Where rhumba music and country styles blend

‘I have no idea. But I reckon he must like wearing a cowboy hat.’ So I decided to find out. That was easy. All I had to do was Google ‘Fred’s Ranch’. The website came up and the owner was revealed as Uncle Fred Obachi Machoka, the GSU officer who became one of the most popular radio presenters in Kenya and who currently hosts Roga Roga on Citizen TV and radio – a programme dedicated to promoting rhumba music. Yes, rhumba is Fred Machoka’s passion.

For me, many memories were triggered about my younger days in Nairobi. On my two years living here in the late 1960s, and on my visits on research assignments in the 1970s, I indulged my own love of rhumba music at the clubs in the city such as Sombrero, Hallians and Sal Davis Night Spot. It was the time of the big Congolese rhumba bands: particularly, Franco Luambo’s TPOK’s Jazz and Tabu Ley Rochereau’s Orchestre Afrisa International.

The rather raunchy Sombrero was my favourite place – and then I met the singer, Sal Davis, at the Sigona Golf Club, where we were both learning the game. Always nattily dressed – usually, white hat, red shirt and white trousers – his learning curve was much steeper than mine. When I pointed that out, he said ‘Well, I have a night job – I can play golf every day!’

Back to Fred Machoka…. I watched scenes from his 70th birthday party on YouTube. I noticed that on the top of his iced birthday cake was a cowboy hat. So, as a performer, he dresses like many Kenyan country and western singers have done for a very long time. The history of country music in Kenya goes right back to the 1920s and ‘30s, when Christian missionaries brought over country and western 78-rpm wind-up gramophone records. And so, Jimmie Rogers, the father of country music, was introduced to the Kenyan public and copied by Kenyan singers in their cowboy hats and acoustic guitars.

I have sometimes wondered why country music became so much more popular in Kenya than in Britain where I grew up. Perhaps it’s because Kenya, like the United States, has more of a big country feel about it, with its wide-open spaces.

I went with Peter Kamau to Fred’s Ranch and Resort. It was on Wednesday, June 25 – a day of protests. So, to avoid town, we went via the pipeline road from Kiserian. Once we reached the Athi River to Namanga Road at Isinya, we turned left and, after a few kilometres, we saw the big notice board with a large cowboy hat hoisted above it. Once inside, at the reception office we were welcomed by a cowgirl, smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, black trousers and, of course, a black cowgirl hat.

We knew we had lots to explore because there was both the ranch, with its organic crops and livestock, and the resort with its garden restaurant, juice bar, cottages, pool, conference halls, children’s play area, and open spaces for activities.

We walked through the garden to have a look at one of the cottages, which we found to be quite small, but neat, clean and comfortable – and with electricity and wi-fi. We then were led to a gazebo in the garden where we could have our lunch. But, before that, we had a long and fascinating discussion with Hiram Nyingi, the Operations Manager. He told us about the history of the place; how it had started as just a farm and picnic site back in 2016, had become a resort with a variety of facilities and activities, and how it is still growing. Work will soon start on building an accommodation block, so they could have additional rooms.

Hiram explained that about 75 percent of the food on the menu comes fresh from the farm – making possible what he called the ‘high-end nyama choma dishes’ that are the resort’s speciality. In fact, Fred’s is a high-end version of the resorts that have sprung up across the country in recent years – smart, active and slickly managed. Different from most other resorts, it has an innovative educational programme for school groups from the area that is in line with the current competency-based curriculum.

The whole time Peter and I were there, rhumba music was playing at a comfortable volume – loud enough to be heard but low enough for you to have a conversation without having to shout. I had seen a poster on the resort’s website advertising the Wild West Shows that run on every first Sunday of the month. Given this and the cowboy and cowgirl uniforms for the staff, I asked Hiram how these country and western styles fit with the focus on rhumba music. Because, for me, there seems to be something of a clash of cultures; whereas rhumba prompts a sensual closeness in dancing, authentic country dance music keeps the dancers well apart. ‘I guess we are promoting a hybrid’, Hiram said with a chuckle. And, it could be said of the whole place that it is a harmonious hybrid of ranch and resort. But I resisted the temptation to buy a cowboy hat at the resort’s shop.

John Fox is Chairman of iDC Email: [email protected]