East Africa’s Benga music with its incessant rhythm is the newest of the leading pop styles in Africa. It originated in Kenya on the shores of Lake Victoria as a reaction against the colonization of the African musical scene by Congolese music. Benga’s tour de force is its vocal harmonies and fingerpicked guitar lines with intricate bass line underpinnings. The Shirati Jazz group is the greatest exponent of Benga and this, the combo’s first American release, serves as a showcase for the music which can be heard pouring out from speakers on every street corner and club in Kenya.
