By GEORGE ORIDO

Last week, Prof Caleb Chrispo Okumu was supposed to be on his way back from Meru with the rest of the Kenya National Music Festival (KMF) Committee after inspecting arrangements to host the fete in August.

But that was not to be. He was taken ill at 6.40am, breathing his last at the Nairobi Hospital. As fate would have it, Okumu would die of cardiac arrest that had stuck a few days earlier.

Death has robbed this nation of a valiant, dedicated and selfless individual. As the cruel hand of death snatches Okumu from us, many will recall his ever-encouraging smiles even during difficult times when at the helm of KMF as chairman.

KMF Executive Director Benson Abwao praised the fallen musician: “He inspired us and we are going to miss his sense of humour and easy demeanour.” And with his table full after landing a job as executive Dean Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the Kenya Polytechnic University, Okumu could still find time to perform with the Kenya Polytechnic University Band as a guitarist and lead singer.

Grabbed headlines
Prof Okumu made headlines when as a professor of Music at Maseno University, he formed and played with the Maseno University Band. The band members were his students and staff. They performed in clubs, weddings, and other corporate events.

Prof Caleb Okumu at a past event.  [PHOTSO: GEORGE ORIDO/STANDARD]

“When you practice what you teach then it becomes a source of relaxation and inspiration: It doesn’t come out like work,” said Okumu, who was deft in the lead, rhythm and bass guitar as well as tumbas.

It is his passion for music that defined Okumu wherever he went. He was a true example of leadership that led from the front when he shed off his title for a few delicious moments, left the high table and joined live bands wherever he went.
Surprised but delighted band members would savour their moment of fame, as they played alongside the professor. I recall in 2010 when the music festivals moved to Kakamega.

And on the last day of the festival when all were exhausted and packing to leave, Okumu still had time to assemble his band and entertain teachers and ministry staff who were having a farewell ball at the Golf Hotel, Kakamega.

Popular number
And at 8pm, he belted the popular tune of Karibu festival, an adaptation of their popular number Karibu Maseno, with a lead guitar in his hands.
After a few more numbers the floor on the poolside was active. Delighted participants could be seen dancing to the rumba and benga tunes that informed his rather unique style.

A founding member of the Muungano choir, Okumu has travelled the depth and breadth of the world, promoting Kenya’s authentic music.

The music lover insisted that, while the West may have the glamour and better quality of life, at the end of the day home is best. It is no wonder that it is here that he breathed his last.

He served his motherland, having chosen home from the many foreign appointments that were constantly beckoning. He once said, “There is a vibe interconnecting one with the social fabric here, and you can actually ask your neighbour for salt.”

He had been to the UK, USA, Sweden, Norway, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameroon, and Namibia – not for any other reason, but to perform and research on music. Such was his love for the art.

“We are blessed to have Kenyans who work with passion for the love of what they do,” said Okumu who was popularly known as ‘Kale’ and Professor of Music from University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.

He was unassuming and amid the attention he attracted as KMF chairman, he was always available on call. He shuffled between 14 halls and the festival secretariat at the festival venue that attracts over 100,000 participants at the national level alone.
His brother Juma Odemba, who is also the founder and director of Kayamba Afrika, mourned him as a unifier who glued the family.

“He is the one who mentored me into music and was always my critic before I went public,” says Juma.

And it is not just his brother Juma; Okumu has bequeathed unto us a daughter who has taken to music like his father. His last-born daughter currently in Form Three at Moi Nairobi Girls, is following in her father’s footsteps.

She has been the national champion in playing the recorder for some time now. His late father, Chrispo Odemba, was a dedicated choir member. And in his village in Maliera, Siaya County of Nyanza, he is the pride of musicians such as Prof Emily Akuno, the former Head of School of Music at University of Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa.  He was 56.