In Conversation #007: On Music, Memory & Identity | Furaha Ruguru/LaMusicJunkie

Transcript

In this seventh episode of our “In Conversation” series, Furaha Rugura takes us through her decade-long journey documenting Kenyan music through LaMusicJunkie. What began as music journalism gradually became something broader: an exploration of culture, history, language and identity.

Furaha traces that journey from growing up in urban Nairobi without speaking Kikuyu, through the frustration of feeling excluded from family conversations, to deliberately learning the language as an adult. She explains how music became one of the tools that helped her reconnect — first with language, and eventually with the histories and traditions carried inside it.

The conversation expands into Kenya’s musical past, why many Kenyans can name global African icons but struggle to name earlier Kenyan musicians, and what is gained when old sounds are not merely preserved but allowed to evolve.

Furaha also talks about creating TaaRnB, her attempt to explore the relationship between taarab and contemporary R&B, and the process that led to her single Sirudi. 

Later, we discuss what she wants to pass to her son — language, culture, freedom, community and closeness to nature — and how parents can bring children into their own worlds rather than creating an entirely separate one for them. 

Near the end, Furaha reduces much of the conversation to one word: jikumbuke. There are still breadcrumbs leading back — through music, food, stories, architecture, language, art and family — if we decide to follow them

Source: http://www.africanmenspeak.com

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Ralph Ofuyo

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