Linet Aluoch Pamba: Osito's Lost Songbird Who May Never Go Back to Asembo

Women Have Left Before, But Came Back!

You see, women leave. They just go. They used to come back. Some came back in death, dead. I was a young boy in my village when Nya-Ugenya was brought back after many years of "por". Jo-Ugenya, her people, came in one full lorry. It was blue, I remember. And they had everything. Firewood. Jerry cans with water. Huge boilers, sufurias of "giving birth is good." Two goats and one bull came with them. The goats came tied horribly on top of the lorry, just above the driver's seat. They also had men with their rungus in case Jo-Kano had other plans, to teach them a lesson.

We, Kano, were completely disinterested in their affairs. They had come to bury their daughter from wherever she had died. That was their right. She had left our man yes, but she was still our wife, even in death. So they cooked by themselves, ate by themselves, buried Nya-Ugenya in Kano and left in their blue lorry. They even carried the skins of the goats they had slaughtered.

Women will almost always come back. Some come women used to come back dressed in sick bodies, frail, coming to die. They were welcomed. Our men were taught how to welcome them back, build them makeshift houses if theirs had long fallen, and wait for them to die. And be buried.

On the day they brought back Nyar-Alego sick and ready to die, her husband, Ogwela, did not stay home to receive them. He went on with his usual duties. Ogwela was a specialist in knitting grass-thatched roofs. And on that very day, he took his msumeno (saw) and headed to the swamp to cut grass. They arrived. They waited for him. He came back in his usual time. He told them that Nya-Alego is not a visitor in his home. She was his wife. She left. He did not stop living, he has built many houses. She has now come back. If it is a house she wants, I will build her. Let her stay, if she wants to.

"En chiega nasenyuome dhok. Ka otho, I will bury her there". Ogwela said, pointing. That was it!

Yet others used to come back just like they left. In good shape and size. But tired of walking the world. They came back settled, mature. Not as young and jumpy as they had left. These too, our men had learnt to welcome. Let them come back to their houses, if they are still standing. If they left their children, let them carry on with parenting. Our men say that should they come back this way, do not just enter into them like they never left. Stand far enough and watch, till the bad wind that brought them back has settled.

That is exactly what Ojwang' did with Nyakisumo. In fact, he did not let her build a house in his home. He allocated her land and constructed her a house, her own home. He slept in her home that night but he did not even come close to her. He stayed awake and left at dawn. For two years, no drunkard ever reported seeing him at her home, at night. Till her foot was too heavy for her to leave again. And that her body was still her body. These are how women are known to come back. Our men know how to welcome them back when they come in this way.

But What's this with Osito Kale?

No man has lost women than Osito Kale. He has lost many to death. He has lost some to other men. He has had bitter encounters with women, many women. But Kasam has not given up. I have never asked him which of the two is more painful. Is it to lose a woman to death or to other men?

Many things can and have made Osito a great man, a greater artist and perhaps the greatest living Benga maestro. But nothing has made me love him more than his real life story which he has so generously shared with us in his compositions. We know about them because he has told us in the most beautiful yet painful ways.

Osito has lost Betty Nyochuonyo, a woman she betrothed and lived with in Sondu, days when Sondu was Sondu. Ever heard of Sondu Rach? Yes, Osito was there with Betty for many years. Then death came and plucked her away just when their marriage was beginning to blossom. He took her home to Asembo and buried her. Like a man should to do. Our culture tells us so. A man must bury a wife, his wife. Long gone or there with him. When they die, it is duty, a commitment to the gods. Not men!

Osito has lost Nyakedenge (Anjeli). She was an industrious woman, he tells us. She was a business lady who grounded herself in the Mango business that Asembo is known for. A treasurer women trusted. She is a prayerful woman who had a close relationship with Father Richard of Lwak Parish.

She came after Betty. Or was there before. Because in Rapar Betty, I guess she is part of the people she mentions that were with him at the hospital. If you think Nyakadenge was emotional, you are wrong, listen to Rapar Betty here! In that song, Osito declares that on the day he buried Betty, it was clear to him that "gig piny bura oloyo." And now again, Nyakadenge too, is dead. Osito has lost another woman to death!

In his tribute to Nyakadenge, Osito wonders what he has done to deserve all the tribulations. Burying two women in one life? In that song Osito poured his heart out and cried to God, bitter. He even blames Doctors at Old Nyanza Hospital and asks them why they could not save her life. The emotions of Osito, the weigh of losing another woman to death, is lost in the comic relief that Ogina Koko injects as he narrates the journey to Asembo.

But I can say that it was better that Osito lost these two women to death. I say this because the Osito who loses Linet Aluoch Pamba to D. O Misiani is even more devastated. Nothing beats a man like losing a woman to another man. And we are talking about Aluoch Pamba Nya Alego Karapul here. Not any woman. That woman, in her days! Nkt! you know nothing about beauty if you never saw Pamba those days. Even today!

No man has waited for a woman to come back to him longer than Osito. In Aluoch Pamba Part 2 (Osito has two songs for her, all begging her to come back) he tells us his early encounters with Linet. She was beautiful. She was part of his band, Nabii Kings. And I guess they may have had a stint together under Awino Lawi.

Osito declares that between him and Aluoch, there was more than music. There was some Chemistry, the Chemistry of Music and more. They are perfect partners and team. One day, he narrates to us in that song, they were called to Nakuru's Merica Hotel of those days. The team went and Aluoch was there with them. Many beautiful ladies were in attendance but her beauty stood out. Some people inquired about her. Osito tell us that he kept dumb. Told no one more about her. She was his!

But he could not keep quiet for long because soon, a man more powerful noticed Aluoch's beauty and her melodic voice. That man was the then reigning King of Benga, D. O Owino Misiani. He came and snatched Aluoch from Osito Kale. Just like that. Raila Odinga told us when eulogizing Misiani, if you remember, that Owino called that Zero grazing. That when he (Owino) wanted a woman, he could just go and take her.

And he did that with Aluoch. Things never remained the same for the Son of Asembo. He says that when he remembers Aluoch, "piny ochame". There's nothing that Osito has not told Aluoch to convince her to come back. There's no name he hasn't called her. You can listen to both songs. The likes of Ogina have even promised to kill for her hippopotamus.

But to date, even long after Owino is dead, Aluoch has refused to come back. Osito, now old enough to want to forget things love, is still disturbed by one question;

Will Aluoch ever come back to him? Will she attend his funeral and tell the world what was there between them?

Because no man waits for the return of woman he has lost to death. But a woman you have lost to other men...is just different! Listen what to what Osito still asks of Linet.

Ipar thurwa dala,

Ka po ni iwinjo ni Osito onindo

Asembo piny maber

Itim nenda kitimo neno

Nyalego piny yore

Is Sirati still too far that Osito cannot reach out to bring Pamba back to Asembo, even long after Owino is dead? Ah, Linet mpenzi, Osito pod gombo neni!