Man on mission to promote pure Kenyan sound
Pambo Afrika Chorus Choir rehearsing at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music. For the first time, Pambo Afrika Chorus successfully drew in a commendable audience last month. PHOTO | COURTESY
What you need to know:
- It has taken seven years for Mr Mukoto to raise awareness and garner interest from audiences to attend his concerts locally.
- Pambo Afrika membership is as diverse as the music they perform, with members ranging from 19 to 59-year-olds, college students to general managers.
In 2008, Pangea Day — a four-hour multimedia global event to celebrate the world’s connectedness — drew in performances from across the globe.
A performance from Kenya took the world by storm - Pambo Afrika Chorus Choir sang the Indian national anthem flawlessly in Hindi.
Pambo Afrika director Geoffrey Mukoto is now on a mission to share Kenya’s authentic sound on the global stage through choral music.
Mr Mukoto is a chorister at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music, where he teaches voice, music composition, arrangement and direction.
He writes songs in at least four ethnic languages. “It’s essential to still maintain your authentic sound, sensitive to intonation even as you compose and arrange songs in various languages to ensure you don’t change the meaning of songs altogether,” Mr Mukoto says.
CHOIR DISBANDED
In 2002, he set out to establish a choir composed of singers with varied talents keen to nurture their gift.
“The plan was to create musicians and grow their vocal skilsl in a span of 10 years,” Mr Mukoto says.
But it wasn’t all rosy. After 10 years of high turnover, he made the difficult decision to disband the choir. The varied intentions of members, from making a quick shilling to others improving their skills to perform for other choirs and bands affected the dynamic of the choir.
In 2013, after a one-year break, Mr Mukoto reached out to all the previous members, only five agreed to rejoin. But this didn’t bother him. Membership has steadily grown to 33.
Pambo Afrika membership is as diverse as the music they perform, with members ranging from 19 to 59-year-olds, college students to general managers.
It has taken seven years for Mr Mukoto to raise awareness and garner interest from audiences to attend his concerts locally.
INVITATION
For the first time, Pambo Afrika Chorus successfully drew in a commendable audience last month.
“As a trained musician, I wanted to merge quality writing and a quality choir which draws in the audience with its technical proficiency.”
Pambo Choir has been invited to the Southwestern Region: American Choral Directors Association Conference scheduled for March 2020 in Arkansas, USA.
The conference will feature some of America’s top music schools, conductors, composers, choirs and music professionals. But the choir needs to raise Sh6 million for the trip.
It will be an opportunity to showcase Kenya’s authentic sound through choral music with six performances over their eight-day stay in the US.
“We had been invited to China and the UK, but didn’t have the opportunity to perform because we couldn’t raise the airfare and visa fees. This was a missed opportunity to sell Kenya to the world,” says Ms Mary Bweya, 50, a dressmaker.
