Kutuma Salamu on Public Service Radio and the Performance of Popular Culture: Voice of Kenya from the 1960s to the 1980s

ABSTRACT

Radio is one of the mass media technologies that were readily absorbed in and adapted to the patterns of construction and integration of communities. Among non-elite Kenyans, radio was inserted into their performative practice of greetings through a quasi-interactive programme known as kutuma salamu, which literally translates as “sending greetings.” This article analyses the practices of kutuma salamu, a significant popular cultural phenomenon that is worthy of academic attention for at least two reasons. First, Voice of Kenya was the only radio service operational in Kenya from the 1960s to 1980s and it was largely associated with the serious business of official government communication. Second, in form and substance, this programme was very similar to present-day popular digital social media, yet dates from a time before the invention of the internet. The article examines how this popular cultural phenomenon thrived by disrupting official public service radio and how it mediated the performance of social identities. The main argument here is that radio has always provided an opportunity for alternative voices to be heard, and some of these voices can be understood as metaphorical extensions of the performance of transgressive social identities.

IKISIRI (Abstract in Swahili)

Redio ni mojawapo kati ya ala za teknonolojia ya habari na mawasiliano ambazo zilikumbatiwa katika mifumo ya ujenzi na utangamano wa kijamii. Miongoni mwa Wakenya wenye elimu ya kiwango cha chini, redio ilihusishwa katika mchakato wa salamu katika vipindi vya kutangamana hewani, almaarufu kutuma salamu. Makala haya yanachanganua shughuli za kutuma salamu kama utamaduni pendwa uliosifika na ambao umevutia maswala mawili ya kiusomi. Kwanza, redio ya Sauti ya Kenya ilikuwa redio ya pekee kati ya miaka ya 1960 na 1980 na ilihusishwa na shughuli rasmi za mawasiliano ya kiserikali nchini Kenya. Pili, umbo na kiini cha utaratibu huu ulifanana sana na mitandao maarufu ya kijamii ya kisasa licha ya kuwa ilitokea kabla ya uvumbuzi wa intaneti. Makala haya yanachunguza namna utamaduni huu maarufu uliweza kusitawi kwa kuvuruga redio ya kutoa huduma rasmi za umma na jinsi ulivyoweza kupatanisha utendaji wa utambulishaji wa maswala ya kijamii. Swala nyeti ni kwamba kwa wakati mwingi, redio imetoa nafasi mbadala ya wale walio na mitazamo tofauti kuweza kusikika na baadhi ya sauti zao zinaweza kueleweka kama njia za kisitiari zinazokiuka utambulishaji wa maswala ya kijamii.

KEYWORDS:

• Disruption
• interruption
• kutuma salamu
• public service radio
• popular culture
• Voice of Kenya

ISTILAHI MUHIMU:

• vurugivu
• katizi
• kutuma salamu
• redio ya huduma za jamii
• tamaduni pendwa
• Sauti ya Kenya

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 “The Week in Sound and Vision”, East African Standard, 19 December 1963, p. 8.

2 “The Week in Sound and Vision”, East African Standard, 20 December 1963, p. 14.

3 “The Week in Sound and Vision”, East African Standard, 27 December 1963, p. 10.

4 Kutuma salamu fan 4.

5 Kutuma salamu fan 3.

6 Les Wanyika was a popular rhumba/Benga band that emerged in 1978 after the split of the Simba Wanyika band. They performed rhumba music which evolved into a type of Benga due to their unique way of playing the guitar (Eagleson 2011).

7 Les Wanyika, “Jina Langu Mambo” on Safari ya Samburu (Polydor 1982).

8 Nicholas Sangoda, “Kwenye Parapara Waluya,” YouTube, 2020, accessed 31 December 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByU4UCVZJaw.

9 The details of the programming of kutuma salamu shows in Table 1 have been generated from “The Week in Sound and Vision” column in The East African Standard newspapers for the period 1963–80. Where specific mentions are given in the text, the particular referencing details of the newspaper are provided.