As far as I know, traditional Kikuyu music and dance is pretty much extinct, although there may well be exceptions connected with the rare times when ceremonies are conducted to pray to Ngai for rain, despite the majority of Kikuyu being Christian. For information on the wealth of modern Kikuyu music (pop, dance, Gospel), have a look at Doug Paterson's website at http://members.aol.com/dpaterson/kenart.htm.
Note that this page, albeit already large, is still incomplete: much more information about the music itself has to be added, plus paragraphs about the M'Goiyu dance, ceremonies and other dances. Please bear with me.
"Hard worked alternated with fun and enjoyment. In most cases work itself was fun because people sang and talked as they worked in their shambas and they had time during the working hours to roast maize, sweet potatoes or bananas. If beer was being brewed, the men were called out to cut the sugar cane, the women to carry and thrash it and the children to eat the remaining, unusable pieces of it. When the beer was ready, it was drank by all."
Please be patient - I've still got to write about this! But enjoy the photos...
GUTUUHA (a dance for old women)
by Gakenye, Wambui Wambugu and Wanjiru Kabuagara
Wambui let the goats run about
Let them run about
Let them turn the eyes. Wangari, let the goats run about
Let them run about
Let them turn the eyes. Wanjiru, let the goats run about
Let them run about
Let them turn the eyes. No! they won't pass through here
No! they won't pass through here
URIIGU (a dance for youth)
anonymous
I shall sleep outside my friend
Thiari birds sleep on hedges
I will sleep outside
Whose place is this?
Whose place is this?
I shall sleep outside my friend
That I may drop myself down like a buffalo calf
I will sleep outside my friend
Will he/she be washed with water in order to be shaved?
Will he/she be washed with water in order to be shaved?
I will sleep outside my friend
Or will he/she be washed with milk
I will sleep outside, my friend
This big one
I will sleep outside my friend
Is easy to win
I will sleep outside, my friend.
IRUA (a dance for youth)
anonymous
The travelling I undertook
Hai hui
The travelling I undertook
I turned back at the Lake Mirithu
The travelling I undertook
Hai-hi-i
Hai-hui
Whose place is this?
That I may drop myself like a buffalo calf
Whose place is this?
I hai-hu
This is our place
If you wish drop yourself
This is our place
Ihai-hu
Dance with strength
Hai-hu
You were brought up on milk and meat
Dance with strength
Ihai-hu
KIRIRO (a lament for newly-wed women)
by Wanjiru wa Kabuagara
Gicui (People) you came,
To greet Waceera (clan)
She came
She was drowned by a river
When it dried up the announcer died too.
There is nothing I understand
When (you) our children
come in and go out
Waceera, did you leave that boy and Njeeri at home?
And I am an only child
Announcers when you reach Ceera (clan)
You greet Kigotho for me,
My father and I know he did not come
Oh dear
Well Ngewa, I have gone
Greet those of Njeeri (clan)
You hear, I told you
I am alone
I am the lone child of Wangari!
But now I am no more be able to wander.
You hear?
Well me, of Njeeri I get milk
From my father Kigotho's cow
You hear?
And now stay in peace.
LAMENT OF A GRANDMOTHER
This lament was sung by an old woman about the loss of traditional values in her society, and the immorality that has come with modern civilization. From Ronald Dain and Jac van Diepen's Luke's Gospel for Africa Today, and quoted in Daniel Nyaga's Customs and Traditions of the Meru.
Yes, you condemn our sins,
You may say we were primitive,
We did not know Maendeleo [Progress],
Because we wore skins,
And walked bare-foot. I'm old, but I fear for you,
Young generation.
Nobody consults our doctor,
the girl pollutes the homestead,
The clan's ancestors are angered,
Nobody bothers to slaughter a goat,
To apologize and appease them,
For the broken taboo.
Brother mistreats sister,
Brothers fight,
They easily poison each other,
Blood is thicker than water,
Means nothing to you, young generation. Uuui! Uuui! they are gone,
The old days,
yes they are gone.
