Why are there so few Giriama gospel songs?

Earlier today, I found myself meditating on the question of why there are so few Giriama gospel songs. The Giriama community is the biggest native coastal community in Kenya, and it probably has 1 million plus people. And the last time I checked, well over 70% of Giriama people were Christians. As such, one would expect there to be very many Giriama gospel songs, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. What could the reason be?

Perhaps the problem is in that the Giriama people are quite comfortable listening to the Swahili gospel songs that are already there, and don’t therefore feel the need to compose any in their native language. This is a viable reason, especially when you remember the fact that Giriama people are almost always at ease in conducting their affairs in either their Giriama language or in Swahili.

Another challenge could be in that there have historically been very few highly successful Giriama gospel artists, and therefore there are no role models to look up to for musically talented Giriama people.

There could also be another challenge in the fact that the musically talented Giriama people who could record gospel songs lack access to recording facilities – studios and so on. Isn’t it only lately that we have started to see studios springing up in Mombasa? Yet given the fact that some Giriama people are averse to the idea of traveling to Nairobi (which is where there were good studios traditionally) that could have played a role in hampering the growth of Giriama gospel music.

In the final analysis, one can only hope that with the proliferation of recording studios in Mombasa and even in Giriama towns such as Kilifi and Malindi, we will see a rise in the number of Giriama gospel songs available.