One of the best-known Masai ceremonial songs is the "Engilakinoto," which is sung after a victorious lion hunt. It's a deep rhythmic chant performed by the warriors who display their strength and prowess by leaping directly and vertically into the air. On the coast is a unique style of music called Taarab, which combines African percussion, Arabic rhythms, and KiSwahili lyrics, and uses large numbers of musicians and Arabian instruments such as the oud. In recent decades, most of Kenya's popular music has been performed by individual musicians and whole ensembles settling in Kenya from neighboring countries and beyond. In the 1950s, for example, Congolese guitarists Edouard Masengo and Jean Bosco Mwenda became household names throughout Kenya, and during the 1970 and '80s pop groups from Zaire playing infectious dance music were popular in Kenyan nightclubs. Tanzanian bands playing rumba with KiSwahili lyrics also found fame in Kenya in the 1990s. Today, pop music in Kenya is wide ranging, with both local and international origins. Rap has become increasingly popular among young Kenyans, and there are several Kenya-based rap acts. They tend to be virtually indistinguishable from U.S. based rappers, but the lyrics are most definitely Kenyan and have much to say about life in modern Kenya.
