mukunguni: new recordings from east coast province, kenya

Field recordings of the Mijikenda tribes were made in different spots in and around Mukunguni village, coastal Kenya, throughout September 2011. The recordings feature mostly healing music, especially for mental problems, as well as love-songs and spiritual contributions to weddings and burials. The music is mostly in the Sengenya style, which evolved in the early twentieth century, adding pace, new Tsikitsi rhythms, and extra drums to the traditional Dumbwi forms of the Duruma tribe.

Aside from the Sengenya drums - bumbumbu, dahdahe, chapuro, vumi, ngoma - the recordings also include lungo and dena (metal rings), kayamba (raft rattle), njunga (bells), ukaya (metal tray), bamba (metal guiro), and bottle-tops.