Litungu star masters guitar

By Nanjinia Wamuswa

Immanuel Musindi’s music career began long before he even joined kindergarten thanks to his grandfather, Alex Misiko, a feted litungu (eight stringed instrument) player from Shinyalu constituency.

By the time he was in Standard Two at Shibuye Primary School, his fingers were so adept at playing litungu that he was recruited to the school’s traditional dance group, a privilege reserved for pupils in Standard Six and above.

He helped steer the troupe to national music festivals in Nairobi and returned with several awards.

"I received an award for playing the instrument well," he says.

His attempts to have his compositions presented in the competitions were, however, thwarted by teachers who told him that students’ composition were not allowed.

Though disappointed, he never gave up and in 1987 he formed Lisanga Generation Band, recruited fellow talented pupils and started entertaining revellers in different functions for free. This for a Standard Five pupil was a Herculean achievement.

Musindi, however, was forced out of school for lack of fees.

Though he had composed many songs, there was no one to sponsor him to record any. In 2000, things changed when he met Bonventure Mwayuli who helped him record his first album, Inamba ya Mulimi (Title deed), which consisted of ten songs he had composed earlier.

The album was well received by his fans and this encouraged him to record his second album Lichonjoli (trickster) in 2003. This told of how women suffer in the hands of a trickster’s on matters of love.

In 2004 he released Shindu sha Mundu (personal property) and Khayanga, a beautiful girl who couldn’t settle into marriage. In 2007 he recorded two albums, Basakwa (men who marry from same house) and Tsunami a political album.

In early 2008 in the wake of post-election violence Musindi released an eight track album Upatanishi goading Kenyans to embrace peace and unity.

Musindi 32, boasts of nine albums and over 75 tracks and still counting.