Music for community development

Abstract

The core purpose of this thesis was to determine how to write and produce community children’s music in order to use it to create awareness of issues impacting children’s development in Kenya. The aim of this thesis was to write and produce community children’s songs that have impacts. Important steps used to achieve this purpose included extraction of relevant information and material on the topic from available pre-written material, research on the underlying issues impacting childhood in Kenya, and how to write catchy children’s songs. The following methods were used to extract relevant information for this thesis: participant observation in a Kenyan community, data search and collection, descriptive data review, and data analysis.

To effectively achieve the purpose of this study, the social state of the Kenyan community was analyzed, special terms of interest defined, and important production steps followed. Community activism by John Lennon, Nina Simone, and Miriam Makeba was analyzed through case studies to support the credibility of this study, as well as justify the need for community music. The content and lyrics of the community song were translated and elaborated. As a result, Oringo, the community song, was written, composed, and produced. In conclusion, the study suggests community music as an alternative venture for musicians and artists, for diversity and community accountability.