Tuesday, April 12, 2011

My Land is Kenya

I want to welcome  Sunshine  who is my 91st Follower. Thank you so much for joining my blogging family Sunshine. It means a lot to me. I hope to visit your blog too!

Roger Whittaker was born on March 22, 1936 in Nairobi Kenya.  He is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician with worldwide record sales of over 55 million. His music can be described as easy listening and he is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability.

Roger's parents Edward and Viola, were originally from Staffordshire, England, where they owned and operated a grocery shop. His father had a motorcycle accident and then the family moved to a farm in Kenya because of the warmer climate. His grandfather sang in various clubs and his father played the violin while Roger learned to play the guitar.

I won't recite all of Roger Whittaker's biography as that can be found on his official website or on variety of other websites.

I just wanted to share that as a child I loved hearing Roger Whittaker's music. I grew up in the far north of Canada in a relatively out of the way, and obscure corner of the world. Yet even there the melodious voice of Roger Whittaker, made it's way to me from way over in Africa. I especially loved his song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".  It evoked the sounds and images that I thought made up Africa and it enticed me (among other things) to want to see and experience Africa for myself one day.  My childhood dream came true a few years ago when I travelled to Africa on a missions trip.  While there I was privileged to go on safari.  I got to see and hear the majestic beasts of the wild.  That first trip to the wilds of Kenya was something magical and mystical, that I will not soon forget.

Many of you will know that at this moment, Kenya is going through tumultuous times. It recently approved a new Constitution through national referendum and is now going through growing pains as a country. My trip to Kenya in November/December, 2011 was my first trip to Kenya since the passage of the new Constitution.

While there I often saw a television commercial showing the ceremony surrounding the passage of the new Constitution and the celebrations that went along with it. The televised images were set to a beautiful song that I had not heard before. No one I asked seemed to know who the singer was. I knew that I knew that voice but I could not place it. It haunted me. Finally when I got home the name of the singer came to me and with that and an idea of the song's title I searched for the song on line.

What a fabulous tool the internet is!   I was able to find out that the patriotic commercial is set to the Roger Whittaker tune entitled, "My Land is Kenya".  The song and the images were so beautiful that whenever I watched it, it brought tears to my eyes. I know and understand the struggle behind the words and the images and that makes them ever so much more poignant and meaningful to me. (Since I first published this post on April 12, 2011, the original video I posted is no longer available. Perhaps it has been replaced by the new government as I've noticed a newer version of it which I'll post in a newer post soon.  As for now, I'm posting a video of the song set to some beautiful images of the country, Kenya).




My dearest wish and prayer for Kenya is that Her and Her people would thrive and prosper and be a beacon of light and hope to the Continent of Africa and to the world.  Kenya is truly is a paradise on earth and I pray that the people of this great nation would arise and take their rightful place in the world. Long may Kenya prosper and may Her beauty shine bright for all of us to see.


God bless Kenya. 

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13 comments:

Lady Fi said...

Oh, what a lovely song!

Indrani Gh said...

Thanks for sharing this.

Jansh Jh10 said...

Sharing your wishes and hopes for the people of Kenya. Thank you for your post today, you've encouraged me to find out more about how Kenya is changing. I posted recently about the comic relief fundraising event here in the UK and the links they have with Kibera.

magiceye said...

such a beautiful tribute to roger whitaker and kenya

OneStonedCrow said...

Lovely song - I hope to visit Kenya someday ...

Wrenaissance Woman said...

I love his song "The Last Farewell," but never knew he was born in Kenya.

Isn't it amazing how a place can get under your skin like that?

snowwhite said...

Joyful, It's a beautiful beautiful song full of thoughts and love to Kenya. I can't help praying for prosperity and peace of the land. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". I remember this song very well because of its uniquness. Thank you for your very interesting story!!

Liberal Sprinkles said...

Thank you for sharing the video and song. This is a lovely post, your love for the country really comes through.

Gator said...

Great post. I also would love to visit Kenya one day.

Regina said...

I've had a long long day (lol)..and I feel like town, traffic and errends sucked out my energy..I met my son for ice coffee and that is what I'm still running on!
Anyway, I heard about that and tried following the results awhile back.. and it brings a lot of questions too. Gosh, everything seems to run so deep and not always easy to unwind? In the video..it looks like their happy and..I hope so and generally it's mixed. You know that was one of my favorite songs (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)!! Thanks for connecting it! Strange..it goes back to my eldest sister and school? Wow..his trademark whistle! What do you have planned for Easter?

Life in the Charente said...

I have always loved Roger Whittaker but I did not know he was born in Kenya. I have learnt something new today :-) Diane

The Professor's Wife said...

Your love for these people is so inspiring Penny!

Clairz said...

This was so interesting to read. I always liked The Lion Sleeps Tonight but had no idea of Roger Whittaker's link to Kenya.

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