Kambanane: Nyatiti music from Kenya 1970 - 1985

by Dagoretti Records

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Remastered and restored classic nyatiti sounds from the heydey of Kenyan vinyl.

Includes unlimited streaming of Kambanane: Nyatiti music from Kenya 1970 - 1985 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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edition of 200

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KAMBANANE Test Pressing

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edition of 4

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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Get Kambanane: Nyatiti Music from Kenya 1970-1980, Thum Nyatiti: Recordings from Western Kenya, Ayani Jowi "The Raging Buffalo" and Grandmaster Masese's AMAZING posthumous LP for one low price!

Includes unlimited streaming of Kambanane: Nyatiti music from Kenya 1970 - 1985 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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NYATITI BUNDLE: 3 LPs for one low price!!
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Get all three nyatiti LPs: Kambanane: Nyatiti Music from Kenya 1970-1985, Thum Nyatiti: Recordings from Western Kenya 1930-1965 and Oduor Nyagweno "Where I go, I am there" all on LP for one low price!!

Includes unlimited streaming of Kambanane: Nyatiti music from Kenya 1970 - 1985 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Ogwang "Lelo" K'okoth - "Dr. Were Were" 04:13	buy track
2.	Ogola Opot - "Samuel Ayany" 04:08	buy track
3.	Okumu K'Orengo - "Ogutu Odemba" 06:38	buy track
4.	Lucas Odote - "Ndonji Oyang" 05:44	buy track
5.	Amolo Kongo - "Otieno Apiyo Abuya" 04:04	buy track
6.	James Obwanda - "Adele Obonyo" 04:48	buy track
7.	Were Omito - "Jaratend Omwono Lok" 04:42	buy track
8.	Ochieng Ragwel - "Ojul Otieno" 04:18	buy track
9.	Oganga Joginda - "Odola Richard" 04:44	buy track
10.	Dalmas Ojode - "Obonyo Crispin" 03:37	buy track

about

During the 1970s, nyatiti music moved from its traditional home in the countryside into urban Nairobi, and its exciting sounds experienced an unexpected resurgence during Kenya’s vinyl boom. We have compiled some of the best of the best of nyatiti music singles from the period into a special and unique collection. These sounds are being made available for the first time ever outside of Kenya.

Nyatiti music’s infectious and hypnotic sounds are unforgettable. The driving beat of the nyatiti rings of far off styles of Western dance and techno music. Nyatiti players show up at weddings, funerals and drinking halls and sing songs in tribute. They would regularly appear in bars in Nairobi’s City Centre during the 1970s, when people had moved to the city en masse from the countryside and were hungry to the familiar and exciting sounds of the nyatiti. Players would sing racy tunes, filled with double entendres, describing well known scenes from the villages about sexual prowess, cheating partners, political tributes, cautionary tales and dangerous deals where the Devil gets his comeuppance. Nyatiti music can still be heard to this day all over Kenya, but these recordings represent the unique sound of the first half of the 20th century, and the last visages of the sounds that existed for millennia previous before the music would change to adapt to a changing world. Couple that with the nyatiti’s infectious rhythms and it is easy to see why so many people turned out to see these guys play.

The record features some of the best known nyatiti players in history, from Lucas Odote, a suited public servant working in Kenya’s independence government, to Ogwang Lelo, whose raspy voice is unforgettable to Amolo Kongo, one of nyatiti’s greatest performers and an early casualty in the AIDS crisis the decimated Kenya’s music scene. These recordings and the subsequent remastering process capture and bring new life to the rhythmic and trance like sound of the instrument. We are extremely proud to be able to present this first collection of exclusively nyatiti recordings to the public.

credits

released October 31, 2023

Produced by Dr. Pete Larson
Mastered by Warren Defever at Third Man Mastering, Detroit, MI
Cover photo of Lucas Odote by George Ouma

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about

Dagoretti Records Ann Arbor, Michigan

"Dagoretti" is the confluence of three large pathways in Nairobi connecting all of Kenya together. It is also the Swahilified pronounciation of "The great."

We like to think that we put out great records that connect distant places together. ... more

dagorettirecords.com

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