Soul Men

There seems to be no escaping from the jinx that casts its dark shadows over the month of August. It has already ticked off two great performing artistes of our time in the space of one weekend, Bernie Mac on Saturday followed by Isaac Hayes on Sunday.

Bernie Mac, who was a member of the Original Kings of Comedy quartet, died of sarcoidosis, a lung complication due to pnuemonia.

Isaac ‘Black Moses’ Hayes who has been composing and performing Hot Buttered Soul music since 1967 died of stroke.


The two great men have recently been working alongside Samuel L. Jackson in a movie set to be released later this year.

Two Tough Guys have Walked on By. Soul Men.

(Pictures courtesy of Isaac Hayes' official website.)

Finding Churchill

An internet search for Daniel Ndambuki gives amazingly few results with equally scanty detail. Which is fairly bizarre for a man whose trade hinges on popular ratings. And I have little doubt that Ndambuki is perhaps the wittiest stand-up comedian to come out of these parts in our times.

The man’s wit is powerful and makes for a hilarious beginning to every morning on Classic FM’s breakfast show where he doubles as the streetwise Mwalimu Kingangi and tea-lady Philgonias. Co-hosting the show with Maina Kageni, he performs lots of other flawless imitations only the way a consummate artiste can. It is widely believed that he enjoys quite a large fan base that has anchored the show at the top of the FM stations’ breakfast ‘battles’. I’m an ardent fan of his too and would love to keep track of their morning antics except that the duo spoils the act for me when they relapse, as Maina invariably ensures, to the depraved ‘pale pale’ dialogues.

Churchill, as Ndambuki is known in his stand-up comedy acts, is well reputed for his refreshingly ‘clean’ content that fits comfortably with family audiences. Many who have attended his shows will attest that his evergreen repertoire consistently delivers as billed. But now, after the end of the Redykyulass shows on national TV in which Churchill regularly featured, his fans outside Nairobi continue to miss out on his side-splitting performances.

Dan Ndambuki’s comedy has been recorded and several DVD volumes made but one is likely to have a pretty hard time laying hands on them locally. I have made rounds to several outlets here in Mombasa to no avail but find that they can be purchased online from Kilimanjaro Entertainment which is based in the US.

A DVD collection of Churchill’s Comedy Classics would be a prized feature to any home library and a befitting chronicle to this gem of an artiste.