South African Music Archive Project

A praise song with Chepkongo 6 string bowl lyre. This lyre is strummed and fingered like the Bangwe zither of Nyasaland. The right hand strums the strings and the left mutes or opens the 6 strings, making it possible to play two or three chords on the open un-muted strings. The singer mentions by name his home village, places of common interest to his friends. The player flips the body of his lyre on the 2nd and 4th beats. In common with several African verse makers, the singer sings in couplets, repeating the second phrase and making it the first line of the next.
Details from ILAM field card number: D6L 3

A praise song with a Chepkongo 6 string bowl lyre. The player flips the bridge of the lyre with a finger tip as he plays. The song is largely a repetition by the chorus of the words "olei yo lalei yo" a kind of "Hey - nonny - nonny."
The singer also brings into his song the names of many places he has visited and likes in common with his audience.
Both Kipsigis and Nandi are noted for their patriotism, their love of country as such, which they frequently express in song. This is comparitively rare with Bantu people who do not, as a rule, praise the beauty of the countryside and are mostly insensitive to scenery. Details from ILAM field card number: D6L 1

Praise song with Chepkongo 6 string bowl lyre. The main theme of this song is affection for the Kipsigis country. He also asks 'why the whitemen should have taken over the country' which incidentally they themselves took from others in the past. He comes, he says, from the Sotik nearby. The name 'Chemirocha' is their pronunciation of 'Jimmy Rodgers' whose gramophone records were the first to be heard in the district. It is now synonomous for anything strange or new.
Details from ILAM field card number: D6L 6

Further details refer ILAM field card number: D6L 2

Further details refer ILAM field card number: D6L 7