Isaya Mwinamo was born in 1932 in Shinyalu, Kakamega. He moved to Nairobi in the early 1950s & is considered to be one of the pioneers of the African twist, a genre that emerged from both South African penny whistle kwela music and the American twist.
He was a brilliant guitarist with his skill shining through in one of his hit songs, ‘Julieta Uko Wapi’ a song he apparently wrote about one of his girlfriends. In 1964 he joined the record company Phonogram as chief sound engineer/production manager.
He helped to record and produce the legacies of some of the top bands of that time such as Orchestre Baba Gaston, Orchestre Les Mangelepa, Maroon Commandos Samba Mapangala,Super Mazembe, Sam Mangwana, Mbaraka Munishee,Simba Wanyika,Les Wanyika and Tabu Ley’s Afrisa International among others.
He retired back to his hometown of Kakamega in 1985. One of his sons, Stephen Mwinamo, more commonly known as Mwinamo Jr, followed in his father’s footsteps.
Isaya Mwinamo passed away in January 2005 but his spirit, legacy, and music lives
@Fred Obach Machoka
