Honkytonk Kenya: Africa’s home of country music

Kenya is Africa's capital of country music: AFP reports. (AP / Jerome Delay)

The party is in Kenya, but the vibe is distinctly Americana: a sea of cowboy hats and boots with a soundtrack of whisky-soaked tales about heartbreak and good ol’ boys.

Kenya has become the unlikely home of a growing country music scene, possibly the biggest in Africa, as testified by the thousands line-dancing in a field in the capital Nairobi at the weekend for International Cowboys and Cowgirls Day.

The festival crowd went wild for the king of the local country scene, “Sir Elvis” Otieno, as his deep baritone belted out classics like “Take Me Home, Country Roads” mixed with newer hits like “Down to the Honkytonk”.

Sir Elvis’s parents named him after another musical monarch who died a few months before he was born in 1977, and then raised him on a diet of country legends like Jim Reeves and Alan Jackson.

“When I started out it was a very tiny genre” in Kenya, he told AFP at the festival. “It’s a dream come true to see a crowd like this today.”

There are links, he said, to local traditions, particularly the story-telling music of the Kikuyu tribe known as Mugithi.

“Kikuyu folk music has the same kind of language, they draw from each other quite a bit,” said Sir Elvis. “It’s really crazy -- so many thousands of miles apart, but the messaging is the same.”

‘Life, love, hate, forgiveness’

Anne Anene, 26, still remembers the song that turned her into a country music fan: Dolly Parton’s “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?”.

“Her songs always speak to me because they always have deep messages, and they usually tell a story of what I go through,” said Anene, a customer service representative for a health insurance firm.

“I’ve always hoped to go to Texas or Nashville one day,” she added. “I’d like to visit the ranches, I like horse riding, I like the ranch kind of life -- the quiet, the calm.”

The clothes are also a big part of the appeal.

The festival was organised by Reja Manyeki, who runs a clothing and events company called Cowboys and Cowgirls.

It was still pretty niche when he opened in 2018 but “now people love country music. It touches all corners (of society).

“We do cowboy-themed events, birthdays, weddings, end-of-year parties... Now everyone comes, even schools.”

Big farming and Christian communities also make Kenya fertile ground for country and gospel music.

First to perform at the festival was Samson Maombe, who has picked up millions of streams for his Swahili-language takes on Christian country tunes.

But for “King George” Gustavo, lead MC of the festival, it is the tales of everyday life that keep him hooked and ensures he listens to Alan Jackson “every single day”.

“The lyrics speak to life, love, hate, forgiveness, cheating, drinking...” he said. “You identify with that, and then obviously there’s a bit of dancing.”

Anene, the Dolly Parton fan, says country music is also an escape.

“In this world full of confusion, full of drama, country music is the only thing that makes sense to me. It has made me find peace.”