African Music

As apart of my New Years resolution to be more aware of world food and culture, I recently did some heavy research on the culture of Kenya. Yeah—it’s great that I’ll be cooking Irio (hopefully I fix it as close to authentic as possible), but I certainly want to know more about African music. Now, I have my favorite artists (Benga being one of my favorite genres and Fela Kuti being one of my favorite Nigerian artists), but I wanted to explore more. My goal is to serve a traditional Kenyan meal with an evening of African music—in my mind, the ultimate cultural experience.

Joseph Odindo provides a short list of his favorite tunes. Odindo also discusses the distinct styles of East African music as opposed to other forms of African music. I was particularly interested in the Marimba. A Marimba is a set of wooden xylophones (played with drumsticks called “beaters”) that is accompanied with the piccolo and the baritone (both soprano and tenor).

I’ve never heard the Marimba ensemble, but I am anxious to search for African songs that contain this melodic sound. According to Joseph Odindo, Marimba’s popularity first grew in Zimbabwe, but is now popular in South Africa, North Africa, Australia, and Europe.

Irio and My New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year to all! I haven't written a blog entry in quite some time now. I was bogged down with holiday frenzies and new year planning. Nonetheless, I am back to pounding the blogging pavement--and I plan to make this year better than ever! Each day on January 1st, I try and make a tradition of creating at least 10 resolutions. I write them on a large poster board and hang them above my bed (so that they are the first thing I see when I wake up and the last thing that I see before going to bed). For the most part, I generally tend to meet my expectations--but some new year's resolutions always seem to go by the waste side.

This year, one resolution that I am working my hardest to keep is the following:

Everyone knows that I absolutely love traveling (and even the idea of traveling) and I love to learn about different cultures around the world. Sometimes people get so caught up in the stresses of their lives, that they forget that there is an entire world out there to see (or at least learn about). This year, one of my many resolutions is to eat a signature dish from each country in two major continents (the other continents will come next year). The first continents are Africa and Asia.

Now, I've tried many dishes from various West African countries--but in my 27 years, I have only tried Ethiopian cuisine; but what about other East African countries? My tongue is secretly craving for some of Kenya's or Burundi's signature dishes. In my search for East African cuisine, I came across Mwanga Wangethi's blog. Thanks to Mwanga Wangethi, I have am excited about making my very first Kenyan dish--Irio.

I must admit...when I came across these recipes, I wanted to learn more about Mwanga Wangethi and his connection to Kenya. As a project editor on international child and forced labor regulations, I was familiar with his name...but I couldn't quite put my finger on who he was. Turns out that he is an Editorial director for an East African multi media group. His name actually came up in a few of my reports. Small world--literally.

P.S. Can someone teach me how to make the lamb stew and Kachumbari that goes with it? Yummy!