Zilizopendwa: An Amalgamation of Music Territories at the Kenya Music Festival

Abstract

The Kenya Music Festival has incorporated contemporary African musical genres in the festival under the name adaptation and arrangement of zilizopendwa. Somehow in this context, the genre has become very popular among the youth who are the performers of this musical genre. The purpose of this paper is to identify the original Zilizopendwa musical renditions and compare them with the renditions at the Kenya Music Festival in order to establish how artistic expression has been achieved by the arrangers of this genre and how this context has influenced the development and rendition of the zilizopendwa. To achieve this, I analyse contemporary African popular music in its original context. Likewise, I analyse selected pieces arranged for presentation at the Kenya Music Festival’s national level. Hence, I compare the two to ascertain the developmental process that has ensued. The result unveils the evolution of the popular music genre in Kenya and contributes to the discourse on the evolution and conservation of contemporary African musical forms.