Boys Choir of Kenya

AMERIKA JAMBO: Boys Choir of Kenya Applauds America's New Era with New CD

St. Louis, MO, November 5, 2008: In three US Tours by the Boys Choir of Kenya (BCK) this year, audiences were charmed by their smiles, captivated by their high-octane choral theatre, awed by the diversity of their repertoire and impressed by their discipline. Tour states were California, Nevada, Texas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, which, by association with presenting organization, African Musical Arts, Inc. of St. Louis, has become their adoptive US state. They packed audiences in hundreds and thousands and were content to bask in the generous applause and accolades of their appreciative fans. There was not a mention of Barack Obama and not a single deliberate intent to highlight his historic campaign for the US Presidency. But there was no need to utter word that underscored what already was apparent in the smiles and joys that oozed out of their audiences. At the Elgin Rehabilitation Center, near Chicago, where they gave a special performance for the residents, Dominique de Lerma, the legendary musicologist, in whose honor the Boys Choir of Kenya visited the Center noted: "...certainly NOW, they will vote Barack Obama because these boys (BCK) have deeply touched the residents here and no doubt reorientated their minds toward the Candidacy of this son of a Kenyan immigrant."
During the tours they recorded their second CD, Amerika Jambo, meaning, "Welcome America," an obvious reference to the new era that was imminent with the election of America's first African-American President. The CD begins with a Maasai chant, Yie ee ho, a chant meant to herald success – from a grueling initiation, battle, hunt, a bounty harvest or marrying the village’s beauty. It is normally performed by young warriors of same age group. Track 2, Kikererani lelo is a Kalenjin folk song to welcome heroes. To their audiences across America, the Boys Choir of Kenya chants, “you are our heroes.” Though the Kalenjins boast a fair stock of Kenya’s greatest athletes, this song for BCK has become a chant to welcome royalty and other important dignitary. The song’s hypnotic strain has endeared it to audiences worldwide. Track 3, Kalinde malua is a folksong from the Giriama community. It is a wedding satire for the bride to be a good role model at her new in-laws. Throughout her marriage life, she should "always be the flower she was brought up to be," and she should especially pay attention to her 'garden,' and "nurse and cherish the peppers and vegetables that sprout from it." Track 4, Jambo is a popular welcome or greeting song across East Africa for tourists to visit Kenya and enjoy its lovely peoples, breathtaking sceneries and wildlife. But in all of their three US tours in 2008, the BCK used the song to invite Americans to put Kenya back on their vacation destinations. The brief unrest of the spring had tarnished Kenya’s reputation as one of Africa’s most beloved tourism spots. And as indicated in many emails ensuing from BCK’s tours, their magical smiles and voices indeed calmed and charmed many people back to Kenya for visits. Track 5, Wedding dance is an intermezzo during a typical traditional ceremony… “The groomfolks are here; where are the bridefolks?” Track 6, Ndumbu really is an enchanting wedding suite woven together by the magic wand of composer J. Muyale Inzai, easily Kenya’s most hardworking choral master of his generation. It is from his Luhya community, and collectively the tune fragments extol the true beauty of a bride: “real beauties are the ladies with ‘real’ flesh on their bodies, like this absolutely lovely bride, Siliya! Track 7, Hallowed be Thy Name is a paraphrase on the “The Lord’s Prayer.” Track 8, America, the Beautiful has brought tears to many of BCK’s audiences, including the great Tony Bennet, talkshow guru Regis Philbin, legendary poet Maya Angelou, celebrated actress Whoopi Goldberg and Queen Silvia of Sweden. In Track 9, Twenty-Third Psalm, the calming rendition of this setting in Yoruba language by Nigeria’s Christopher Ayodele was accompanied and directed by composer and African Chorus founder, Fred Onovwerosuoke. These boys were clearly aware of the safety concerns widely expressed about the Candidacy of Senator Barack Obama, now President-Elect Barack Obama. The songs in Tracks 7 and 9 however always reassured them of their faith in the American Democracy and its perennial influence on the rest of the world. Track 10, Ain’t Got Time to Die, is the popular Spiritual by Hall Johnson which never fails to energize BCK’s audiences worldwide. Track 11, Working on a Building, is the choral transcription by Vermont’s choral arranger John Harrison and is another staple on BCK’s vibrant repertoire. Track 12, Eh Guku ni kwao is a Kikuyu folksong performed by young warriors. “Whose home is this? This is our home… Then we must protect it by every means… Let’s celebrate!” Track 13, Lumonde is a Baganda folksong from Uganda to celebrate a bounty harvest and the abundance of food crops. “We were hungry and God has blessed us with a very good harvest – let’s celebrate and be merry!” Track 14, Nareya is one BCK’s many crowd pleasers most demanded by their lady fans. It’s a lovesong and a satire by a young lover whose sweetheart dumped him for the cassanova, rich guy. “You can never buy love with money. “See now how you move from one relationship to another…” The lady agrees that nothing rivals her first, true love, “and I am still your first, true love!...” Track 15, Kikererani lelo is again the Kalenjin hero’s folksong, a befitting reprise by a group of highly disciplined, resolute young men who, who though hailing from some of Kenya’s most impoverished families, have dedicated themselves to sharing with the world Africa’s happiest face and memories and what it has to offer the worlds of the performing arts and multicultural education.
– Fred Onovwerosuoke.

