Chwade Gi Nyundo- Odongo's Controversial Hammer that is Not

I'm up late to catch up with an interview that Bongisa's friend and Luo Ohangla sensation, Odongo Swagg, had with Simy Kenya this evening. I was eager to know more about this man. And for many reasons.

One is that I've always had a thing for composers or musicians who sing or write about their own stories, or stories they are very close too. Those who are strong enough to tell the stories of their own lives. So that if something has gone wrong, it is (with) their lives. Experiential knowledge, wisdom. Not some stories of no one. Stories of air.

I knew from the first time I came to love his work, that Odongo Swagg was singing his life bare. That if Nyar Agweng' was a hit, it was a story of his life. That if Madharau was a breakthrough, it was his life breaking a ceiling. And that if Nyambita must be put in some position, it is Odongo putting her. Not some empty story.

After watching the interview, I have confirmed that it is true. Odongo's life is in every line of his song. He has told the stories behind many of his songs. And two have made me laugh.

Nyakowino (Madharau)

First is Nyakowino. Now for starters, Nyakowino is the character behind his famous hit Madharau. Odongo tells of his encounter with one woman from Kagan. The woman is dear to him and he admits that they have had an affair. The woman has been supporting him. But at some point, things are going south. Odongo thinks that Nyakagan is belittling him and is taking him children.

He tries to remain humble but soon it is beyond repair. He somehow finds his footing and begins to go it as a man. Nyakowino is not happy. She is embittered. She wants to let the whole world know that she is the one who has helped Odongo. Nothing will stop her. She visits the man where he is having shows and tells everyone that she's the one who has helped the man. That were it not for her, Swagg would be nowhere. Did not even have a house, clads,a face to protect.

Haiya, Odongo is who? Odongo is someone who has seen it all. Born in Uyoma, along the shores of Nam Lolwe, he has grown up a farmer and a fisherman. There is nothing you can tell such a man. We say Janam has seen it all. And they are used with the buttocks of each other. And that's not all. When he is forced to seek a more formal life in Kisumo as a carpenter, he finds it boring. He drops out of the apprenticeship that is arranged for him and decides to pursue music.

But first to survive, he does all manner of odd jobs. Odongo has been a matatu conductor in Kisumo. Odongo has tried cooking mandas in Nyalenda. And Odongo has even sold brooms to make a life. He has seen it all.

So when Nyambita decides to scare him thinking that she is showing him Madharau, Odongo tells her that Madharau no is what he is used to. It is not new to him. Nyakagan is even mocking his artistry saying that there is nothing he is earning from it. He has nothing. But Odongo is focused. He has met Onyango Denge Denge, under whose wings he has learnt to fly small small. There are challenges. There are wins. Small wins. He has recorded some songs but the reception is poor.

Nyambita (Chwade gi Nyundo)

That is when Odongo, who has now broken up with Nyakowino (Nyakagan of Madharau) and is facing dryness in music, decides to go back to mjengo. He is in building and construction. He is a layman. Mtu wa mkono tu. A man of hands whose work is to get this, take there, bring that, put here, catch this way, take there...

But where is love missing a seed? Nowhere. Because during this mjengo he meets Nyambita, the inspiration behind his current hit, Chwade gi Nyundo (Strike her With a Hammer). Nyambita is also part of the crew. The people of small jobs, unskilled. She is one of those women who have given up on the artificiality of beauty (of women) and have resorted to looking for means of surviving, as any human. Not a woman.

Nyambita is sometimes selling porridge or tea at the site. Sometimes when it is needed, they are part of the team who supplies water or helps in bringing things from there to here. Wood. Hammer. Nails. Things. Because experts, the fundis, are always gods in some of these places. I've worked with them I know. Fundi riek to nyap. Jalwedo tek to ofuwo. There is no way I can translate that. It will lose its contextual meaning.

Haya, Odongo and Nyambita shares love. They begin to cohabit. I think so. In the way it is sang and the way he's described her in this interview, they love each other and are working hard. They are real about each other's situations and they are working hard to get out of it. Patiently. With a lot of understanding.

Then at some point, an opportunity arises. The company for which they are working, is taking some of the members to Nairobi. And Odongo and Nyambita have a chance to leave Kisumu for Nairobi. It should be a blessing. But not for Odongo who has sworn never to stay in Nairobi. He is a man of the village and he will remain that. He doesn't want to go to Nairobi. He declines the offer. Nyambita chooses to take the chance. The two separates. Or are separated by opportunities of life.

Odongo quits Mjengo altogether and gets back into music. He decides to start a band. He has nothing save for his first album which he had re-recorded under Wuod Fibi of Barikiwa studio. They are beginning to give him a name. But he has to hire everything to perform. He persists. During this time, he composes a song in memory of Nyambita, the woman she once loved but who is no longer his.

It has been 4 years since he last saw her. He has heard rumors though that a foreman had fallen in love with her and married her immediately she relocated to Nairobi. She is now a woman with her house. She is woman with her husband. She is a wife in whom a foreman has invested heavily. Odongo is not part of her life anymore. Even the past that he was, is now blurred to her. Odongo has attempted to trace her but in vain. He once reached out to her through one of her siblings but the look he was given! Eeh! Achana na Nyambita, yuko na BWANA ANA KITU! Sio kama wewe.

Such is the story of love. What was meant to be will be. What was not meant to be, can sometimes be but still, it can also not be. Odongo is not given to bad blood anyway. He understands this. Any Janam and who has undergone the much he has, has some wisdom that life teaches. And one that Odongo knows at that time is that let bygones be bygones.

So when he sits to compose Chwade gi Nyundo, which he originally called, Aoch Wat Ilore Mos (Rivers of Kinship are Crossed Carefully), he is only full of memories of Mjengo, memories of Nyambita.

Of how the fundis were telling them to:

Lift them (woods, nails, cement) up

Nyambita thule gi malo

I want you to lift it up like this

Adwani ithule kamaa

I want you to put it this way

Adwani ikete kamaa

Turn it this way, like this

Ani loke kamaa

Catch it like this

Nyambita kete gi kaa

Then, it is hit with a hammer!

Kore ka ichwado gi Nyundo!

Now you see, we were all wrong!

Odongo was only talking about Sajili ya Mjengo katika isimu jamii!