Music of Kenya

Out of all the African countries, Kenya has perhaps the most diverse assortment of popular music forms, in addition to multiple types of folk music. Zanzibaran taarab music has also become popular.

Benga has been popular since the late 1960s, especially around Lake Victoria. The word benga is occasionally used to refer to any kind of pop music. bass, guitar and percussion are the usual instruments

Daniel Kamau adapted the benga and became one of the biggest stars of the 1970s. D.O. Misiani and The Victoria Kings are also influential benga stars.

In the 1950s, Congoleselese guitarists like Jean Bosco Mwenda and Zambian artists like Nashil Picken moved to Kenya and became important in the development of benga and its development from South African kwela and other sources. This importation from other countries, especially the Congo, became widespread by 1964 and exploded after Congolese instability increased in the 1970s. Congolese artists brought the cavacha, a swift rhythm typically played on a snare drum. By the end of that decade, commercial recording was common and African music was selling moderately well in Europe, especially the Congolese Zairean sound.

Aside from Congolese cavacha, Tanzanian rumba, especially the group Simba Wanyika, influenced Kenyan music. Simba Wanyika's smooth, mellow sound became the prototype for the Swahili sound in Kenyan popular music.

Coastal tarabu, traditional chakacha and luhya omutibo are also popular.