Today is Madaraka Day – “Madaraka Day commemorates the day that Kenya attained internal self-rule following an important milestone on the road to independence.”
Members of the Kenyan Blogs Webring (KBW) are celebrating the day with a series of posts on Kenya. I only recently joined the KBW but everyone has been extremely welcoming and I can truly say that I am happy to be part of the KBW community. I have actually visited Kenya, Nairobi to be precise, although it was quite a while back. I really remember hardly anything and I was only there for a few days. I have to confess that until a few days ago I had never heard the word “Madaraka” but I wish all Kenyans a happy day and I hope those of you in the Diaspora will not feel too sad at being away from home on this day.
It so happens that one of my favourte musicians is a Kenyan so it seems apt to write a short piece on Kenyan musicians as a way of celebrating Kenya’s past, present and future on this special Madaraka Day. Here are three that I specially like. First is Ayub Ogada who I have been listening to for many years and is one of my favourte artists. Ayub Ogada plays the “nyatiti” which is a string instrument and like the mbira has a metal bit which acts as a resonater giving that kind of ting vibrating sound. 
Nyatiti Clip
His music is a mixture of traditional and modern. Here he is (left) with Zimbabwean mbira player, Chartwell Dutiro – two sides of one coin, the nyatiti and the mbira – a spiritual high.
Another great Kenyan band is Jabila Afrika which is very different to the mellow Ogada with a strong powerful roots jazz mix sound. They have an excellent website where you can listen to Jabali-afrika radio all day long.
Finally in my Kenyan trio is Kenya’s answer to Franco – the late Ochieng Kabaselleh – lovers rock Kenyan style. For some reason listening to this reminds me of growing up and the “good old days” of family fun and laughter – once we were young – better stop before I burst into tears!
Signing off with some Ayub Ogada Happy Madaraka Day! 
