Rewarding US tour for Muungano choir

By KODI BARTH

A jubilant Muungano National Choir leader Mganga: He has led the group for many years.

They have done it again. The Muungano National Choir, once described by an Israeli cabinet minister as "Emissaries of Kenyan Culture", has just completed a remarkable third tour of the United States.

 The choir, seen off by President Moi at State House, Nairobi, on September 18, was in a two-week residency with the St Louis African Chorus in Missouri.

 After a series of well-received concerts in Missouri, Iowa and Illinois, the choir returned to Nairobi on Thursday morning, full of jubilation over a successful concert tour.

 The Muungano left Kenya on September 25, in time for the opening of the International Performing Arts Series at the University of Missouri – St Louis, on September 29.

 St Louis, the city fondly referred to as "The Gateway to the West", was eagerly awaiting Muungano's arrival; for, heralding the choir's appearance, The St Louis Post Dispatch, the city's leading daily newspaper, published a story headlined, "Kenyan Choir Brings Distinctive Sound to St Louis".

 A two-hour sold-out concert at the J.C. Penney Auditorium on the university's North campus lit up the city of St Louis, hooked up a number of fans, who ended up following the choir all around the city for the entire two-week tour.

 But St Louis's standing ovation to the 28-member choir turned out to be a mere prelude to Iowa State's acclaim, which was experienced by the singers on the next day.

 For over a week, Iowa's town of Fairfield, 240 miles northwest of Missouri, awaited the Kenyan choir with bated breath. In successivecommentaries, the town's newspapers outdid themselves in summoning the Fairfield community to come all out and experience "Africa's leading world-class choral ensemble" perform live at the Maharishi University Auditorium.

 The Fairfield Ledger's Thursday, September 27 issue, for example, quoted Elaine Reding, director of Maharishi's Chamber Singers, who first met the Muungano at the World Choral Symposium in Vancouver, Canada, in 1993, as saying: "A live performance by this remarkable choir is truly an unforgettable experience, one not to be missed."

 And the Muungano, opening the performance with a heart-rending, mournful tune of Balinikabi, a Luganda tune adapted 15 minutes prior to the first St Louis performance in honour of the New York victims of the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre, lived true to Fairfield's expectations, guiding the over-booked concert hall into a frenzy.

 In apparent fresh-held memories of the recent New York and Washington, DC, tragedies, The Fairfield Ledger wrote: "This concert has given our entire Fairfield community a unique opportunity for inspiration and renewal through the rich sonorities of African song."

 On the evening of Monday, October 1, at world-renowned Loretto-Hilton Auditorium at Webster University, St. Louis, the choir once again received a standing ovation from a hitherto skeptical audience, and had their two compact discs, Misa Luba and Muungano Live in Holy Land, practically sold out!

 After that show, the choir withdrew, temporarily, from the public eye, taking the time to develop new repertoire with the St. Louis African Chorus, and to record their third CD, due in December, at the world renowned Sheldon Concert Hall.

 After the recording, the choir traveled across the Great Mississippi River, northeast of St Louis, to the State of Illinois, to The Principia College, an accredited Christian Scientists' College. There, at a lunch performance, with its trademark poise of calm and elegance, the Muungano again charmed its audience.

 The Muungano National Choir of Kenya, founded in 1979 by Mr Boniface Mganga. The choir's distinctive musical style is a cappella, where dance and song are fused in a truly African way, with the sound of the drum, kayamba (reed rattle) and an occasional triangle accompaniment.

 The choir's music, heavy on proud, ethnic undertones and largely Christian in orientation, is drawn from Kenya's many folk tunes.

 Under the leadership of its founder and director, Mr Mganga, now Deputy Secretary at the Public Service Commission and chairman of the Kenya Music and Cultural Festival, Muungano has taken Kenya's choral music to Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Holland, Israel and the US.

 Next month (November, 2001), Muungano is expected to feature prominently during the annual Kenya National Cultural and Music festival in Nairobi, adds Anthony Njagi.

 The fete, to involve non-school and college groups, will run simultaneously at the Kenya National Theatre and the Kenyatta International Conference Centre. The event will feature choirs, cultural groups and theatre groups.

 Choral music will be held at the KICC, while drama sessions will be staged at the theatre.

 Muungano Choir's last major public presentation in Kenya was during the Kenyatta University Culture week last month. They thrilled the audience, who included President Moi, with choral music and zilizopendwa (the golden oldies) music. The latter had the audience cheering with nostalgia, especially during their rendition of the Halleluiah song.

 During the KU fete, the choir members danced their hearts out, with their powerful voices booming. There was good voice variation and facial expressions by the tenors.

 The crown it all, Muungano, St Stephen's Church Choir and the Kenyatta University Choirs teamed for a memorable mass show, conducted by Vice-Chancellor George Eshiwani himself.

*Barth is an assistant editor with a Kenyan religious monthly.