Abstract
In the earlier 1990s an upcoming musician in Gusiiland, Kenya, achieved the impossible. He played the Obokano, an eight-stringed traditional lyre, fusing it with the keyboard and other contemporary instruments to the tune of reggae and other modern beats. The effect was astronomic, regaling the renowned Benga and other established artistes like Christopher Monyoncho, Charles Omweri and Isaac Otwori to some indistinct corner for a long time. The music had the old and young people on their feet swinging to the beats and humming along, their age sets and different world outlooks blended neatly. Using examples of renowned musicians from other places of the wider African continent, this chapter is an attempt to trace the influence of folklore on the genres that have put Africa on the music world map. Employing the oral formulaic, ethnopoetics and critical discourse analysis theories the chapter traces the factors that made this music popular and its influence on the later generations’ creative wise.
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Nyamwange, A.N. (2021). African Folklore: The Case of Others and Dismas Nyangau’s Popular Music. In: Akinyemi, A., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Oral Traditions and Folklore. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55517-7_30
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55517-7_30
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