Daniel Owino Misiani

Celebrated worldwide as the father of Kenyan benga, D.O. Misiani remains a seminal figure in the history and evolution of East African music. Born Daniel Owino Misiani in Nyamagongo, Tanzania, on February 22, 1940, he was raised in a culture dominated by the Kenyan Luo tribe. A veteran of school and church choirs, as a teen he played percussion in a local acoustic group, but his first guitar was smashed into pieces by his devoutly Christian father. Misiani nevertheless pursued a full-time music career, traveling throughout Tanzania and Kenya before settling in Nairobi in 1964....