Death of the Video Banda, an Integral Piece of Modern Culture.

Recently while walking through a neighbourhood where I grew up, in Mombasa, I encountered a place that brought back so many memories of my teenage years. I sometimes try to roll back the years with walks down memory lane, literally. There it stood, still as it was before, structurally, maybe just a bit rustier after

15 Taveta proverbs and their English translations.

There’s a common misconception that the Taita and Taveta are one tribe, they certainly are not. They are two tribes speaking two different languages. They can pass as one ‘community’ though, because that’s a broader terminology that factors in constant interaction and having some things in common. Over the years they have mingled and intermarried

15 Digo (Mijikenda) Proverbs, their English translations and practical use.

“Proverbs in every community give an insight on culture, values and beliefs of the community. They are like a window or tour into the heart of the community.” – @MtaitaMkauma With that tweet summing up everything about the essence of this article, let’s journey to the heart of the Digo community through 15 of their

Honouring Abdalla Mwasimba and traditional Swahili poetry.

On Wednesday night media houses reported that a literary great of the Swahili poetry genre, Abdalla Mwasimba, had passed on. He hailed from Matuga, Kwale County but found a second home in Kaloleni, Nairobi where he died on Tuesday evening. Born in 1937, his generation of Swahili poets had the art directly passed down to

The Shungwaya Mystery and Probable Origin of “Mgalla Muue na Haki Umpe”.

Grateful for all the curiosity and interest on documenting our history, culture and heritage that readers have generated over the course of this blog. In time I will effectively research on all requested topics and much more, if God wills. On this week’s post I’ve zeroed in on the Shungwaya link as shared by the

Behind The Music; Malaika, Fundi Konde and His Guitar.

The unfortunate thing about telling the story of legends who came up at a time when documenting history as it happened wasn’t exactly our forte is that you will probably miss out on crediting some of the supporting cast or originators that helped set up the legends’ paths to greatness. This is especially the case

Tracing Early Kenyan Football’s Roots in Mombasa and Beyond.

I stumbled on the above photo on Coastweek magazine a few months ago and I’ve been trying to research on early football in Kenya ever since, with a focus on how the Coast influenced it, or pioneered it if you prefer. I was impressed by how well-organised and managed they looked for a football team

It tolls for thee; The Frere people and the historic Kengeleni bell.

The bell tolls for thee, a poem was once told,To warn a people Sir Henry Bartle Frere-freed, in a Frere Town thus called,Of Arab slave traders oncoming, with hearts brute and cold,From Nyasaland they came, Mbotela a popular name,A Frere tribe now known, in all but official name. Inhumanely treated from land to sea, the

Rekindled love; My day with Kisauni’s Bilima Youth FC.

“Ana mguu mzuri wa kushoto lakini hajajua kuutumia vizuri”, a voice comes from the other side of the technical bench. It’s the voice of coach Ali, reacting to a missed scoring opportunity by one of his players, he feels he should have comfortably put the ball away with his left foot after a great through

Youth and ethical blogging, internet use.

I learnt of @AfroBloggers and their noble #WinterABC2020 challenge to promote Africa’s emerging voices on Twitter recently, writing on a given topic each day. This happens to be day 15 of the 22-day challenge and I’m late to the party but I’m jumping on board as a new entrant regardless. Today’s topic is writing about