Fadhili Williams-"Malaika" (Kenya)

Fadhili Williams - Malaika / Ewe Malaika

Posted by NaijaDangawali
April 02, 2009

Video Summary:
This is a sound clip of Fadhili Williams singing "Malaika" wwith one photograph of Fadihil William.

Here's some information about Fadhili Williams from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fadhili_William

"Fadhili William Mdawida (most often referred to simply as Fadhili William) (November 11, 1938 – February 11, 2001), was a Kenyan musician/composer who is most famous for his song "Malaika" which he recorded with his band 'The Jambo Boys' around 1963 "

-snip-
More information about Fadhili Williams is found in this video's summary. Here is a brief excerpt from that informative summary:

"One of Kenya's pop music legends, Fadhili William, passed away on February 11th 2001in Nairobi at the (reported) age of 62. His circa 1963 recording, Malaika (Angel), remains the definitive version of this now world-famous song. Although Fadhili's claim of authorship of the song is disputed among several Kenyans and Tanzanians, there is no argument that it is one of the best known songs throughout Africa. Along with Guantanamera, Malaika is in the warm-up repertoire of nearly every hotel band on the continent.

Miriam Makeba had a lot to do with spreading Malaika beyond the bounds of East Africa. Her performances of the song brought it to the attention of such famous names as Pete Seeger and Harry Belafonte, pop groups such as Boney M, and scores of African artists including Angelique Kidjo and the Mahotella Queens. It's even covered by Djeli Moussa Diawara and Bob Brozman on their recent Ocean Blues CD.Fadhili William, however, was far more than a one hit wonder. He was a journeyman musician whose career spanned nearly a half-century, with some 200 compositions to his credit. He's been described as a guitarist's guitarist but, also, as one of the Kenyan musicians who brought about the downfall of the once vibrant acoustic scene. On this, Kenyan guitarist Aziz Salim lamented, "We had a traditional acoustic Kenyan music, and it lasted until people like Fadhili William came along with all this jazzy Jambo Boys stuff. That's when the whole thing started diverting (from Stapleton and May's African All-Stars, page 236)." Indeed, it did."...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiSO-pHn9rw&feature=related