The mixed salad that’s Kachumbari Seven

“We are not a fusion band,” says Prasad Velankar who plays the Indian drums called tabla in the Nairobi-based multi-cultural outfit, Kachumbari Seven. He explains the concept of their music using the analogy of the famous Kenyan salad dish.

“Just like you taste the onion, tomatoes and pepper when eating Kachumbari, so too does our music represents African, Asian and European cultures in equal proportion,” he says.

The story of how the group came together goes back to 2006 when the organisers of the biennial event called the Samosa Festival sought out a group that best represented the diversity of African and South Asian cultures.

“We all came together for what was to be a one-off performance at the festival, but we hit it off musically and so ended up playing together for a while longer than planned,” says Sally Ann Clark, who is originally from Hull in the U.K and plays bass.

Her partner,  Jim Pywell, is the leader of  the group that also includes Raymond Mackenzie and Dominic Ogari, both music teachers at Kenyatta University. Mackenzie plays the chivoti flute from the Coast while Ogari strums the obakano of  the Kisii.

Other members of Kachumbari Seven are Kirit Pattni who plays the Indian bamboo flute, guitarist Wandiri Karimi, Nyakio Munyinyi and Obuya Owino on percussions.

The huge crowd that turned up to watch a rare performance by the group last Friday at the Alliance Francaise in Nairobi, were kept guessing by the complex melodies from the group’s album Mozart on Moi Avenue.

“We are more of a listening band rather than a dancing one,” says Sally, to describe the classical undertones of their music.

“We long for the day there can be a chill-out stage at a big festival here in Kenya so we can reach a bigger audience.”

It was the first time that the band took the stage without Jim, who is away in India setting up a musical conservatory with A.R. Rahman, the Academy and Grammy Award-winning composer of the soundtrack to the film Slumdog Millionaire.

In his absence,  the band has roped in saxophonist Frank Munene, who was last seen on the same stage two months ago playing along to Ayub Ogada’s nyatiti. It is obvious Frank loves a challenge because his jazzy vibe brings a whole new dimension to the song Mozart on Moi Avenue.

“Where Jim would have played the bassoon, we instead brought in the saxophone to fill the melody and it was brilliant,” says Sally.

Due to the busy schedules of the band members, they had only rehearsed for a few days leading up to this performance, but the songs are all familiar as they have been playing them since the album’s release in 2009.

The front cover design for Mozart on Moi Avenue recreates the iconic image of the Beatles traversing a zebra crossing on their 1969 album Abbey Road.

“The idea came to us to have all the seven band member walk across Moi Avenue to Khoja Mosque carrying their instruments,” explains Prasad.

What do you get when you a set a Kikuyu wedding song played to an Irish classical melody, complete with a saxophone riff?

This might sound too audacious a musical challenge, but it is one that has been brought to life by a group of musicians whose backgrounds are as diverse as the sounds they produce.

“We are not a fusion band,” says Prasad Velankar who plays the Indian drums called tabla in the Nairobi-based multi-cultural outfit, Kachumbari Seven. He explains the concept of their music using the analogy of the famous Kenyan salad dish.

“Just like you taste the onion, tomatoes and pepper when eating Kachumbari, so too does our music represents African, Asian and European cultures in equal proportion,” he says.

The story of how the group came together goes back to 2006 when the organisers of the biennial event called the Samosa Festival sought out a group that best represented the diversity of African and South Asian cultures.

“We all came together for what was to be a one-off performance at the festival, but we hit it off musically and so ended up playing together for a while longer than planned,” says Sally Ann Clark, who is originally from Hull in the U.K and plays bass.

Her partner,  Jim Pywell, is the leader of  the group that also includes Raymond Mackenzie and Dominic Ogari, both music teachers at Kenyatta University. Mackenzie plays the chivoti flute from the Coast while Ogari strums the obakano of  the Kisii.

Other members of Kachumbari Seven are Kirit Pattni who plays the Indian bamboo flute, guitarist Wandiri Karimi, Nyakio Munyinyi and Obuya Owino on percussions.

The huge crowd that turned up to watch a rare performance by the group last Friday at the Alliance Francaise in Nairobi, were kept guessing by the complex melodies from the group’s album Mozart on Moi Avenue.

“We are more of a listening band rather than a dancing one,” says Sally, to describe the classical undertones of their music.

“We long for the day there can be a chill-out stage at a big festival here in Kenya so we can reach a bigger audience.”

It was the first time that the band took the stage without Jim, who is away in India setting up a musical conservatory with A.R.

Rahman, the Academy and Grammy Award-winning composer of the soundtrack to the film Slumdog Millionaire.

In his absence,  the band has roped in saxophonist Frank Munene, who was last seen on the same stage two months ago playing along to Ayub Ogada’s nyatiti.

It is obvious Frank loves a challenge because his jazzy vibe brings a whole new dimension to the song Mozart on Moi Avenue.
“Where Jim would have played the bassoon, we instead brought in the saxophone to fill the melody and it was brilliant,” says Sally.

Due to the busy schedules of the band members, they had only rehearsed for a few days leading up to this performance, but the songs are all familiar as they have been playing them since the album’s release in 2009.

The front cover design for Mozart on Moi Avenue recreates the iconic image of the Beatles traversing a zebra crossing on their 1969 album Abbey Road.

“The idea came to us to have all the seven band member walk across Moi Avenue to Khoja Mosque carrying their instruments,” explains Prasad.

The title itself is based on a fictional account of the great Austrian composer having dropped a musical score he was writing while on a safari in Kenya after being chased by lions. 

Flutist Kirit Pattni’s face lights up on stage as he tells the amused audience about Mozart’s misadventure.”

He lost the music he was writing, but luckily for us, his manuscript was discovered in Industrial Area, Nairobi,” he says.

It was through sheer improvisation that the album was recorded at Jim and Sally’s home in Lavington.

“We turned our hallway into a studio and we could not fit in more than 2 people at the same time so each one of us came in at different times and Jim was the engineer putting it all together,” says Sally.

The process of bridging musical styles from three different cultures is part of what makes Kachumbari Seven such a fascinating group to watch. 

“Indian classical music is played from memory and so is the African traditional music. In the European style, every note is written down and those of us from that background found it frightening to play without a paper,” says Sally.

With time, the band has developed a style where the structure of notes remains but the music is played from memory.

Having done the rounds in different venues in Nairobi, their ambition remains to perform in other towns which are home to the band’s members: Kisii, Kisumu and Malindi in Kenya, Mumbai, India, Hull and Croydon in the U.K.