Music of Kuria, Kenya and Tanzania: Ntimaru Musicians, Part 11

On September 3, 2013, three days after the inaugural Kuria Cultural Festival, we visited musicians from the winning performance troupe from Ntimaru, a small village in Southwestern Kenya, just metres from the Tanzania border. The singing includes Kikuria and alliterative sounds (vocables), accompanied by the iritungu (eight-string lute), ekegogo (single-string fiddle) and ibirandi (gourd shakers). Michael Derek Gideon studied the poetry and music of Kuria for nine months in 2013, with the guidance and expertise of teacher and scholar, Peter Muniko.