![Kenya in vinyl: the emblematic Real Vinyl Guru store [1/3]](https://i0.wp.com/s.rfi.fr/media/display/4201f99e-7b8e-11f0-8335-005056a90284/w:1280/p:16x9/AP18071557621107.jpg?w=1920&resize=1920,1075&ssl=1 "Kenya in vinyl: the emblematic Real Vinyl Guru store [1/3]")
This week, RFI takes you to discover the phenomenon of vinyls in Kenya. Three episodes to talk about those who sell them, Kenyan artists who have vibrated the Disques or those who put them in fashion. This August 18, focus on a legendary boutique in Nairobi, Real Vinyl Guru, a real African vinyl archive hidden in the maze of Kenyatta Market.
From our correspondent to Nairobi,
It is a dive into the history of musique On vinyls which is available to visitors to Real Vinyl Guru. As with this 45 rpm from a Kenyan group from the 1970s, carefully chosen by Gaturi Rugami. Nicknamed Jimmi, he is the founder of the shop: ” The language here is Kikemba. It is a song by Kilimambogo Brothers, it’s good music. »
The walls overflow with records. There are more than 10,000, estimates Jimmi. Now 64, this enthusiast opened his first shop in Nairobi in 1989. When the cassettes arrived and the stores got rid of their records, he held out. And even made kilometers to recover them.
« With my Peugeot 404, I went to Tanzania, Uganda, almost to Addis Ababa. If the distances were longer, I took the bus or the train. I stopped in each small town. When I found vinyls, I paid them and left them on the spot, then I continued my journey. On the way back, I recovered them all. It was like a hunt, sometimes difficult, because you had to go to a little dangerous areas. But you had to track down vinyls, because they will not come to find yourself on your own ! Remember Jimmi.
Today, with social networks, collection is easier. Jimmi knows the discs well that fill the shelves in his shop. He extracts another Kenyan artist, a legend of his time, Musaimo Wa Njeri: ” This one, the language is from Gikuyu, is a little traditional music but not really Benga. »
From now on, Jimmi is helped from his children, who have taken over the torch of the store. His son, Rufus, also repairs Tourne-Disques. He inherited the paternal passion: ” Move the arm of the Disque Tour, hearing the cracking then the music … It’s something else. Even the sound quality is better. You just have to have a good platinum with vinyls in good condition to enjoy the most beautiful music as possible. »
His father, Jimmi, says he listen to vinyls at home every day. Of jazz African, blues or traditional music …
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