Saturday, September 03, 2011

Dholuo love ballads

It is one lazy weekend for me, so I've turned on my old CDs of Luo music. I'm relishing this moment and dancing my heart out. Great music.

I had never realized this before, but it seems all of them are singing about women...love gone sour...is one major repeated theme "Isanda nango" , "Isanda gi hera", for the non dholuo speaker, it simply means, "why are you mistreating me....your love is hurting...and even more "Ilal Kanye", "Rambanya nyathi maber moromo manyo"...where did you go, and the beautiful one is worth searching for....

I have always had this impression that Luo men do not value their women a lot, going by the way they are treated, widows having their property grabbed, the fact that we have no permanent places in our own homes - that if a young girl or woman dies, she has to be buried outside the home and even the fact that we don't traditionally inherit land.

But not in music! As long as Luo music continues picturing the woman as a powerful force who the musician can't live with, i will continue loving it.

I leave you with this link of Aluoch Jamaranda's song, which I only love the first part! (the Agutu nyathi maber...not the Malo malo)

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