Benga is a genre of Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

n popular music

Popular music

Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...

. It evolved between the late 1940s and late 1960s, in Kenya's capital city

Capital City

Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....

 of Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

. In the 1940s, the African Broadcasting Service in Nairobi aired a steady stream of soukous

Soukous

Soukous is a dance music genre that originated in the two neighbouring countries of Belgian Congo and French Congo during the 1930s and early 1940s, and which has gained popularity throughout Africa...

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n kwela

Kwela

Kwela is a happy, often pennywhistle-based, street music from southern Africa with jazzy underpinnings and a distinctive, skiffle-like beat. It evolved from the marabi sound and brought South African music to international prominence in the 1950s....

, Zaire

Zaire

The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...

an finger-style guitar and various kinds of Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n dance music

Dance music

Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

. There were also popular folk songs of Kenya's Luo

Luo (family of ethnic groups)

The Luo are an ethnic linguistic group located in an area that stretches from South Sudan and Ethiopia through northern Uganda and eastern Congo , into western Kenya, and ending in the upper tip of Tanzania. These people speak an Eastern Sudanic language, a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language...

 and Kikuyu peoples.

Luo Benga

The Luo of Kenya have long played an eight-string lyre

Lyre

The lyre is a stringed musical instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later. The word comes from the Greek "λύρα" and the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists", written in Linear B syllabic script...

 called nyatiti

Nyatiti

The nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked lyre from Kenya. It is a classical instrument played by the Luo people of Western Kenya, typically in Benga music. It is about two to three feet long. The player holds it to his chest while seated on a low stool. Usually it is played together with the...

, and guitarists from the area sought to imitate the instrument's syncopated

Syncopation

In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...

 melodies

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

. In benga, the electric bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 is played in a style reminiscent of the nyatiti

Nyatiti

The nyatiti is a five to eight-stringed plucked lyre from Kenya. It is a classical instrument played by the Luo people of Western Kenya, typically in Benga music. It is about two to three feet long. The player holds it to his chest while seated on a low stool. Usually it is played together with the...

. As late as the turn of the twentieth century, this bass in nyatiti supported the rhythm essential in transmitting knowledge about the society through music. Opondo Owenga of Gem Yala

Yala, Kenya

Yala is a rural town in Gem Constituency in the Nyanza Province of western Kenya, 42 kilometres northwest of Kisumu. It has a population of 25,769 , of whom just 2,438 live at the town itself . Yala is one of four divisions of the Siaya District...

, the grandfather of Odhiambo Siangla, was known in employing music as a means of teaching history of the Luo.

In 1967, the first major benga band, Shirati Jazz, was formed by Daniel Owino Misiani

Daniel Owino Misiani

Daniel Owino Misiani was a musician from Kenya. He was known as the "King of History" in Kenya; overseas, he was known as "the grandfather of benga", of which he was a pioneer....

. The group launched a string of hits that were East Africa's biggest songs throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Shirati Jazz's biggest rival was Victoria Jazz, formed in 1972 by Ochieng Nelly Mengo and Collela Mazee

Collela Mazee

Collela Mazee was a Kenyan musician, who was a leading member of the Victoria Jazz band alongside Ochieng Nelly. They were among the originators of the benga music, a music genre with origins in Kenya's Luoland....

. Despite many personnel changes, Victoria Jazz remained popular throughout the 1970s, when the Voice of Kenya radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 pushed an onslaught of East African pop. Victoria C Band of Awino Lawi was one of the splinter group of Victoria Jazz.

1997 saw the death of three prominent Luo Benga artist, Okatch Biggy of Heka Heka Band, George Ramogi

George Ramogi

George Ramogi was a Kenyan musician, who empowered the traditional luo benga and rumba genre of music. Ramogi was known for his spur of the good life and his notable appearances at bars and clubs in western Kenya-Nyanza region...

 and Prince Jully. The Jolly Boys Band of Prince Jully was taken over by his wife Princess Jully

Princess Jully

Princess Jully is a benga musician from Kenya.She started as a back-up vocalist for Jolly Boys Band led by her husband Prince Jully . Prince Jully died in 1997 and subsequently Princess Jully took over the leadership of the band...

 and she has since been a leading female Benga musician.

Another famous benga band Migori Super Stars was formed in the mid 70s and was led by Musa Olwete which later split to form another popular benga band Migori Super Stars C with musicians such as Joseph Ochola (Kasongo Polo Menyo), Onyango Jamba, Ochieng' Denge denge and others.

More modern benga artists include Kapere Jazz Band and the rootsy Ogwang Lelo Okoth. The new millennium has seen emergence of Dola Kabarry

Dola Kabarry

Kevin Omondi Migot better known for his stage name Dola Kabarry is a benga musician from Kenya. He leads the band Orchestra Super Haki Haki. His songs are mainly in Dholuo language....

 and Musa Juma

Musa Juma

Musa Juma Mumbo , was a rumba and Benga musician from Kenya. He was the bandleader, guitarist and composer for Orchestra Limpopo International. Most of his music were sang in Dholuo language....

. The latter saw his career cut short as he died in 2011.

There are also Benga artists are based in other countries than Kenya, such as American/Kenyan group Extra Golden

Extra Golden

-History:Bandmember Ian Eagleson studied Benga music from Nairobi for his Ph.D. thesis, and received assistance from Otieno Jagwasi, a Kenyan musician who played in a group called Orchestra Extra Solar Africa...

.

Kikuyu Benga

Major Kikuyu benga musicians include Joseph Kamaru

Joseph Kamaru

Joseph Kamaru is a benga musician from central Kenya. He is a leading Kikuyu musician, who has sold about half million records.Kamaru is from Kangema, Muranga District. In 1957 he went to Nairobi where he got a househelp job...

 and Daniel Kamau

Daniel Kamau

Daniel Kamau is from a Kenyan family of five. He attended Kenyatta University and graduated with a BA. He is the author of "Gambling with Destiny." which was inspired by attacks on tourists in northern Uganda in March 1999. He has also written a play book DayDreamer and is the founder of Jamhuri...

 and Jane Nyambura (Queen Jane

Queen Jane (musician)

Jane Nyambura , better known for her stage name Queen Jane was a Kenyan benga musician performing in Kikuyu language....

).