{"id":179,"date":"2019-12-22T20:18:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T20:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kalenjin.co.ke\/?p=179"},"modified":"2020-11-17T13:58:36","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T13:58:36","slug":"kipchamba-the-father-of-kalenjin-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/?p=179","title":{"rendered":"Kipchamba, the Father of Kalenjin Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Always well-shaven and smartly dressed, Raphael Kipchamba arap Tapotuk indeed was not a typical village musician. His resolve to educate the Kalenjin nation was so huge that he did it wholeheartedly to his last breath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The celebrated musician was born in Kapsirich village, Olbutyo, Bomet County in 1937 as the first-born son to the family of the late Mugulaya Tapotuk arap Sitienei and Tapsabei Kobot Kipchamba. He had a brief taste of formal education at the then Kaplong Intermediate School, presently Kaplong Boys High School before dropping in 1955 due to lack of school fees that were then Ksh. 105 per year. It is important to note that Kipchamba was an avid learner with an absolute focus on academic performance albeit he immensely loved athletics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being the first born in the family,\nKipchamba enjoyed the privilege of staying close to his father. A man who had a\nvast knowledge on the history of the community. Kipchamba was inclined to the\nsenior members of the community in his youth life. It is said that he used to\nsleep at the feet of the elders. He could listen to elder\u2019s vivid narration of\nthe events that occurred in the Kalenjin land and the neighboring communities like\nAbagusii, Luo and Maasai. This probably catapulted his career in music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kipchamba was initiated into Sawe<\/em>\nage set in 1955. His age mates adored and admired his prolific music prowess.\nHe stood tall and became a point of reference among his age mates. Immediately\nafter his circumcision, he went to Njoro in Nakuru County where he worked at a\nEuropean farm. This is where he learnt how to play an acoustic guitar. His\nEuropean boss encouraged him to venture deep into the music industry after\ndiscovering Kipchamba\u2019s flair and glare in music. At some point, he would\nentertain his boss\u2019s guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later after leaving the service of his\nEuropean employer, the charismatic and humorous musician formed his Koilong\u2019et\nband together with his close friends Oriango Arap Chepkwony, Francis Arap\nLangat, Morris Arap Mainek and Sageri arap Talam. They started recording their\nsongs at Chandarana Records Limited in Kericho. When the music marriage collapsed\nin 1959, Kipchamba continued singing alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kipchamba was a family man and a\nresponsible father. He married his first wife the late Esther Chepo Kapkweei in\n1962 and ten years later, he got married to his second wife Ann Chepng\u2019eno.\nThey were blessed with three daughters and seven sons. Kipchamba educated most\nof his children at the time when the Kalenjin community was not taking\nseriously matters to do with education.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kipchamba was indeed a Kenny Rogers of\nthe Kipsigis. Like the renowned English artist, his band grew into a reputable\nand formidable art. He triggered something of a cult following among his fans\nin the 60s and 70s with his highly popular hit songs that remained fresh in the\nminds and lips of his fans.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legendary musician will be\nremembered for his songs which were occasionally harsh commentaries on culture,\npolitical environment, education and economy. The songs are pedagogical and source\nof entertainment and moral lessons. Unlike some of his contemporaries,\nKipchamba avoided the rather straightforward romantic content in his\ncompositions. His songs carried redemptive messages on contemporary issues. To\ndate, Kipchamba\u2019s music continues to resonate with the Kalenjin people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His music fascinates, soothes and\ndeliberately provokes in equal measure. These rare attributes kept him at the\nzenith of his career until his untimely death in 2007.  Kipchamba was neither proud nor an attention\nseeker. Although he was not honoured the way he deserved, his spirit was never dampened\nsince he sang not for money but to entertain, ridicule and educate the society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His music was timeless and dynamic. In\nhis last song, lane one<\/em>, he urged other musicians to sing the songs that\nwould withstand the taste of time. Even if he never attempted to venture into\npolitics, the shrewd Kipchamba knew the rights of his community. He abhorred\nthe colonialists\u2019 unscrupulous siphoning of Kenya\u2019s wealth as captured in one\nof his tracks, Baane Rogoroni<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of his songs teaches the\nsignificance of balanced diet and hygiene in the society. He encouraged the\ncommunity to work hard with a central aim of improving their livelihoods. Notwithstanding\nhis limited education, Kipchamba emphasized the need to acquire formal education.\nHe even encouraged the elderly in the community to join the adult education\nprogram as captured in his track Kumbaro<\/em>. This succinctly shows that\nKipchamba was more of an educator than a singer. However, in one his tracks, madam<\/em>,\nKipchamba urged husbands not to be enticed by the flamboyant educated women\nuntil they forget the importance of a polygamous man. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The renowned artist was a suave,\npragmatic and selfless man who sacrificed a lot for the good of the community.\nHe always believed in imparting knowledge and wisdom to the young generations.\nFor instance, he once reportedly converted one of his rooms into a classroom\nwhich he used to teach the youth how to play a guitar and other musical\ninstruments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kipchamba was also conservative and\nreligious and strictly observed Kalenjin culture and traditions. To say\nKipchamba deserves the \u201cFather of Kipsigis music\u201d is to understate his power of\nbrilliant career in music. As a religious man, Kipchamba urged others to be\nbaptized in preparation for the second coming of Christ as echoed in one of his\nsongs which he gives the year of his baptism and the name of the priest who\nbaptized him at Kaplong Catholic Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the year 2000, the acclaimed artist\nwas proposed for an honorary award by Moi University. However, it is not clear\nwhy he was never given the award. He continued oozing wisdom to his last day. Among\nhis best songs are: Hamba, Teret ab Kogo,\nMukeni, Mokori, Moset, Kiruk Yosin, Kamaiwa, Chebut Ing\u2019wot<\/em> and Chesibit<\/em>. By the time he passed on, he had\nmanaged to produce close to 1000 songs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As fate would have it, Kipchamba died\non 7th<\/sup> April 2007 at Tenwek Mission Hospital following a short\nillness. He was laid to rest a week later at his home in Nyatembe village. He\nwas given a heroic send off in the presence of the who and who in Kenya. Retired\nPresident Daniel arap Moi, Deputy President Dr William Ruto, Hon John Koech, Hon\nFranklin Bett, the late Hon Nicholas Biwott and the late Kipkalya Kones were\namong dignitaries that graced the occasion.\n\nThe curtain fell prematurely but Kipchamba left\nan indelible mark in the Kalenjin music arena. To date, his music tracks still\nooze wisdom that inspires the youth, men and women from his fan base in the\nRift Valley.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Always well-shaven and smartly dressed, Raphael Kipchamba arap Tapotuk indeed was not a typical village…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-music","category-prominent-kalenjins"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kalenjinmedia.co.ke\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}