@ Wachiras

It is difficult to come across high end equipment in Kenya unless you import,mainly because it is expensive and the market is small.

For my stuff,I must say I was very lucky. I was in the US on a visit and a catalogue was dropped at the place I was staying. The discounts were just unbelievable. E.g. The Vincent SV236 was retailing at US$ 1,799 but got it for US$ 699. The speakers were also discounted.

All the same,you can try Samchi Electronics,Barclays Plaza. I would not say they stock high end stuff but have decent equipment as well e.g. Infinity (JBL),Jamo,Nakamichi and Wharfedale. The prices are OK but negotiable.

reithi

Wazamali,

You are not alone in these,we are in it together! I am lost and bewildered!

These fellows posting here seem like sound maniacs! Do you know they are insinuating and making me feel that my sound system (Sony's man with the base) is a toy! They are putting forward models i have never heard and describing the sound emanating from them - yet they seem to understand each other!

They remind me of another fellow who started a thread with a story of a virus looming in the country with an ominous map purportedly kenyan - and the language was in science codes!

Biggest man you'll ever see was once a baby.

@mukiha,XL-II. 25 years old and still playing as well as if were yesterday. @jkmwatha,who plays alto sax better than Sadao Watanabe? (Orange Express.....) I hope you saw him at the Carnivore sometime back - yes,I got his autograph.

Chaka- Thanks. i couldn't stop playing 'Move on up'- R Elliot .... last night. Prompted me to listen to music like 'Together again' - Dave Koz.

GG - no I did'nt see S. Watanabe. -he's tops on the alto.

Chaka et al- any other songs (in the league of Richard Elliot's move on up)?


Enjoy Summer! Comes with Hayfever at no extra cost.

My date with Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' was,well,joyous!

Did some one mention Watanabe? I have a live recording of Dave Grusin and Watanabe in Tokyo....and yes,it's on vinyl!! Sadao gives a new meaning to Dave's 'Friends & Strangers'.

Still,how would you rate Watanabe against Dave Sanborn? I don't want to be the judge,but Sanborn was my first intro into this genre,so I am biased!

@spectators: the problem with regular equipment (your 'Sony-man-with-da-bass' etc..and I have nothing against Sony,in fact,my CD Player is a Sony CDP-XE530) is that they have too much bass and too much trebble,but not enough mid-range...that's why Maddo (of Mad,Mad World) calls them 'Boom-Twaffs'!!!! Thus they don't bring out musician's voices nor can they distinguish instruments...eg,a nylon guitar from a steel one; a trumpet from a sopprano sax; a violin from a flute etc


Behind the gardens...Behind the wall...Under the tree (Including: Red...Dark Blue...Yellow)

Someone mentioned David Sanborn? 'The Dream' from the album 'Change of Heart' is probably the best piece he has ever done. And of course 'Obsession' the signature tune for 'Late Date' on KBC - does the program still exist?

A couple of weeks ago,I attended a family ceremony and there was a comedian-cum-MC invited to entertain guests. the guy was quite funny and every now and then he would break into a song-completely solo with no accompaniment. Great & powerful voice...especially when he put the mic down and sung 'free-to-air'

Later,he owned up and said that he is also a musician...and that he had some of his CDs with him for sale. I bought one and took it home.

What a disappointment! First,it was duplicated using one of those formats that cannot be read by a regular CD player,so I had to play it via my DVD machine. The sound quality was so bad; in fact unbearably so! You can hardly here the lyrics in the songs because of the hard (not boomy) bass and harsh trebble. Adjusting the tone controls did not help at all,so I stopped listening to it and decided that it sh200 down the drain!!

This is the biggest problem with Kenyan music....the musicians are very good but the recording studios are killing the industry with their terrible products. I used to think that the problem was only in the cassettesrecoded on lowest grade commercial tapes without any master tapesbut now I know it is everywhere.

After this experience,I am now even more reluctant to purchase any of the current 'top' musicians [the Jua Calis etc] products....but,hey,I might just give them a try....

Having said that; I have a recording of Muungano National Choir's 'Missa Luba' on cassette. It is amazing....you can even hear the musician's gowns flapping as they sing and dance [of course some of the credit for clarity goes to my Yamaha KX 393 cassette deck!!!]. What helps more is that it was recorded semi-live; i.e.,in a theartre auditorium but without an audience....instead of doing it in a studio.

I also have the 'On Stage with Remmy Ongala' [the self-proclaimed ugliest man in the world!!] recording on vinyl. It's a wonderful recording though the bass can get a little boomy on some tracks....but the tone controls get rid of it quite easily.


Behind the gardens...Behind the wall...Under the tree (Including: Red...Dark Blue...Yellow)