(Credits: Far Out / Mississippi Records)
The continent of Africa is awash with unsung heroes and incredibly talented musicians who go underappreciated during their lives. Such is the nature of Western-centrism that music from Africa, or any non-English speaking parts of the world, is often written off under the ridiculously vague and insulting term, ‘World music’. If audiences were willing to listen, they might discover musical brilliance by the likes of John Ondolo.
Hailing from Tanzania, Ondolo spent much of his life travelling between Kenya and his home country. It was during his time spent in Kenya, however, that he began his musical career. While East African music might usually connote blaring horns, traditional instruments, and a distinctively funky beat, Ondolo’s music is much more mellow but nonetheless beautiful.
With skilful guitar playing and entrancing Swahili vocals, Ondolo fits somewhere between Bob Dylan and Nick Drake. His comparisons to Dylan likely arise from his tendency to play in open-tuning, something that was common for American blues guitarists, as well as the early career of Bob Dylan. His music has a definite optimism and brightness, which shines through on tracks like ‘Siri Ya Vijana’ (‘The Secret of Youth’, in English). The Tanzanian guitarist also employs traditional wind instruments and varying forms of percussion throughout his music, but the backbone of his sound revolves simply around Ondolo and his guitar.
The Tanzanian managed to create a truly unique sound by incorporating elements of traditional East African rhythms with the modern pop scene in Nairobi and American blues imports. Ondolo was not only a pioneer in African guitar playing but also a distinctive and individual voice that has never really been matched.
Unfortunately, as is common for outsider artists, little is known about how much material Ondolo recorded or released. He had a string of singles released back in the 1950s and 1960s (exact dates unknown) on various tiny Kenyan record labels such as ASL, Jambo and CMS. Ondolo was not convinced by the pull of the Nairobi nightlife and pop explosion of the 1960s, preferring to dabble in recording whilst still working on his farm in the foothills of Kilimanjaro.
In his later life, the guitarist abandoned music entirely. Pivoting to the world of film, Ondolo began a job driving a mobile cinema for the Tanzanian government. Through his film work, he would showcase Pan-African and socialist films to people in the countryside of Tanzania, so although he left music, he never stopped the cultural enrichment of East Africa.
Tragically, Ondolo was involved in an accident during his time driving the mobile cinema, which led to the loss of his left arm, preventing him from returning to guitar playing. Nevertheless, the man lived a full life before passing away in 2008. Although his musical career was short-lived and sporadic, those early recordings remain hypnotisingly beautiful to this day.
