With rather long flight times between Harrisburg and Nairobi (Harrisburg to Detroit, to Amsterdam to Nairobi over a two-day stretch and the reverse coming back) I had to load some new stuff on the iPod. First up, was the cast soundtrack for “The Story of Mormom,” which I had wanted anyway, but sort of makes sense since it is set in Africa. I haven’t played it yet, but from the reviews I have read it appears that Parker and Stone have gone easy on the Mormons but hard on the Africans, which surprises me. I say that although the Mormons have officially been low-key in their displeasure. It did however, prompt one commentator to remark, “The Book of Mormon is a minstrel show for our present age with Mormons as the joke. Broadway has given aid and comfort to the mob of ignorant folk who know nothing of modern Mormonism outside of their prejudices” but that comment is taken from Salt Lake City’s Deseret news. Regardless, it is the highest charting Broadway cast album since “Hair,” so we will have to see.
Next up is a “new” Neil Young release, “A Treasure”. New is in quotes because it is a live compilation from a 1984 and 1985 tour with the countryesque International Harvesters. This was when Young was famously sued by his record label for not writing Neil Young style music.
But what I really tried to do with only limited success was to put together a playlist of Kenya music. But is is hard to get contemporary Kenyan music off iTunes. As one commentator put it, “Kenya’s pop music is undoubtedly one of most diverse in Africa. Unfortunately, by the time her music has passed through the long filtering process of the international “market,” only a handful of titles make it on to the this amazing diversity who must rely on “the market” to bring Kenyan pop music to their local record shop, this amazing diversity of pop sounds the best kept secrets of Africa.” So I think what I ended up with would be more accurately considered “oldies.”
I have “Benga Blast” by Daniel Owino Misiani and Shirati Jazz. The Luo benga band toured in Europe, so is somewhat known outside Kenya but I doubt it gets a lot of downloads off iTunes.
“Kenya Dance Mania” has some great songs by Les Wanyika, Super Wanyika and Maroon Commandos. Again, this is more of a greatest hits than current compilation.
Finally, “Music from Kenya” is another compilation CD. It is rather eclectic, including, for example Maasi chants. My favorite is “Africa Must Say No” by Them Mushrooms, which is performed in English.
So I hope to a little bit of an education in what is currently popular while I am in Nairobi and pick up some CDs that I can download onto my iPod.
