"The King of History: Classic 1970s Benga beats from Kenya"

A few years after the death of the Benga Maestro Daniel Owino (D.O.) Misiani, Sterns Music has released a special CD featuring his classic hits of the 1970s.

Misiani and his Shirati Jazz played a key role in the creation and development of Benga music.

Listening to this 14 track CD titled “The King of History: Classic 1970s Benga beats from Kenya” makes one re-live the early stages of fine tuning of Benga music, with youthful Misiani and his band playing quite energetic and danceable music.

This is a rare collection of Misiani’s hits which were not easily available since all of them were previously released on vinyl only, and mainly distributed in Kenya.

Misiani addressed different subjects in his music. Unlike many Benga musicians who mainly compose love songs, most of Misiani’s compositions were praise songs in honour of societal heroes. He was a political commentator and to some extent, a political prophet who successfully prophesised political events in Kenya and many African countries. He used his music to condemn injustice and lobby support for politicians he believed had the interests of the people at heart. His criticism of oppressive regimes made him spend some time in prison or flee for a while to Tanzania, his home country.

Misiani was known as “Mwalimu” (Swahili word for teacher) because of his political and social commentaries, in addition to the fact that he taught music to most Benga musicians.

One can only hope that more of those rare and unavailable hits of Misiani are on the way.

To listen to some exclusive preview tracks from “The King of History: Classic 1970s Benga beats from Kenya,” please log on to www.myspace.com/sternsmusicuk or http://www.sternsmusic.com/disk_info.php?id=STCD3051

TRACKLISTING
Giko Piny
Wang Ni To Iringo
Kiseru
LK The Pretty
Safari Ya Garissa
Mary: Part 1
Mary: Part 2
Ngeruok Joshirati: Part 1
Ngeruok Joshirati: Part 2
Simaya Chunye Oketo
Jaa
Harusi Ya MK
Christina Jaber
Sheroline

By Stephen Ogongo

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