World Defeats the Grandfathers

World Defeats the Grandfathers

• Kenya

Wanyika is Swahili for ''wild ones,'' and its a fitting moniker for the various related Wanyika bands that dominated the nightclubs, recording studios and radio waves of Nairobi, Kenya, from the early 1970s into the 90s. The Wanyika bands defined Swahili rumba, the dance music popular throughout East Africa: swinging rhythms, ringing electric guitars and strong, earthy vocals.<p>Issa Juma was one of the founders of the Wanyika dynasty and, with his powerful baritone and rhythmic phrasing, the most distinctive of its singers. A prominent member of Simba Wanyika and then Les Wanyika, Juma formed his own Super Wanyika Stars in the early 80s with the guitar duo of Adamu Solomon and Abbu Omar, and produced hit after hit until an untimely stroke ended his career in 1988.<p><b>World Defeats the Grandfathers</b> collects the biggest and best of these hits in one rollicking CD that brings the sound of ''the wild ones'' to America for the first time.