Bindu Bichenjanga by Amos Barasa: The Making of a Hit! Video, The Politics, Hidden Symbolism & Powerful Message

Bindu Bichenjanga is contemporary Bukusu pop music song by Amos Barasa. Amos- a young man probably not yet thirty- represents this breed of new age musicians comfortable singing in vernacular. A talented generation of Luhya entertainers who like their peers in Kapuka (AfroPop if you like) are brave in their sound. Revolutionizing  traditional vernacular music with hip hop, house, calypso and even Rhumba .

Amos Barasa in scene from the Bindu Bichenjanga video. Image: YouTube/Godricks/Amos Barasa

Going by his 'swahili-nised' Lubukusu, Amos, who's said to have begun his signing career in high school, must hail from Kimilli, Kamukuywa or Tongaren thereabouts. Anywhere where the W'Amutala -the speakers of this dialect of Lubukusu- hail from. Thanks to this accident of nature, unlike Steve Kay who in "Mbe' Omukhasi", had to layer Swahili and English to increase the crossover appeal of  his run away hit, Bindu Bichenjanga, Barasa's native way of speaking does the crossover work  for him.

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