When you talk about the dawn of modern Kenyan music, you have to start with Fundi Konde (1924–2000). He wasn’t just a musician; he was an absolute pioneer—the man who, by many accounts, was the first person in East Africa to play the electric guitar.
Born as Kenga Mbogo in a village on the Kenyan coast, Fundi grew up absorbing the traditional Giriama rhythms. His formal musical education began at a Catholic mission school where he learned to read music and play instruments like the flute. But it was the guitar that would become his destiny.
His professional life began during an extraordinary time: World War II. In 1944, he joined the King’s African Rifles entertainment unit. He wasn’t just performing in East Africa; he was shipped overseas to entertain troops in places like India, a rifle on one shoulder and a guitar on the other. This international exposure was crucial. It was while serving abroad that he acquired his famous electric guitar and returned home in 1946 with a completely new sound.
Fundi Konde’s music became the soundtrack to the post-war, pre-independence era. He took popular styles like Cuban rumba (or son), calypso, and European dance rhythms, but infused them with deep Swahili lyrics and local coastal sounds like sengenya. His hits, such as "Mama Sowera," "Majengo Siendi Tena," and the cautionary tale "Dereva Kombo," resonated across Kenya, becoming regional standards.
His impact wasn't limited to performance. Fundi Konde was a true master of the craft, working as an A&R man and studio engineer for labels like HMV. He was behind the scenes, shaping the sound of countless other artists, and even engineered and played on Fadhili William’s massive international hit, "Malaika."
He retired from performing in 1963 to farm outside Malindi, but the studio quickly called him back. For the rest of his life, he was the seasoned mentor, the veteran who could effortlessly arrange, tune, engineer, and play on a track all at once. Fundi Konde spent over fifty years in music, a quiet revolutionary who laid the foundation for virtually every popular genre that followed in Kenya. He died in Nairobi in 2000, leaving a legacy that makes him rightly known as the father of modern Kenyan music.