Catalogue       Group                                              A side/B side                                                       Language

Number

MIG 7-1       Nyamwari Band                      Ebiso Bia Nyasae/Robert Nyangwong

MIG 7-2       Nyamwari Band                      Echiro Nyagancha/Alice Moraa

MIG 7-4       Rioma Band                           Joseph Osomu/Moses?

MIG 7-6       Bonkura Boys                         Omongina Nyaboke/Omwanchi Agnes

MIG 7-7       Keumbu Band                         Marafiki Duniani/Enghara Nogokwa Nokoba

MIG 7-8       Ibencho Band                         Omomura Nikora/Omoiseke Moraa

MIG 7-9       Gucha Boys                            To Tige Ebitina/George Ombasa

With the exception of MIG 7-7 all of these singles are in Gusii, the language of the Kisii and the label name means ‘village elder’s chair”. They all appeared in a single batch from a seller on Ebay based in New England. How he came to have them is anyone’s guess as the rest of his stock consisted of arcane ephemera such as Theosophist pamphlets from the 1920s.

The title of the B-side of MIG 7-4 is incomplete, the seller noted, as the original label was torn.

Kericho-based AP Chandarana was involved in numerous other labels, while Nyamwari Band and Keumbu Band both also recorded for Upendo.

The Kenya Gazette, which records government activities, also covers registered trademarks, albeit in a haphazard fashion. The Kenya Gazette for 15 May 1998, for instance reveals that Mwamo Gusii was registered as a trademark on 3 July 1996, which is surely meant to be 1976. Even so, it seems a bit late in the day for a label that put out most of its records in the early 1970s.

The gazette lists the three principals of AP Chandarana & Sons as being Arvindkumar P Chandarana, Mansukhari P Chandarana and Rasikkumar P Chandarana and notes that all are British citizens.