Isn't it only yesterday,
A son could not bypass his father,
An elder or one of his father's age group,
Yes, now I can see things clearly,
Our tribe has collapsed,
The ground has cracked,
The crack is being enlarged everyday,
the gruel is pouring,
That is how it is being with our tribe. the Gikuyu.
Lovers could not dance together,
It was forbidden,
After the dance,
the girls went home alone,
They went straight to their mother's huts,
The old men discussed the daughter, of so and so,
Who has proved,
Herself more agile,
And elegant,
Than the others.
Our men knew discipline,
They did not seduce,
Like the ones of today,
sex before marriage,
was not known,
Who wanted to be a gichokio [a girl who had an illegitimate child]
Who wanted to be a laughing stock!
Our days were good.
In our parties,
We learned the names,
Of our relatives,
We met in person,
Our near and distant cousins,
Ste-brothers and sisters,
Came to know each other. No cousins were engaged,
And no step-sisters and brother,
Got married like you do these days,
That too was taboo. What is happening to you?
MUKURWE WA NYAGATHANGA
by Wambui wa Wambugu
The Mukurwe tree of Nyagathanga
The origin of black people
If you wish to know more come nearer
I will inform you
chorus: Oh dear! suffering is bad
Oh dear! suffering is very very bad
I saw the face of my friend and I found it dull
I got a deep feeling for my sister
who went into the forests.
MAIKARIITE KALOLENI
by Wanjiru wa Kabuagara
They sat in Kaloleni the shepherds of KAU
They put their thoughts together about going abroad
The goats, cows and land were given to Beauttah
We sent Mbiyu abroad to go for them
When Kenyatta stopped speaking, Mbiyu also spoke
He said he was very happy for the prophecy will be fulfilled
Nothing will be asked of you Agikuyu
Only unity and we ask for the land together
You go there and see a school for black people
It is four storeyed and it is on a hill
All the builders are black and the contractor is black
The committee of the builders are black and the money is from black people
Let us work hard and build the sharpener
We should not be sharpened by White people
MUTHENYA WA MUNYAKA (The Lucky Day)
by Wambugu wa Gitiiri
It was a lucky day
The day we sent our messengers
Mbiyu went on the fifth
Achieng' followed him
A really good day
The day they went in a plane
It was the first time
To send our people to UNO
To take our grievances
So that we get back our land
A very good unity
The house of black people together.
We should take this load together
So that we may have a place to live happily.
We shall be very very happy
When the white man says 'Ndio Bwana' [Yes Sir]
Now he calls us "boy"
Because he doesn't value us.
RUGENDO RUAKWA RWAGUTHII MBUCI (My Journey to the Forest)
by Wanjiru wa Kabuagara
My time to go to the forest had come
It was the whites and the homeguards who prevented me.
On small white man asked a question
One bad question
This was the question,
Where did the black people come from?
One black man asked one question
One good question
And this is the question,
Where did the whites come from?
Homeguards you will cry at noon
When you find you are neither in the skin nor in the meat.
ARIA MEENDIRIE NYUMBA YAAO (Those who sold their people)
by Nyagiko
We agreed to carry this log together
And when we reached the middle of the river
Those who ran away and sold their people
And burnt our houses
Now their children are like those of Goliath
Now Mumbi is in hospital
Let's pray God that Gikuyu will have a good issue
Let her get a boy whom we shall call Freedom
And if she gets a girl, we shall name her 'Our Land'.
Let us praise those of us in Nyandarua forest
Dedan Kimathi and General Mathenge
General Kago and General Waruingi
Our people have you forgotten
The Gikuyu proverb that
One cannot eat what he has not sweated for?
MATENJAGWO
by Nyagiko
The man you see wearing a watch
Is Gitau Matenjagwo
He used to bring down the planes
That came to harass the fighters
The trench we dug at Ng'ombe's
We spent three weeks
We were badly beaten
But none of use died.
Parents don't worry
A child may be born and then die
Tell the people to be brave
Colour bar will come to an end in our country.
