Hustlers Family The Kenyan Bongo Crew With a Flick In Tanzania Movies

Hustlers Family Crew L to R, Wycliffe Mwita (DXL), Chacha Mwita (Chacha Kongo), John Chacha (Mnati),Joseph Mosiabi (Junior Michapo).

Hustlers Family a crew of two brothers and their cousins from Kuria area in Migori County have rocked the music scene with bongo songs.

The brothers John Chacha (Mnati) and Joseph Mosiabi (Junior Michapo) started the crew started the crew in April 2005 but due to education they have been struggling to pick up and incorporated their two cousin Chacha Mwita (Chacha Kongo) and Wycliffe Mwita (DXL).

All of the crew members made a break through after acting in a bongo movie Mtambo Wa Pesa Bandia part 1 & 2 produced by Tivoli Studios in Mwanza, Tanzania after the producer was interested after they released their latest video album Yatima.

In the movie Chacha Kongo acted as a spy selling espionage from a company, Mnati acted as Superintendent of Police, equivalent to OCS in Kenya while DXL and Junior Michapo acted as thugs.

“We were approached by the producer after producing our latest video album and were performing in Musoma and Mwanza in Tanzania to act in the movie and after it had a mild review we acted in part 2 last year,” Mnati says.

Mnati who is the oldest of the crew members said he started singing in 2005 and has released three songs so far Alice when his lover he had educated to college left him, I Wanna Love You and Yatima which talks about orphan children in the society.

The rest started singing between 2001-2010 when they were still in school and only took music and the crew serious in 2010 when Chacha Kongo was the last o finished high school.

“After 2010 we took music seriously and have managed to have shows in Migori, Kisii, Trans Mara, Kilgoris, Isebania and in Tanzania,” DXL said.

In the video album Chacha Kongo has a song Maria and Mama, DXL has Anis Nipe Majibu while Junior Michapo has Vera.

The album has been produced by ‘Sifa Films’ production based in Nairobi

The crew say that music has been a major source of income to the family and has brought fame to the family which has been a major boost in their business as they run a popular pub called Mnati in Kehancha town.

“We have managed to get good audience in town we perform where we get about 30,000-50,000 for performance which helped in producing our songs,” Mnati says.

He added that as the only singing group from Kuria and their Bongo genre of music they’ll break into the national scene and plan to land more movie roles in Tanzania.

Manuel Odeny © 2013

Gender: Lack of Clean Water and Sanitation Affect Women Most

Poor water and sanitation affects women more in African societies, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has said.

The added that the discrepancy is gender based as African women bear the brunt through inequality, especially when it comes to access to education for girls and women.

“In Africa drawing water, transportation, storage and use, and cleanliness of public and private facilities are mostly the responsibility of women who are most affected by scarcity of water and insufficient water supply,” it said.

In rural areas women and girls are obliged to trek up to 15 kilometers every day to fetch water while in urban areas insufficient water supply results in long waiting lines lasting hours and causing social conflicts.

“Poor sanitation facilities also cause high number of girls drop out in school when they reach puberty that is why water and sanitation programmes should have gender equality in planning,” AfDB added.

AfDB said that under its Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative launched in 2003 in partnership with other donors 51 million people have access to clean drinking water and it has aided in building sanitation facilities for 34 million people, of whom 50 per cent are women.

The initiative seeks to involve a gender approach while offering water and sanitation projects to contribute in reduction of water-related chores and increase rate of school attendance for girls, increase income generating activities and create healthy environment.

“These projects need better representation by women in decision-making committees which decreases acts of violence and aggression against women who fetch water from long distances,” the bank said.

Women should also be involved during financing and management of water resources between institutions which will transform the current cultural and social order in the continent.

“This cooperation will also contribute to the eradication of poverty and underdevelopment faced primarily by women and children,” it stressed.

Manuel Odeny © 2013

Folklore Poem: When dad was shaving me (Translated from dholuo)

When dad was shaving me,

I bowed my head down-down,

I saw something dangling,

Something like a cut worm,

It’s sweet at dawn when it grinds,

The thing plaits matuta,

The thing is red like ombulo’s seed.

Original version:

Kane baba liela,

Akulo wiya piny-piny,

Aneno gi maliero,

Machalo mana ofunyu,

Mit ko gwen ko rego

Gino suko matuta

Gino kwar ko ombulu

*matuta- cornrow hair style

Ombulu- a red hot African seed from wild legume  

© 2011 Manuel Odeny