We should not forget the Legends long gone who paved the way for many musicians from the Coast ........ read on Fundi Konde - The Giriama boy that made Africa Dance ? During the postwar, pre-independence era, Kenya had a significant music industry and a plethora of performers whose songs were heard throughout Africa on radio and record. As well as various indigenous tongues, the inter-ethnic Swahili language was a vehicle for singer-composers from across East Africa, and Nairobi became a regional centre for record companies. One of the early stars was Fundi Konde, who has died aged 75. Konde was the first guitarist in East Africa to use an electric pick-up. He developed his guitar technique with a South African-made acoustic instrument and a tuition manual by Bert Weedon and pursued a successful career - as singer, musician and recording engineer - for more than 50 years. Many of his songs became standards and are still played by Swahili dance bands throughout East Africa. As a child growing up in Waa, near Mombasa, Konde enjoyed the traditional nomba dance rhythms. At Catholic school he learned to read music and took up flute and clarinet to play hymns, European waltzes and foxtrots. After leaving school in 1940 he worked for the department of health, while developing his guitar skills in an informal band, playing at weddings and parties. The most popular styles were blues, calypso and Cuban son (rumba), to which Konde introduced Swahili lyrics and local sengenya rhythms. The band graduated to playing dances where palm wine fuelled participants enthusiasm and, when music conflicted with Kondes job, he was fired. In 1944 he joined the Kings African Rifles entertainment unit. Posted to India to entertain African, Asian and European troops, they recorded 10 songs at Calcuttas Dum Dum studio. In 1946 Konde joined the film and music producer Peter Colmores African Band, contributing several hits and also appearing in Colmores film Nyimbo za Kisasa (Todays Songs). By the early 50s, Konde was one of the most popular artistes in the region and regularly played in Tanganyika, Uganda and the Belgian Congo. During Kenyas Mau Mau emergency, he moved to Kampala in Uganda, but in 1954 returned to Nairobi to work at the African Broadcasting Service. He moved on to HMV records as A&R man and studio engineer, recording with hundreds of musicians and releasing 30 records of his own. Among these were the hits Jambo Sigara, Kipenzi Wanui-Ua, Mama Sowera and Olivia Leo, in which Kondes deep, relaxed voice combined with sweet harmonies, simple melodies and his understated guitar to create universally popular songs. At the Hi-Fidelity and Jambo record labels, he engineered and played on Fadhili Williams massive hit version of Malaika, one of the standards of African music, internationally popularised by Miriam Makeba. In 1963 Konde retired, to work his farm outside Malindi, but six years later he returned to Hi-Fidelity. In those days, one person would often arrange a song, tune instruments, set up sound levels, run the tape and accompany the musicians while they played, and Konde had the experience to do that effortlessly. In 1991 he produced an album for the Nairobi pop band the Mushrooms, the success of which revived Kondes name. A year later he met Scottish music writer Ronnie Graham, then African director of Help Age International, who was setting up Shikamoo Jazz, a band of veteran musicians in Dar Es Salaam. Konde did not formally join Shikamoo but he frequently guested and shared his experience with them. Kondes records had long been unavailable and Graham made a compilation of Kondes hits which was released in 1994 for the RetroAfric label under the title Retrospective. In 1995 Konde linked up with Shikamoo Jazz and the Zanzibari taarab queen Bi Kidude for the East African Legends tour of Britain, which included a Womad festival appearance. On their return home Konde was engaged as a special guest of Shikamoo. As a Kenyan he was liable to pay for an expensive business visa to work in Tanzania, but Graham was able to arrange for a much less costly and no less appropriate missionary visa. The authorities knew who Konde was and it is significant that they accepted his music-charity work in that category. He is survived by two wives, Zena and Sophia, and daughter Nimuna. Fundi Konde, musician, born August 24, 1924; died June 29, 2000 Shared by Mike Chitavi
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 15:47:18 +0000
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