Nairobi — The celebrations at the promulgation of the new Constitution at Uhuru Park last Friday perpetuated the exclusionist tendencies that have kept the real Kenyan music out of major events, in effect discriminating against older generation artistes.

At the centre of the this glaring folly is the Permanent Presidential Music Commission, the organ charged with the duty of organising such events. The commission chose a song done in English as the theme song for the grand occasion, even as the new Constitution proclaimed Kiswahili as the national language, yet there are prolific composers in Kiswahili who could have been assigned such a task.

The result was the messy song that has become a laughing stock for many in the media and music industry. Even if not for the language, the song itself was real trite and should never have been allowed anywhere near the main stage.

Harried event

Of course there was the cultural display, which should have been the main event for a country celebrating a milestone. Instead, theirs was a harried event, hardly allowing the audience to savour the proceedings. In most other countries, a breakthrough such as last Friday's would have been marked with a major festival of local and international acts.

The 1988 celebration of Moi's first decade in power brought the late Lwambo Luanzo Makiadi, aka Franco, with his TPOK Jazz and Tanzania's DDC Miliamani Park as well as a line up of Kenya's top acts. The pop music event last Friday was a good idea, but a mix of poor thinking and, probably, vested interests blew it.

There have been claims of cartels that now control the music business, deciding who gets opportunities on radio and television, music festivals or corporate functions. One need not throw a referendum to know who the big stars are. The current music revival is the impetus of two artistes - Tony Nyadundo for secular music and Jemimah Thiong'o for gospel.

There are other names like Ken Wa Maria, Kamande wa Kioi, Musa Juma and Nyota Ndogo, who have kept the scene alive. Conceptually, events such as this herald the journey through sound, mixing old and new. On the billing, Emmy Kosgei and Eric Wainaina were a reflection of good in urban music, and one could understand the inclusion of Jimmi Gait, but none of the others.

A recent example on the basic process was the Barack Obama ingauguration that brought in Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder from the 1960s, and Jennifer Hudson for the young generation. The same principal should have been enacted last Friday. Instead, the theme song was off key, out of tune and amateurish as a composition.

Ever since We Are The World in the early 1980s, the idea of an all-star line up song has become a fixation among some artistes, but it takes some super talent to actualise it into a cohesive and effectively memorable song. Last Friday, the style of the music arrangement was in conflict with the vocal styles of the singers and the chorus sounded like a totally different tune from the main body of the song.

For anybody out there hoping to use the event to talent scout, it must have been a shocker. And why did the song have to be in English? In fact there was no need for a new song; there are enough from the archives that captured the mood in 1963 and are still appropriate now.

They include Edwards Masengo's classic Nchi Yetu Ya Kenya, which is a beautiful and happy song that is easy to sing-along. Others would be Kenya Kipenzi Changu by Muungano Choir, My Home Is Kenya by Roger Whittaker, Karibuni Kenya by Nabil Sansool, Kenya Nchi Yangu by Daudi Kabaka and Them Mushrooms' Jambo Bwana, all dealing with the concept of peace in a new Kenya.