"Guitar ndiriumaga" — The guitar does not bite. But it might make you confess your sins before sunrise.
Forget the DJ. Forget the auto-tune. If you walk into a packed, smoky bar in Nairobi’s outskirts or the foothills of Mount Kenya after midnight and hear a single nylon-string guitar fighting against a crowd screaming “Heeeey!” — you have found Mugithi . mugithi
Someone shouts "Tongoria!" (Lead us!). The singer launches into a mukingo —a 20-minute medley of songs strung together. The crowd sings the kirogoto (the high-pitched, wailing backing vocal). Women form a line and do the Mwengere dance—small, fast steps while holding a handkerchief or a beer bottle. "Guitar ndiriumaga" — The guitar does not bite