Fanuel Amimo - 'Rosa Nokhwebwe'

Born in 1947, this elderly man hails from Shianda location of Butere sub-county (Kakamega County). With age, he unfortunately lost his sight but still as ever before continues to play omutibo. Raised in a family of musicians, Amimo started playing in early childhood. He recorded his first single in 1964 with David Amunga as producer, in a studio owned by Andre Crawford and Betty Tete. His second record was produced by Sammy Osere for Lamore record label, while his third song led to his fall out with Polygram records in 1974. After that, he started producing himself and established his own label entitled African Beat. We recorded five of Amimo’s well known songs: “Safari ya Magadi”; “Ndeshera Omwana”; “Harusi ya Leah”; “Omwana Yenyanga Nyina’ and “Rosa Nokhwebwe”, accompanied by Akwabi’s band members. His guitar plucking technique was extremely interesting to observe, as it reminded us of the various litungu players we had seen in the past two weeks in Luhya land. You can read the field report here: https://www.singingwells.org/stories/... Audio recorded and mixed by Steve 64 Kivutia. Camera operators Patrick 'Sapat' Ondiek / Martin ‘Drix’ Muyeshi / Edited by Patrick 'Sapat' Ondiek