Mukoma Wa Ngugi, associate professor of literatures in English, has an op-ed in The Guardian titled, "Mukoma Wa Ngugi’s playlist: 10 songs from my travels."
"The author’s life, literary trips and adventures have taken him across Africa with music as a constant companion.
"Gentleman by Fela Kuti
"I first heard Fela as a teenager in Kenya, when his song Lady was popular. Later I listened to more of his music – mostly in Boston where Prof Victor Manfredi, a linguist of Yoruba, was teaching and I was doing my MA in creative writing. Victor would have us over for beer, goat and Fela. Years later I was in Lagos for the Ake book festival and the first night stop was The Shrine, the famous venue started by Fela where people could listen to him for free. It was almost like the whole of Lagos was there to drink palm wine, smoke weed, listen to and dance to music. It’s like Woodstock festival – only at the Shrine it happens every night."
Read the article for the full playlist.
Mukoma Wa Ngugi's new novel, Unbury Our Dead With Song, is about competing Tizita musicians. It was released in May 2021 by Cassava Republic Press. He is also the author of The Rise of the African Novel: Politics of Language, Identity and Ownership, the novels Mrs. Shaw, Black Star Nairobi, Nairobi Heat, and two books of poetry, Logotherapy and Hurling Words at Consciousness.
