Explore Benga on Josplay Music Benga, a fusion of current and traditional Kenyan Luo music in which the guitar is used to imitate a Luo eight-string lyre known as a nyatiti. The fast-paced rhythmic pulse and lively finger-picking guitar approach of Benga are its most distinguishing features.
Benga is Kenyan music with intricate bouncy finger-picking guitar technique and a fast-paced rhythmic beat, becoming the defining sound of Kenya during the 60s to the 80s, Benga was born in Western Kenya out of experimentation with traditional Luo songs using the guitar instead of the traditional nyatiti and orutu.
Originating in the 1950s among the Luo people based in Nyanza province in western Kenya, Benga became the definitive sound of Kenya from the 60s to the 80s.
There are various accounts of the meaning and origin of the word Benga, the most widely accepted linking it to “obeng’ore”, a Dholuo word which can be translated as being carefree; relaxed and happy, with Benga meaning a “beautiful thing”. Other accounts trace the word to Congo; a popular skirt also called “Ogara Skirt,” named after band leader, John Ogara, worn by Kenyan women in the 50s and 60s; and the maiden name of famous Benga musician D.O. Misiani’s mother.
What is certain is the Benga’s origin which can be traced to the nyatiti, a traditional eight-stringed lyre, and the single-stringed orutu, which were used at ceremonies of the Luo people. The nyatiti influenced the single note-picking style of the acoustic guitar used in Benga, while the orutu influenced the lead guitar.
The introduction of the Spanish guitar by soldiers returning from world war I marked the early beginning of the genre, with guitar players opting to play the guitar like the nyatiti while also incorporating traditional Luo songs and dances. By the early 60s, musicians like John Ongara (considered the genre's father) and Aketch Oyosi, founding Ogara Boys, began performing in local neighbourhoods, with Nelson Ochieng’ Orwa (Ochieng’ Nelly) joining the group later. The Ogara Boys would go on to record songs, incorporating elements from Congolese music, which had become increasingly popular thanks to Congolese musicians who had moved to Kenya in the 60s.
But despite Benga’s fame which spread as far as West Africa and influenced the creation of Sungura in Zimbabwe, Benga began to die out in the 80s due to an influx and preference for foreign sounds by Kenyan elite and issues around metadata that saw artists and producers get exploited and lose out on earnings.
The vocalist leads the band singing melodies in a repetitive manner, the lead guitar, which essentially follows the vocal track, is at the heart of benga. The Nyatiti influenced the rapid single note-picking style of the guitar.
Some songs are about money and personal hardships and struggles. Occasionally, the lyrics are written in appreciation of a prominent member of society. Politicians are regularly the recipients of such adulation, even though they are periodically the recipients of harsh criticism.
Benga is intimately connected to East Africa's cultural memory. This work honors the ethnic traditions that formed Benga, recounts the art's debates, the artists, and their inspirations, and pays respect to its leading creators - cultural icons of true distinction.
Light, bright. Homophonic in nature with the vocal part being supported by the rest of the melodic instruments.
The Nyatiti was a popular instrument and it’s playing technique influenced the waay the Spanish guitar popular called the box guitar will eventually be played. The box guitar was introduced by demobiized soldiers after the second world war. Individual guitar players began picking away at the chords as they would the nyatiti in the late 1940s, all the while singing in the lakeshore people's language. Traditional Luo dancing styles and melodies were combined to create unique guitar-generated beats and riffs.