa Festival Opening Ceremony
We were back at the Rainbow Hotel at half seven (7.30pm). The other act of the day, Rainbow Marimba Group, was still on stage winding up on their set. They were a pretty impressive group, playing popular tunes only on the marimbas.

Rainbow Marimba, opening act for Gargar at Intwasa Festival in Bulawayo

The ladies, who had been taken to their dressing room by Gilmore as soon as we got there, came over to the hall dressed in some very intricate red costumes that had everyone gasping. I could hear murmurs from the audience as they pointed at Gargar, clearly impressed by their look.

Amina of Gargar in their red Somali dresses at Intwasa Festival

We had planned the show a little different this evening. We would break into two sets of 4 songs each. After the first set, Rainbow Marimba would come back for their second set followed by Gargar for their second set.

Luli was on fire this evening. She took to the dance floor from the first song, walking into the audience calling on them to join her on the dance floor. There was a large attendance by campus students who danced all through the set.

Luli giving an intense performance at Intwasa Festival

The audience was full of dancing university students

For their second set, Gargar changed their clothes and came on stage dressed in traditional Islamic black dresses called ‘buibui.’ Once again they worked the audience into a frenzy especially with their last song, the funk oriented Sar, which had so far been the audience’s favorite in all the shows. The standing ovation from the audience when Gargar stepped off stage was very touching, and Luli was clearly moved by the feeling of appreciation.

Gargar dressed in traditional black buibui's

St Patrick’s Hotel, Bulawayo
The same cycle repeated itself back at the hotel after the show, everyone else went off to bed, while Shady, Erico, and I whiled away the hours watching TV and drinking beer supplied to us courtesy of Fabien.

Seun Kuti is the youngest son of legendary Nigerian afro beat pioneer Fela Kuti. Seun is backed by his father’s former band, Egypt 80, which consists of musicians that not only played with Fela, but were often arrested and harassed alongside the founder of the Afrobeat movement.

Makadem, renowned for his electrifying performances and high energy on stage, is also set to perform at the 2011 edition of Word Music Expo (WOMEX), backed by his 4 piece band.

Makadem who plays the guitar, kayamba, and kalimba, will perform songs such as Kisumu Bound Bus and Nyar Nairobi City from his debut CD ‘Ohanglaman.’

For information on this tour follow Makadem on: Makadem on Tour