Performing Arts

The art items in Kenya include sisal baskets, elephant hair bracelets, Maasai bead jewelry, musical instruments, silver and gold jewelry, soapstone sculptures, wooden carvings, tribal masks, Maasai figurines, paintings, prints and sculptures. These art items are accessible in the arts and craft markets and shops throughout the principal tourist centers of Kenya.

Cloth and Fabric in Kenya also form intriguing art items. The cloth and fabric offered in Kenya are batik cloth, kangas (women’s wraparound skirts) with lovely patterns and even Kenyan proverbs printed on them and kikois (kind of sarong for men) that come in many diverse colors and textiles. These are great art items to take residence from your Kenyan trip.

African jewelry has been fairly popular for centuries in the world market. Kenya offers rare pieces of African jewelry containing cowry shells. Kenya is also recognized for its soapstone carvings discovered in Western Kenya. It is the Gusii and Abigusii ethnic groups which hand carve these Kissi stones into exquisite pieces of Kenyan art.

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Music

Benga is a truly Kenyan music style. Benga is high-energy dance music that originated after the 1940s when Luo musicians started playing traditional tunes with contemporary electrical instruments.

Most other popular music styles have received influences from abroad. Taarab is the standard Swahili music played at the Kenyan coast, and is heavily influenced by Arabic and Indian music styles. Lingala – modern day upbeat party music – came from Congo, where the deteriorating political situation created numerous artists flee to East Africa. American hip hop and gangsta rap has infiltrated Kenya like a virus. Photos of 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg are everywhere in Nairobi.

Dance

The hypnotic swaying and leaping in Masai and Samburu dancing, are the greatest known forms of Kenyan dancing. In their energetic dancing, warriors display their strength by leaping high in the air.

The Masai and other tribes perform frequently for tourists who pay a visit to their villages. In tourist venues along the coast, Mijikenda dance groups often give performances.

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Sigana

Sigana is a standard performance art which contains elements of all the major Kenya art forms: storytelling, song, music, dance, rituals etc. Active participation is a key feature of sigana. The line between performers and audience is less clear than in a lot of other Kenya art forms.

You won’t see these usually along the tourist trails, but the Mzizi Arts Centre in Nairobi  organizes monthly Sigana performances.

Theatre and performance

There are a number of theatre groups in Kenya, most of them based in Nairobi. Names to don’t forget are the Mbalamwezi Theatre Group and the Phoenix and Miujiza Players. They typically perform at the foreign cultural centres in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.

In Nairobi, there’s the Kenya National Theatre. It is known for the controversy it created with the production “I Will Marry When I Want” by Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ngugi wa Mirii, which brought them into confrontation with the government.

Kenyans reportedly also like of satire and stand up comedy. One well-liked group is Redykuylass (‘Rediculous’) which featured in a weekly TV program with a mix of political and social satire.

Literature

In Kenya, oral narratives are the oldest form of literature. Oral stories are still critical in a lot of communities. Written literature, in Swahili and English, emerged in the beginning of the twentieth century. Even so, only after Kenya’s independence (1963) a body of national literature came into becoming.

An crucial author (novelist, playwright and essayist) is Ngugi wa Thiong’o. As a child on missionary school, he was a devout Christian, but later he rejected Christianity and became a fierce critic of colonialism. He changed his name from James Ngugi to Ngugi wa Thiong’o in 1976 and embraced his native Kikuyu culture, as nicely as Marxism.

While having written the 1st novel in English by an East African author – “Weep not, child” (1964) – he published his initial book in Kikuyu in 1980: “Caitaani Muthara-Ini” (Devil on the Cross). He now argued that literature written by Africans in a colonial language is not genuinely African literature. In 1992 Ngugi became professor of literature at New York University.

Cinema

There is a small film industry in Kenya, which is struggling to stay alive, like elsewhere in Africa. Nevertheless, a new generation of Kenyan film makers is emerging, inspired by the success of the Nigerian video industry. One such film director is Kibaara Kaugi, who in 2004 produced the acclaimed “Enough is enough” – a narrative of the famous Mau Mau uprising – on a minimal spending budget.

