The Sounds of Kenya’s Past, Present and Future Part 2, with KMRU

“It's only the tangible objects that are being returned to their places, but these intangible [sounds], or like the ephemera, how would one return it? [...] You can give them back to the people.”

In the final part of a diptych series guided by Kenyan composer and FSN collaborator Nyokabi Kariũki, we meet KMRU, one of the leading ambient electronic artists in the world today. The conversation traces KMRU’s journey from how place influenced his music-making, into the way ethics have shaped his field recording practice, and finally, his 2022 project ‘Temporary Stored’. With this album and research project, the sound artist attempts to bring sound back into the conversation around the restitution of art objects back to Africa, which has been a growing topic in the world of museums and archives in recent years. “Sound, too, was a looted object,” KMRU says. This leads Nyokabi to pose the question, “what spaces are right to record? What spaces are better left alone?”

The interview between the two Kenyan sound artists, Nyokabi Kariũki and KMRU, offers a powerful second glance of some of the exciting things bubbling up in the Kenyan music scene; and it shines a light on how sound is an important part of how Africans understand their relationship to place, heritage, and life. 

Listen to our Youtube playlist of music heard across both episodes on sounds from Kenya.

Produced and Edited by Nyokabi Kariũki and Jeremy Thal

Mixed by Jeremy Thal

Executive Producers: Jeremy Thal, Elena Moon Park, and Kyla-Rose Smith

Featuring: Joseph Kamaru (aka KMRU)

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.

OneBeat is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, & produced by Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation.