“Msichana wa Elimu” is a wonderful track by Daudi Kabaka, backed by his Equator Sounds band colleagues and recorded at Equator Sounds. Although he recorded it twice, the original version is a superb song with a great melody and excellent guitar and saxophone work. The theme is also catchy, though it has been overtaken by time.

A woman should not get married simply because society wants her to, or because she has reached what is considered the “right age” for marriage. “Mbona watoto wa nyuma yako wameolewa, wamekuwacha ukihangaika?” (How come your younger siblings are all getting married before you?)

Apparently, those who dropped out of school to start families are viewed as achievers in this context, while she who worked hard in class and even pursued further education abroad becomes a subject of ridicule. If Kabaka were alive, maybe we would ask him to take this wonderful song back to the studio, revise the lyrics, and align them with present-day realities. Otherwise, a contemporary mind would advise “msichana wa sura nzuri” to only get married when she is convinced it is the right decision for her, and not because anyone expects her to.

Again, discussants in a marriage discourse rarely agree on every detail. Whereas marriage has worked perfectly well for some, for others, it does not. As such, there has never been a consensus on matters of marriage, thus providing yet another angle from which to approach the debate. The above excerpt is an opinion this writer gave in response to an online debate about “Msichana wa Elimu.” In yet another debate on the song “Bachelor Boy,” he wrote this:

“A popular tale chides struggling young men, noting that while other old men were seriously prospecting for wealth in the city and acquiring plots, their grandfather was busy twisting his legs to the dance craze of the day, popularly known as twist. To me, this claim seems to point an accusing finger at Kabaka’s song ‘Bachelor Boy,’ and specifically his clarion call: ‘Bachelor boy wenzangu, twisty, twisty.’ This song also reveals another side of Kabaka. It seems he expected the ‘msichana wa elimu’ to get married before she grew too old, while he himself could not marry because ‘mimi siwezi kuwacha raha za mjini.’ Isn’t this an advocacy for recklessness? A masculine society, so rigid toward the girl child, yet very willing to bend and accommodate the excesses of the boy child.”

These two anecdotes showcase how the musician Daudi Kabaka managed to set the agenda by composing songs that would inform national debates in online forums many decades after his death. Kabaka was a social critic who used his music to address matters central to society’s moral fiber, and that is what earned him the moniker “Mtoboa Siri.” That was not his only moniker; he was also referred to as the King of Twisty.

His rise to this throne is attributed to his immense contribution to the genre, which had evolved at Equator Records, owned by Charles Worrod in Nairobi. That he was the King of Twisty is not debatable. It is so certain. He excelled in the era of the music genre coined by Charles Worrod, the English producer regarded as the father of the genre, who also owned Equator Sounds, a band housed under Equator Records in Nairobi.

Equator Sounds was established in 1960 when Charles Worrod bought East African Records and Jambo Sounds, then amalgamated and rebranded them into Equator Records. This recording house had a band known as Equator Sounds, having rebranded from Jambo Sounds. It was one of the pioneer bands in the country and featured the services of talented musicians such as Daudi Kabaka himself, Nashil Pichen, Fadhili Williams, Peter Tsotsi, George Agade, Bernard Ayuya, among others. All these were fully professional musicians.

Charles, a Briton, came to Kenya from South Africa. It is from the Zulu dance “kwela” that he borrowed elements, blending them with an American twist and also incorporating aspects of East African music to come up with a very popular genre known as twisty. Having been a central pillar in both the studio and the band, Kabaka assumed the kingship of Twisty. He made several very popular recordings during this era and also played guitar in many other songs within the genre. He played solo guitar in “Angelike Twist” by John Nzenze, among many others, and also mentored him in guitar playing.

Some of the most well-known songs, like “Bachelor Boy,” are his compositions, recorded by Equator Sounds. Others include “Kazi Ngumu,” “Mie Kabaka,” “Safari ya Nigeria,” “Amlofa,” “Kilio Ng’ambo Kwetu,” and “Safari ya Tabora,” among many others. Worth noting is that he also recorded some of these songs in rumba versions. Twisty became a very popular genre among urban sophisticates in the 1960s, making Kabaka a superstar and a household name. Other notable names in the genre included John Nzenze (also known as Amutabi), Isaya Mwinamo, Reuben Shimbiro, and George Mukabi, among others. Equator also enjoyed an elaborate distribution network across the region; thus, all the songs under its label enjoyed popularity beyond Kenyan borders.

While researching Ochieng Kabasele’s memoirs, the pivotal role Kabaka played in the country’s music scene became evident. One evening, Kabaka was passing by Jericho and noticed some young men practicing. He stopped and became interested upon noting how good they were. Their leader was a 17-year-old Ochieng Kabasele, a Form Three student at Pumwani Secondary School. Kabaka took the young man to Equator Records, and that is how Kabasele’s first four songs—“Naftali,” “Nyak Konge,” “Lek,” and “GK”—were recorded.

Among the musicians who participated in the recordings was Kabaka himself, who played solo guitar. Gabriel Omollo, who later worked with Apollo Komesha, played bass, according to Babu Kabasele. Kabaka’s role in the evolution of Kenyan music was so significant that some consider him the father of Kenyan music. Songs like “Harambee Harambee,” the country’s unofficial independence anthem, were his compositions, as were other iconic songs like “Msichana wa Elimu,” which opened a can of worms with speculation that Kabaka may have had a specific person in mind while composing it.

Kabaka’s team at Equator Sounds would later become big names in their own right. Thus, dozens of the country’s pioneer musicians were, in one way or another, linked to him. Daudi Kabaka was born in Uganda in 1939. However, he relocated to Nairobi at a young age with his father, who worked for the East African Railways. He was named Daudi Kabaka after a Baganda king who had died that same year. He joined Equator Records, then known as Jambo Records, in 1959. His death in 2001, at the age of 62, brought the curtain down on the illustrious career of one of the most impactful musicians in the country.

By Jerome Ogola