Big thanks to Benn loxo listener and solid DJ, Boima, for the tickets, beer and music last night at the Trabendo. You can catch Boima on tour in Europe with Spearhead at the moment. I’ll be posting something off his latest release, a Sierra Leone hip-hop mix, later this week. In the meantime check-out his web site.

It’s great to keep meeting Benn loxo people. Nice crowd.

Anyway, over a year ago a Benn loxo listener, Carsten, sent me a guest post. Sorry for taking so long to put it up. I re-found Malika’s Poleni just the other day after digging Carsten’s e-mail out of the depths of my inbox:

“Malika was born on the island of Lamu (Kenya) and at an early age moved to Somalia where she began her singing career. In the 1960s she appeared on Somali radio and television and soon gained fame as a singer up and down the East African coast.

Apparently at some point in her career, Malika suffered damage to her voice but unfortunately, I don’t have any early recordings by her so I can’t really make a before and after comparison. Although Malika’s voice at present is not an excessively powerful one nor does its have an extraordinary range, it is a joy to hear her sing. Her phrasing is exquisite and her singing exudes a subtle poignancy that this reviewer finds irresistible.”

You can hear more Malika on the album, Tarabu: Music from the Swahili of Kenya.

Thanks for the post, Carsten.

Malika – Poleni