The Kalenjin Sisters

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The Kalenjin Sisters

The question that has been bugging many of our readers is: what happened to the Kalenjin Sisters?

Here is the story by Moments Writers, East African Standard, [10.03.2006].
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Music lovers in the country must be wondering what became of the famous Kalenjin sisters who took the music scene by storm in the late 1980s and mid 1990s. The band stormed the country’s entertainment industry with a bang and quickly curved a niche for itself as a fast rising and promising entertainment group.

‘The Three Sisters’ as they were popularly known became overnight celebrities and were in constant demand to perform in high profile functions. However, with the same bang that they romped the music industry; they seemed to have similarly dissipated into the thin air and left their fans wondering what became of them.

Moments took a long journey across the valleys and mountains to the North Rift to unravel the sudden disappearance of the group that brought some of the most scintillating performances by female artistes.

The sisters Angeline Chepkoech, Elizabeth Chepkoni and Rita Chelanga defied all the odds to rock the entertainment industry that was male dominated and gave little recognition to the female artists. Interestingly, the three singers had no blood relationship as Angeline comes from Sotik, Elizabeth hailed from Kericho while Rita comes from Konoin. Their relationship was musical.

Not only did they break the male monotony in the industry, but also changed the strict and closed Kalenjin cultural belief that women were only expected to sire children and not to get involved in music as a noble career to eke a living. That was the force by which the Kalenjin Sisters hit local musical scene in 1989 to claim stake as one of the top entertainment groups in the country.

A song produced and sung by Angeline, the popular and age long, Paulo My Lover, triggered the union of the three sisters. She says after the music hit the local scene, her other two sisters went out on a mission to look for her. Prior to their meeting in 1988, Elizabeth had been playing with Belgut Jazz band in Kericho.

Rita too heard of the song Paulo my lover and went out on a mission to look for her and the trio met in Nairobi at a studio where she had gone to do recording. The union electrified the entertainment industry with another release Kwaheri Tuonane composed by Angeline but sung by the sisters.

The compositions were in Kalenjin but the titles were either in English or Kiswahili. The song, Paulo My Lover, was loaded with emotion, sentimental attachment and grief over a lover affair gone sour.

Their love blossomed right from school and two became inseparable and little did she expect to be left in the cold by Paul for another woman. "Paulo was my lover right from school and I had a real love for him but as fate would have it, he ditched me for another woman. He left me groping in the dark with no one to turn to," she says.

She is not bitter with Paulo because such occurrences are common in life and in love circles and that is why she opted to sing Kwaheri Tuonane. The song was pregnant with imagination and figurative in composition because in her mind, Angeline was flying out of the country and was bidding her lover bye.

Chamanenyo Paulo
ilyan simeto akicheny kwondo
Age nimalelun kiy
Kokimine kutaimeto
Kikiyechi tuwan Ang’ata
Korikoi akeng’alan
Bokekoshine

My lover Paulo
Why did you desert me?
And sought another woman
And I did not wrong you in anyway
That made you leave me
We met at Ang’ata and korikoi
And we talked and agreed
To love each other.

Ang’ata and Korikoi are market centres in Trans Mara district.

The band became so famous that their music became one of the popular songs played in the local radio stations. The fame did not end with radio stations but the group had an opportunity to perform for former President Daniel Arap Moi at his Kabarak home.

"It was a big honour to perform for the president and to entertain dignitaries. It was morale and image boosting for us and there was no turning back," she says.

Former Cabinet minister Kipkalia Kones was also not left out as he invited the group to perform for him at a function in his constituency. Angeline says they were overwhelmed by the reception at the functions and how people esteemed them.

"The former president and leaders from the region were so helpful to our course and to a greater extent promoted our music. Our success was largely due to the community support," she says. The says they were motivated by the desire to put the community’s music at par with others from different communities.

Angeline says the Kalenjin community was getting a raw deal in the industry yet it had the potential and rich culture and that is why the received such fanatical support. The group stayed together for a while a produced others songs but they did not receive much publicity and therefore did not take off like the previous ones.

One of such productions was were yabanda meaning taabu ni mbaya (poverty is a bad thing), because others will live lavishly devoid of your problems and wants. "The poor will continue to suffer and nobody will come to their rescue leave alone listen to their plight," she says.

But as fate would have it, Rita opted out of the band in mid 1990s to settle for marriage life leaving her and Elizabeth. "We gladly accepted her decision to get married because it the society dictates so. We continued to play music and perform at different functions until 2003," she says.

This time it was not about Elizabeth getting married but the cruel hands of death handed her a shock of the life. It was a devastating thing to happen to her, leaving her solo to manage the band.

"It was a big blow to me. Elizabeth was like my real blood sister and her death was a big blow to me. I loved the company of the two colleagues but I had no power over nature," she mourns.

But all is not lost as the band is still alive and performs at Wagon every weekend. This time around, Angeline has a male back up singer from Congo, Jamnazi whom they sing together. Angeline says it was a difficult task convincing their parents who believed in tradition, that music was a noble career.

She says they were incensed by the idea and dissuaded her but her resolve was so strong that nothing could stop her from achieving her dream.

"They wanted me to get married and stop wasting time singing. It was one of those difficult times in my life but I managed to overcome it,’ she proudly says.

She says the commitment to music was so strong that parents gave up in their pursuit. But when the proceeds and fame started trickling in the parents and the community became so supportive and this somewhat propelled them to prominence.

"Whenever, we played it was cheers and salute with other struggling to touch hem of our clothes or to shake our hands. This was so rewarding and motivated us to perform even much better," she says.

She says at times a large crowd would follow them and the shows would be packed leaving no space for dancing. Angeline says they have performed at various Kalenjin cultural events, Panafric Hotel, Carnivore, Merica Hotel in Nakuru, Wagon and Sirikwa hotels in Eldoret, Eldoret club and Palms in Nairobi where the band was stationed.

"I have performed in nearly all the big hotels in Nairobi, Eldoret, Kericho and Nakuru. I even have invitation to perform at the Kalenjin night to be staged in Nakuru soon," she says.

She horned the talent while she was in school choir and sang up to nationals. The bug of singing did not stop with school choir but developed to become part of her life that has today become her source of income.

"I have no regrets of being a musician", she says.

One thing that is yet to cross the mind of the celebrity is the thought of getting married. Despite having a sweet daughter Faith Chelang’a, she has no future plans of committing to a marriage life.

"I am not married and do not have plans of the moment of getting married. I have a child and want to concentrate in developing my career," she says.

She has composed a new song on HIV/Aids that is due for release in the course of this month.

The song teaches cautions on sexual conduct and advises against careless sexual affairs that are likely to result in sexual diseases.

"I have seen friends die and feel the urge to warn the rest to take precaution lest they succumb to the scourge," she says.

The song is in her vernacular language, to reach her target audience — members of her community.

Source: Moments Writers, East African Standard, [10.03.2006].

Read one more interesting article about Kalenjin Sisters here.

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Comments (1) Add Comment

Nice, nice
written by kiptookiprop, September 08, 2006

this made a nice reading!

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