Kenge Kenge: Introducing Kenge Kenge

opis:
Dziennik, 2007-11-09, ocena: * * * *
'...Wydawnictwa z kręgu world music przynoszą zazwyczaj nagrania gwiazd bądź wygładzone stylizacje. Tymczasem redaktorzy serii 'Introducing' podjęli się ryzyka prezentacji debiutanckich nagrań artystów z odległych zakątków globu. Efekty są wspaniałe, jak w przypadku tej fascynującej grupy. 14-osobowa orkiestra Kenge Kenge działa w Kenii, gdzie narodził się jeden z najpopularniejszych afrykańskich tańców, benga. Zespół prezentuje akustyczne korzenie tego stylu znanego dziś lepiej w elektrycznym wydaniu. Zamiast gitar słyszymy skrzypce, flety oraz baterię małych i dużych bębnów. Ich jasna i radosna energia odmieni nawet najbrzydszą jesień...'
[Rafał Księżyk, 'Playboy']

Editors info:
African Living Traditions - Acoustic Roots Of Kenyan Benga
Kenge Kenge symbolise all that is great about African traditional music, they are the guardians and masters of an ancient but living tradition. They breath new life into Kenya's Luo musical roots, continuing its evolution, from the hand-made instruments of the past, through the popular guitar-based benga, and now returning to both re-explore the acoustic origins of benga and embrace their Luo musical heritage.
Introducing Kenge Kenge is an album of high-energy music and pulsing beat. The band work with traditional Luo instruments, from which the benga beat originally drew its sound, using the orutu (one-stringed fiddle) and the nyangile (gong), plus percussion, drums, horn and flute. Kenge Kenge bring together melodies and rhythms based on their traditional music and create songs on current topics in their own Luo language.
The band was founded in the early 1990s by the late Amdo Jawaya and Samuel Nyariwo and the name translates from Luo into 'fusion of small, exhilarating instruments'. They started out as musicians for the Catering Levy Trust Choir but by the late 1990s had acquired new members, including their current leader, George Achieng, and began to create a more contemporary sound, focusing on the benga rhythm.
Benga in Luo means 'something beautiful'. It originated with Luo musicians coming from the area around Lake Victoria in western Kenya and was strongly influenced by the dance rhythms of the Lingala music of the Congo. Originally popularised in the 1960s by Daniel Owino Mesiani, 'Grandfather of Benga' and leader of Shirati Jazz, it has gone on to be played in clubs all over eastern and central Africa.