Joshua and Lorna Chebitwey display their excellent musical Prowess. By DANIEL PSIRMOI. Ordinarily many married couples would frown at the thought of working with their spouse, the obvious major reason being the delicate balancing act of domestic issues and business related issues. However, one couple in Kitale is proving the proponents of this view wrong. The man and wife musical duo, of Joshua and Lorna Chebitwey, both gospel musicians have jointly churned out three albums and are promising not to slow down any time soon. Together the Chebitwey’s have risen to be the most sought after entertainers during sundry events such as national holidays, agricultural shows weddings, harambees and anniversaries in Western Kenya and North Rift. The Kitale based couple who sing in Kiswahili, Pokot and their native Sabaot language have staged shows in different parts of the country, but are well known in Trans-Nzoia,West Pokot Counties and also in Mt. Elgon area in Bungoma County. They are also regular visitors to Eastern Uganda where they have been invited to perform especially in among their Sebei kinsmen. The Sebei are a sub-group of the Sabaot, residing in Uganda. Kikwetu bumped into the couple at a pre-wedding ceremony at a homestead near Kitale, as they were performing their composition Ndoa (marriage) that is popular in weddings and marriage ceremonies. Their colourful dressing in traditional attire is eye-catching. Their passion and synchronized stage performance is equally mesmerizing and gets even the coldest onlooker dancing along to the infectious beats and warm rhythm. “We are lucky we share almost similar backgrounds, we both hail from families that have musical backgrounds and both our parents are clerics. My wife was born and bred in Mt Elgon Sub- County while I grew up in West Pokot County,” says Joshua when I catch up with them after they exit the stage. “That explains why are popular in the North Rift and in Mt Elgon part of Bungoma County, my home district,” adds Lorna with a chuckle. Naturally they both got exposed to music at an early age, through singing in Sunday school and church seminars events where they accompanied their folks. How did the two of them meet, considering that you got similar interests but come from two regions that are far flung from each other? I pose. Lornah, who strikes the writer as the most talkative of the duo explains that their meeting was planned by God. “While growing up, my childhood ambition was to be a prison warden, where I wanted to sing for inmates to change their ways and embrace salvation. After going for recruitment a couple of times unsuccessfully, I asked God to give me a husband that is a singer,” explains Lornah, before exchanging a knowing wink with her better half , as if it was a cue, Joshua takes over, “I tell people music brought us together. We actually met accidently in a motor vehicle almost 14 years, precisely December 1999. She was seated next to me in a truck I was driving. I put a favourite music cassette of mine to the stereo system that belonged to a celebrated gospel musician,” divulges Joshua. “One particular song touched me; I got carried away and started singing along. Interestingly Lorna who was by my side too got carried away and she started singing along with a beautiful voice. That is how we met, and the rest as they say is history!” he exclaims. Due to lack of funds and the challenge of working together as a couple, they recorded their first volume as a duo entitled Twamshuru Mungu in 2004. “Working together at first was tough, but we are now used to it. We used to drag our personal issues to training sessions. If we had domestic differences for example, we could not practice that day,” says Lorna. Over time they learned to put their differences aside and they started reaping the fruits. In 2009, they released their 2nd album titled Ndoa that has six singles namely Ndoa, Roho Yangu, Mama, Choono Kapee Kaap Baba( Come we go to our heavenly father) , Jihadhari, Zaburi 100, Ni Nani and Sina Cha Kutamai. The first song in the volume has remained a great hit and popular in marriage ceremonies. The song partly recounts their personal experiences in matrimony and urges couples to stick to their better halves no matter the situation. “Ndoa just like all our other songs is inspired by the biblical scriptures, it is drawn from Genesis 2:18 and Deuteronomy 8:11-19. The song explains to those getting the married what God’s plans are with the institution of marriage,” says Joshua who is also a motivational speaker, a part time MC, event organizer and a lay leader at the Anglican Church all rolled into one. He is also an accomplished guitarist, accordion and bukandiit -a sabaot six stringed music instrument that is plucked like a guitar- player. “Music has even brought us closer together. The proceeds we get from it, being our major source of income, we cannot afford to record or perform jointly in any event when we are not in good terms with each other. We will be forced to reconcile first before hitting the stage as we complement each other in the songs we sing,” notes Lorna. Apart from the challenge of working together, they note that piracy and the fact that they have three young children (two boys and a last girl born girl who was born in 2009) slows them down at times. Last year, the couple who say they are inspired by The Kassanga’s family who sing together, completed their third album Twendeni Askari. Oriipkey( Take care of yourselves) and Twende Kwa Yesu singles from the volume have received unprecedented airtime in local Kalenjin stations and also regional Christian radio stations including Sayare, West Fm, Fish FM and Imani Radio. Like their role model, the Chebitwey’s intend to open up a recording studio and music stores in the near future, in the major towns in the North Rift region which will help in the distribution of their music and that of other artists. They also plan to start an artist mentorship program that will encourage upcoming musicians to reach where they are and further spread the Christian ministry. Source: sabaots Article Written by Daniel Psirmoi and first published by Standard Newspaper-Kenya. News updates by: Esly Kania- SIDO Chairman & CEO. Global News Network website: sabaots RadioNet Link: sabaots/Radio.php Youtube Link: youtube/watch?v=66JgTG-9Au0 Facebook Link: facebook/sabaots.globalnews?ref=tn_tnmn Obituary Link: remembered-forever.org/TerahKipchiris/p/trib/
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 04:23:09 +0000
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