{"id":227456,"date":"2022-05-30T21:06:22","date_gmt":"2022-05-30T19:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/how-kenyas-patriotic-choral-music-has-been-used-to-embed-a-skewed-version-of-history\/"},"modified":"2022-05-30T21:06:22","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T19:06:22","slug":"how-kenyas-patriotic-choral-music-has-been-used-to-embed-a-skewed-version-of-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/how-kenyas-patriotic-choral-music-has-been-used-to-embed-a-skewed-version-of-history\/","title":{"rendered":"How Kenya’s ‘patriotic’ choral music has been used to embed a skewed version of history"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Choral music \u2013 patriotic choral music in particular \u2013 is a significant genre in Kenya\u2019s political history. <\/p>\n

Patriotic music is defined by how it engages citizen to praise and express sentiments of national affiliation. In the Kenyan context patriotic choral music has been used to influence behaviour and the forming of a national identity. <\/p>\n

We traced the history<\/a> of the music to explore how it has been used in this way in the country. We found that songs that were composed and performed in the immediate aftermath of Kenya\u2019s struggle for independence urged the public to forget colonial injustices to build the new country. <\/p>\n

This music was used to create political heroes out of individuals at the expense of the hosts of people who contributed to the country\u2019s independence. It continues to be used as a political tool. This is primarily done through a distribution network that involves airplay on both private and state broadcasters, and during national holidays. <\/p>\n

A long tradition<\/h2>\n

Choral music was used to amplify former President Jomo Kenyatta\u2019s widely publicised rhetoric of \u201cforgive and forget\u201d. <\/p>\n

Kenya\u2019s first president introduced the idea in his speech to the nation at the first celebration of Kenyatta Day \u2013 later renamed Mashujaa (Heroes) Day \u2013 on 20 October 1964. He proclaimed that<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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the foundation of our future must lie in the theme: forgive and forget.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It would later become a motto closely linked to his presidency. His policies inaugurated a national culture of selective socio-political amnesia.<\/p>\n

This persists in contemporary Kenya. <\/p>\n

Most of the choral music composed and performed in Kenya as \u2018patriotic music\u2019 has been embraced and influenced by the government through the Permanent Presidential Music Commission (PPMC). <\/p>\n

The commission was established in 1988 under President Daniel arap Moi, Kenya\u2019s second president. The government agency deals with the entertainment functions of the state, among others. <\/p>\n

Music researchers Hellen Agak and Kakston Mindoti<\/a> observe that the commission scrutinises all Kenyan patriotic choral music to ensure that it conforms to the social and political ideals of the government. The commission also examines the quality of music and messages communicated.<\/p>\n

Over different government regimes, patriotic choral music has been presented to the public through the national broadcaster and during state celebrations of national days. The music presented is curated through the commission. <\/p>\n

During these celebrations, a few selected canonical choral pieces have continued to dominate through different governments and political regimes. <\/p>\n

The telling of history<\/h2>\n

Our research focused mainly on the music of Enock Ondego, one of Kenya\u2019s pioneer composers. Ondego\u2019s \u2018Huu ni Wimbo wa Historia\u2019 (This is a Song of History) is perhaps the main choral composition that has persisted through different regimes.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

\u2018Huu ni Wimbo wa Historia\u2019 was composed in May 1964. It was first performed<\/a> before President Kenyatta by the children of Samburu Primary School. <\/p>\n

The song foregrounds the importance of the anti-colonial struggle in Kenya\u2019s history. It opens with a plea to the audience to pay attention to the message. <\/p>\n

It is a narrative of the experiences of different victims during the 1952 emergency period<\/a>. The lyrics suggest that the struggle for Kenya\u2019s independence was a collective moral phenomenon. Lines 7 and 8 \u2013 \u201cthere was sorrow in the country Kenya\u201d and \u201call the people were very sad\u201d \u2013 capture this reality. <\/p>\n

In lines 14 and 15, the song further explains that there was \u201cmatata\u201d (trouble) and that \u201cmany people died because of freedom\u201d. <\/p>\n

Yet, the history documented in the choral song is a selective one.<\/p>\n

Despite the promise of its title, \u2018Huu ni Wimbo wa Historia\u2019 foregrounds only Kenyatta\u2019s involvement in the freedom struggle. It does this by focusing on the supposed physical and emotional violence he faced as an individual. This erases the contribution of everyone else in the country\u2019s struggle for independence. <\/p>\n

The song initially mentions that Kenyatta was arrested together with other freedom fighters. But the others remain unnamed and unacknowledged (lines 4, 5 and 6). <\/p>\n

Lines 20, 21, 22 and 23 invoke the memory of how Kenyatta and other representatives travelled to Britain to negotiate for Kenya\u2019s constitution. Again, the lyrics foreground Kenyatta only. The promise of a collective identified by the idea of \u2018representatives\u2019 suddenly collapses into the singular. <\/p>\n

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When he reached there \u2026 he was beaten with rotten eggs \u2026 The father of the nation did not mind \u2026 he won and came back with a constitution for our country, Kenya. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Rather than recognising that Kenya\u2019s constitutional victory was the result of collective endeavour, the song suggests that it was produced by the individual efforts of Kenyatta. <\/p>\n

This silencing takes on added significance when considering the original naming of the commemorative day upon which this song reflects: Kenyatta Day. <\/p>\n

The individuality cult of Kenyatta is central in understanding how music became a site where heroes were purged from Kenyan history, or where their role in the making of the nation was undermined. <\/p>\n

Such narratives risk promoting socio-political, historical and even economic exclusion in the process of nation formation. <\/p>\n

To echo literary professor Pumla Dineo Gqola\u2019s work on postcolonial slave memory in South Africa<\/a>, forgetting and remembering are framed within power hierarchies, where \u201cunremembering is a calculated act of exclusion and erasure\u201d. <\/p>\n

In the current government, songs such as \u2018Huu ni Wimbo wa Historia\u2019 continue to get significant airplay, especially on national holidays. <\/p>\n

Influencing memory and history<\/h2>\n

By relying on such music for entertainment during state commemorative events, the presidential music commission plays a crucial function in statecraft, especially in the context of influencing memory and history. <\/p>\n

But the musical and performance component of the songs also reveals that it is multi-layered. <\/p>\n

The emotive tone and mood of \u2018Huu ni Wimbo wa Historia\u2019 demonstrate the immensity of the pain endured in the anti-colonial struggle. Feelings of despair and sorrow are painted through repetition and by onomatopoeic sounds, such as \u2018woooi woooi\u2019 (line 11). <\/p>\n

Such sounds capture the general mourning response of the public not only to Kenyatta\u2019s arrest, but also to the deaths and torture witnessed after the state of emergency was declared. <\/p>\n

Hence, the song\u2019s text seems to call for a celebratory turn towards the future, while simultaneously ruminating in the pain of the past through non-linguistic verbal signifiers that reach their full effect only in performance. <\/p>\n

This shows that patriotic choral music in Kenya, although repeatedly used as a political tool, also shares the potential for contesting meaning and drawing listeners\u2019 attention to different layers of significance embedded in musical texts.<\/p>\n

Source: The Conversation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Choral music \u2013 patriotic choral music in particular \u2013 is a significant genre in Kenya\u2019s political history. Patriotic music is defined by how it engages citizen to praise and express sentiments of national affiliation. In the Kenyan context patriotic choral music has been used to influence behaviour and the forming of a national identity. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":227457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-227456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa-news-2","8":"tag-mypr","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/how-kenyas-patriotic-choral-music-has-been-used-to-embed-a-skewed-version-of-history.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}