Serah Nyaboke

Serah works in a repertoire most singers her age have only heard sampled: Zilizopendwa and Rhumba, the music of Franco, Mpongo Love, Les Wanyika and the Maroon Commandos. She sings it straight, at full length, with the arrangements intact.

Her covers are not nostalgia pieces, and they are not novelty either. The songs are treated as the standards they are, given a contemporary recording and a voice with enough range to hold them. Anyone can put a Rhumba track through a modern mix; carrying a Franco vocal line is a different job.

Alongside the music she is a medical doctor, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Education Science, in mathematics and physics.

Her best-known recordings are Charonyi Ni Wasi, first done by the Maroon Commandos, and Afro, by Les Wanyika. She has since covered Ndaya by the Congolese great Mpongo Love, and Mario, by the Rhumba legend Franco.

Serah seated on a stool against a dark panelled wall, holding a bouquet of yellow flowers.
Genre
Rhumba, Zilizopendwa, African classics
Based in
Nairobi, Kenya
Sings in
Swahili, Lingala, English, Ekegusii
Singing since
Age three
Also
Medical doctor