Dr. Fred Onovwerosuoke is a renowned composer and Founder of the St Louis-based African Musical Arts, Inc., an organization dedicated to promoting the music and accomplishments of African-descent composers. Online at www.africanchorus.org. He may be reached by email to: fredo@fredomusic.com or telephone to 314-289-4052. The 2008 US Tours by the Boys Choir of Kenya were sponsored in part by the Carlson Foundation, Micato Safaris, Okobos Foundation, the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission and the Missouri Arts Council.

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“Dominant, simply dominant performance,...words really can’t describe this” says an awe-struck gentleman in New York, of the Boys’ live appearance on the CBS’s “The Early Show.” In Chicago a choral director who drove into Kansas City, because she missed their concert in Chicago reminisced, “I closed my teary eyes as they approached the climatic Amen of Carter’s ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’... These boys got all the genres down...” Perhaps no other African youth choir dominated peer competition like the Boys Choir of Kenya. They’ve earned acclaim in Kenya and abroad as a disciplined group with a work ethic that parallels the King’s College Cambridge Choir and the Harlem Boys Choir of New York. Whether in concert or choral workshop a show by the Boys Choir of Kenya is simply an experience – the wide vocal range, diverse pan-African repertoire, mature artistry, drama, and, oh, the costumes!

Repertoire
They perform a wide-ranging repertoire - from traditional Masaai and Samburu chants to contemporary pieces from around Africa, not forgetting the regular corpus of European and American choral repertoire with other classics from around the world – Bach, Mozart, Negro Spirituals, as well as Caribbean folk songs remain mainstay. In their home country Kenya, however, audiences throng to their concerts to hear renditions of songs and chants favorite among Kenya’s 42 main ethnic groups.

Concerts
Since their first participation 1989 as Aquinas Boys Choir in the Kenyan Music Festivals , the boys have attracted a large following to every concert appearance. In 1999 at a concert to commemorate the 1998 bombing of the American Embassy in Nairobi, the boys’ emotive performance drew tears from everyone in attendance, including President Moi and other world dignitaries. In 2000 two of their songs – Pitie, an arrangement of a Lingala pop tune by Bopol Mansiamina, and Lilova, a favorite Luhya folk tune by J. Muyale Inzai – received standing ovations, and won first place and the highest marks ever awarded by adjudicators at a Kenya National Music Festivals. In 2001 their rendition of Kimpa Kisangameni, a Congolese folk tune, was an immediate audience magnet, and raked in first-place prize at every major music and cultural competition. In 2002 their version of Lady Issa’s Sesa Sista and John Mwale’s Susana immediately became signature tunes across Kenya. That year they earned high commendation from former Kenya’s President Arap Moi. And at the 2003 Kenya Music Festivals National Level, they won their division handily with two songs, Mulongo and Nasafiri, which have also become signature tunes! The boys have exceeded many expectations and attained many landmarks, but none perhaps is more legendary than their daring entry into an all-girl competition sponsored by the group Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, a local NGO (non-governmental organization) that advocates women education and empowerment in the society: out of the sixteen all-girl entries, the Boys Choir emerged first place winner. As the saying goes in Nairobi, ‘’They [the Boys] talked about the girls better than the girls themselves!’’ On their North American in 2004, audiences and press alike followed the boys through the Northeast, up to Quebec, down to Atlanta, through major cities in the Midwest. Here are excerpt press acclaim from tours across North America:

To schedule a concert in your area call +1 314-652-6800/+254 733 634980 or send email to bck@boyschoirkenya.org
The Boys Choir of Kenya program is represented by ©St. Louis African Chorus All rights reserved.