Of 'dirty' lyrics and one-man guitarists

One-man guitarists have been around for quite a long time but they came to the forefront in the mid 1990s.

Now they are the darlings of the old and the young. Not even Hip-Hop, reggae or genge can yank the guitarists out of their musical turfs. 

Being shunned by radio stations – except vernacular ones – they say only increased their popularity by creating a "scarcity value" for them.

Talk of Mike Rua, Man Rono, Mighty Salim, Mike Murimi, Salim Junior and Man Tony appearing for a performance anywhere, any time of the month and you will realise by the huge turnout that they should not be written off.

Arguably the most popular and most controversial one-man guitarist is the foul-mouthed Mike Rua. He has a way with Kikuyu words and lyrics. Never mind that he needs mouth wash after a performance and the audience, ear buds. His unprintable words have endeared him to thousands.

"I am foul-(mouthed) and that is a fact... if people did not like what I sing, I would not be as popular as I am," says Rua.

Rua, also a radio presenter, settled for vulgarity as a trade mark to keep fans on the dance floor for hours and yearn for more.

To the up-coming one man guitarists, he has a word of caution. "You can not jump to the stage and start using vulgar words and expect a standing ovation." The trick, he says, is to, "gauge your crowd and time of day or night".

One-man "guitarism" is not a spontaneous affair. Rua plans how to use certain words in a song and warns that careless vulgarity could "offend fans even if they are drunk".

He also believes that one should have songs for any occasion, like church events, weddings, parties and night life unlike, "many who try to copy my style and end using foul words in the presence of parents and their children".

When it comes to earnings, he says money is not a problem since he is paid handsomely and on top of that, he has had the chance to travel the world courtesy of his guitar and talent, performing to hundreds of revellers.

Rua has been to East London, Manchester, Oxford, Germany, Uganda, Tanzania is preparing to go to the US.

Richard Kip Kemoi Rono – Man Rono to his fans – is another popular one-man guitar musician who has been sending crowds wild.

The 26-year-old Rono is also in a class of his own. He is multi-lingual and can entertain audiences from different ethnic backgrounds in one sitting.

For him, one-man guitarists are some of the best musicians in Kenya because of their creativity.

Man Rono doesn't respect the new crop of Kenyan musicians because, "the majority of them just ape the West blindly and are not musicians".

For a man who stumbled into his profession, Man Rono says his music enables him to pay bills and support his family.

"I did not plan to become a musician, what happened is that I was going to visit my uncle in Kaptembo but it was already dark when I got to Nakuru so, I decided to spend the night there," he says. A band was playing in one of the hotels and needed a guitarist. The rest is history.

Mike Murimi, another veteran and popular one-man guitarist, says one-man guitarists have popularised the mugithi music craze and it will never stop because mugithi takes people back to their roots. Roots in that one-man guitarists present circumcision, marriage and birth songs.

"People will always like to be taken back to the days when they were young or before they were born and that is why mugithi is a hot favourite among many." 

But, aren't the guitarists music pirates? Not really, according to Murimi. To him, piracy arises when one records other people's songs.

On the contrary, Murimi argues, doing versions of the songs popularises them and some of the original composers ask him to perform them.

When it comes to pay, Murimi says he has nothing to complain about since he is able to fend for himself by singing.

He says real musicians play instruments and do not rely on CD playbacks