Kwanini? Series

The Life of Mzee Ondego

Author: Enock Ondego
Genre: Non-Fiction/ Biography
ISBN: 9966-7182-0-6
No. of pages: 47
Size of book: 135mm x 115mm
Price: Ksh 300 ($10)
Year of Publication: 2006

" The doctors released me at 5am. ' So we got into the Land Rover. By the time we reached Gatundu my heart was gone. I was worried I would be killed. So when our time came to sing, we sang the song which says Kenya is a peaceful country, which was number one. We were on our way to sit down when I was collected by Kenyatta’s people.

So I was taken to Kenyatta. He was very angry.
‘Kingora Giki . . . eh? Mzee, you are trying to compete with me?"

Mzee Ondego, Kenya’s greatest choirmaster and Kenyatta confidante tells the story of his relationship with Kenya’s founding father. Unknown as the man behind one of Kenya’s most influential songs - the haunting dirge that played on during those fateful days after the death of Kenya’s first president. Mzee Ondego remembers a time that has become part of our living memory.

Click here to read a review of this book, published in The Daily Nation