The international choral community lost a dear friend and colleague with the death last week of Boniface Mganga, founder and conductor of the Muungano National Choir of Kenya. Mr. Mganga was killed in a car accident on the Mombassa highway as he was heading to his home in Voi. Funeral services will be held this Friday at All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi, Kenya, with burial Saturday in his home village in Voi.
A memorial fund has been established in Des Moines, Iowa to help his family, which has two daughters in college at present. If you wish to contribute to this fund, please send checks payable to:
Boniface Mganga Memorial Fund
Wells Fargo Bank
2840 Ingersoll Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50312
The fund is managed by Ben Allaway, who managed Muungano’s two U.S. tours.
MEMORIAL IN DES MOINES WITH 16 MUUNGANO MEMBERS
Allaway will host 16 former members of the Muungano National Choir of Kenya living in the U.S. who are traveling to Des Moines to hold a memorial service and concert. The program will be Saturday, July 30, 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, 815 High St., Des Moines, Iowa. A free-will offering will be taken to help defray expenses and to provide help to the Mganga family. They will also sing at the 9:15 service at First Christian Church, Des Moines, on Sunday July 31st. The choir has many friends and fans in the upper midwest. If you wish to help with the choir’s arrangements (transport, homestays, meals) while they are in Des Moines July 29-31, please call Ben Allaway at 515-720-1038.
Boniface Mganga was 21 years old when he founded the Muungano National Choir while working in the office of Kenya President Daniel Arap Moi in 1979. The choir quickly became a leading cultural ambassador for Kenya, touring to Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Spain, Finland, Italy, Germany, Canada, the United States and Israel. They sang twice on the ICFM World Symposium on Choral Music, and mr. Mganga was a past ICFM board member and chair of their Ethnic Commission. Their 1988 recording, Missa Luba and Ten Kenyan Folk Melodies on the Phillips Classics label, became a best seller, and can be found in most public libraries across the United States. Muungano appeared on the North Central Regional Convention of ACDA in 1996. Their music was subsequently published by earthsongs, and since has been among the most popular repertoire of African choral music heard in this country, recorded by some of the nations top choirs, including The St. Olaf Choir. Boniface Mganga had served as Assistant Minister of Culture and Assistant Minister of Education, and in 2002 was elected as a Member of Parliament, serving one term. At the time of his death he was Chairman of the Board of Kenya Utalii College in Mombassa, and was just about to announce his plans to run for governor in his home region, Taita-Taveta County. Below is a link to an article from the online version of The Standard, a Nairobi newspaper.
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/commentaries/InsidePage.php?id=2000038446&cid=4&
Asante sana, mwalimu Boniface Mganga (Thank you very much, teacher Boniface Mganga).
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