It is the 70s and a young country Kenya is still in its formative post-independent weaning stage. Mzee Jomo Kenyatta dies in ’78 and Nyayo assumes presidency as per the constitution. Television was still not a common thing and music lovers in Kenya had taken a liking for Benga and Rhumba. Daudi Kabaka (1939-2001) “The King of Twist” is a big thing with hits like “Msichana Wa Elimu”. Fadhili Williams does “Malaika”, a song that was said to have been composed by Tanzanian musician Adam Salim in 1945. Miriam Makeba was to do a version of it at the behest of Mboya during a concert in Kenya and Boney M did it as well, terribly and without crediting the original composers. 1979 saw the rise of Mombasa-born musician Slim Alli who toured Africa and Middle East with the band “Slim Alli and the Hodi Boys.
At the same time in Japan, Sony was about to make an accidental invention that— while it wasn’t in the company’s business development strategy— went ahead to sell millions of pieces globally. During this period, music was mostly enjoyed in clubs as live bands performed. A number of people owned cassette-playing radios at home and others enjoyed music played via records on gramophones. Music recording had been enabled through the invention of Thomas Edison’s phonograph in 1877, marking the start of the mechanical and analog age in music production. Vinyl records started around the 1940s, followed by cassettes in the 60s.
But Sony’s Walkman was a game changer. When Masaru, Sony’s honorary chairman desired a portable music player which he could use to listen to music while traveling, the company invented the Walkman, with the first model being the TPS-L2 which was a tiny blue-and-silver metal gadget. The Walkman allowed for people to listen to their favorite music on cassette on the go, and, naturally, it became a huge hit, especially for the youth of the day.
Thanks to the Walkman, experiencing music became a private affair. The fact that it was also a thing among young music lovers led to the rise of the mix tapes, a movement that was incredibly famous as musicians could record their songs on empty cassettes at home and share with their peers, so much so that major music producing companies wanted this to be considered illegal
But, who cared, anyway?
This invention paved way for the Compact Discman in the 2000s after making global sales of close to 200 million pieces. This legendary piece was the predecessor to Apple’s Ipod and has earned its place as game changer.