Also, foreign film makers have used Kenya as a backdrop for their works. The most well-known example is of course Sydney Pollack’s “Out of Africa” (1985) with Merryl Streep and Robert Redford, which is about the life of Danish author Karen Blixen, who emigrated in the 1910s to Kenya to grow to be a coffee farmer. A recent international movie is “The White Masai” (2005), following the real story of the Swiss woman Corinne Hofmann who married a Samburu warrior and joined tribal life. There is no happy ending here. These and other movies are reviewed on my movies about Kenya page.

Some Nairobi cinema houses are 20th Century Cinema (Mama Ngina Street), Fox Drive-In Cinema (Thika Road) and Nairobi Cinema (Uchumi House, Aga Khan Walk).

Crafts

In Kenya you will uncover much gorgeous and fine craft work. It is often amazing to see individuals in rags sitting outside their ‘home’ (if you could call it that), and produce wooden carved tables and chairs of a beauty you won’t see anywhere in North America or Europe.

Most crafts are produced for tourists. It’s greatest to set aside any purist misgivings you might have over their authenticity, and just enjoy them for their own beauty (which they frequently have). Compare this to American or European culture, which is also eternally creating. The Beatles are just as ‘truly European’ as Beethoven is!

Wood carvings of individuals and animals can be bought everywhere. Classic are the really lengthy sculptures of ladies carrying baskets on their heads.

Soap stone objects are an additional common for of Kenya art. Soap stone is mined in western Kenya by the Gusii and Abigusii tribes. They then create gorgeous sculptures, chess sets etc. from it. Every piece is carved individually by the craftsmen and then wet sanded, polished and dyed all by hand. Soap stone products can be bought everywhere in Kenya.

Jewelry (typically in the form of beads) are yet another Kenyan speciality and they can be bought in all colours of the rainbow. Jewelry is crucial in African culture. Much Kenyan jewelry contains cowry shells. They are not only lovely but also symbolic.

Masai spears and shields are also well-liked souvenirs. But initial check with your air business and your customs regardless of whether you can take them house. An additional solution is having them sent house by mail. Some tourist shops give this choice.

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14 inch brown-black stripped wooden zebra face mask. Beautifully designed to reveal facial attributes. Ideal for gifts, decorations or as collectors item.

18 by 24 inch on wallpaper. Gorgeous mixed medium art displays a man requesting permission to assist a woman.

2 ebony 9 inch candle holders. Stunning spiral-snake design with firm base. Intricate art work with an excellent finish. Ideal for gifts, decorations or as collectors item. (1 pair)

Red/black-colored 4 inch round box with lid. Carved from soapstone. The etching reveals a traditional African dancer. The lid has a pick-up that gives an elephant impression. Ideal for storing jewelry.

5 inch beautiful multi-colored soapstone bowl with careful etchings that outline the silhouette tree and the endangered black African rhino. The colors are a mix of pink-purple-black. Ideal match with related colored vase and goblet. The handle is carved into a swan’s head. The accuracy involved in the generating of this product can be displayed by the perfection in the swan’s bill and eyes. Best for gifts and decorations.

Meticulously carved 8 inch Ujama (pronounced uh-ja-maa) family members village figurine. Carved from Ebony wood. Beautiful and careful design reveals members of a family all connected together, symbolic of relationships. Ujama comes from the base word jama meaning “loved ones relation”. Ujama was a sort of division of labor and proceeds went towards the extended family members and people living in the village. Best for gifts, decorations or as collectors item. Quite symbolic piece of art.

Marble look alike 2 inch candleholder. Made from Asian* soapstone. The holder has a firm extended base for drip collection and mesh like design. (4 pieces)

Marble look alike 6 inch Asian* soapstone elephant carving. The elephant sculpture is carefully carved to reveal details like ivory tusks, trunk and ears.